At a glance Top mini PC deal picks Acemagician S3A — $429 (20% off on Amazon, was $539) Kamrui Hyper H2 — $418 (45% off on Amazon, was $760) It’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday season! Some of the best discounts I’m seeing have been for mini PCs, and that’s perfectly fine with me because I absolutely love these tiny computers. They take up very little space on the desk, they offer excellent performance for the price, and they don’t cost too much. Did I mention they’re super easy to upgrade and they usually support at least three 4K displays? Now that’s a fantastic way to increase your workstation productivity without breaking the bank! Finding the right deals can be tricky, however, because there are so many things to consider from the configuration to the price. Fear not! I’ve been covering mini PC deals for a long time — and PCWorld has tested thousands of PCs over four decades — so let me help you out. I select our favorite deals by thoroughly examining the list of specs, overall design, user feedback, and general value. The RAM, SSD, and CPU all matter significantly in mini PCs, and if you’re not careful, you may select a “bare bones” rig that makes you bring your own memory and storage. None of our picks below will leave you in the lurch! Updated November 30, 2025 to reflect the latest deals and prices. Best Black Friday deals on Ryzen mini PCs Acemagician S3A, AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS, 16GB DDR5 RAM, 512GB SSD, Radeon 780M iGPU, triple 4K support — $429 (20% off on Amazon, was $539) Beelink SER5, AMD Ryzen 5 6800U, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, triple 4K support — $369 (20% off on Amazon, was $459) Acemagician Kron K1, AMD Ryzen 5 7430U, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB SSD, triple 4K support — $256 (20% off on Amazon, was $319) Bosgame P3, AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, triple 4K support — $440 (20% off on Amazon, was $550) Bosgame P3 Lite, AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, 24GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, Radeon 680M, triple 4K support — $386.66 (19% off on Amazon, was $479.95) Geekom A6, AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, quad 4K support — $423.20 (20% off on Amazon, was $529) Geekom A5, AMD Ryzen 7 5825U, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB SSD, quad 4K support — $331 (17% off on Amazon, was $399) GMKtec M7, AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850H, 16GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, quad 4K support, Oculink — $395 (29% off on Amazon, was $560) GMKtec M5 Ultra, AMD Ryzen 7 7730U, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB SSD, triple 4K support — $380 (24% of on Amazon) Geekom A9 Max, AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 2TB SSD, quad 4K support — $949 (21% off on Amazon, was $1,199) Geekom A9, AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 2TB SSD, Radeon 780M, quad 4K support — $679.20 (20% off on Amazon, was $849) Top pick: These are all amazing discounts for excellent mini PCs at every budget, but if I were to pick a single deal, I’d go for the Acemagician S3A for $399 because that’s a great price for the specs. It’s more than capable of handling your daily workload, browsing, streaming, and even gaming thanks to the Radeon 780M integrated graphics. If you’re willing to spend an extra hundred, the Geekom AX8 Max is even better with twice the memory and storage for greater performance. Best Black Friday deals on Intel mini PCs Acemagic V1, Intel N150, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, dual 4K support — $187.24 (41% off on Amazon, was $319) HP Elite 805, Intel Core i5, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB SSD, dual 4K support — $480 (20% off on Amazon, was $600) Acemagic M1, Intel Core i9 11900H, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, triple 4K support — $460 (43% off on Amazon, was $800) Kamrui Hyper H2, Intel Core i9-11900H, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, triple 4K support — $418 (45% off on Amazon, was $760) Geekom GT2 Mega, Intel Core Ultra 9 285H, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 2TB SSD, Intel Arc 140T iGPU, quad 4K support — $949 (27% off on Amazon, was $1,299) Top pick: If you’re looking for a mini PC you’ll use for years to come that can handle all your tasks and then some, the Kamrui Hyper H2 has the absolute best price-performance among these deals with that 45% discount. If you don’t want to spend a ton of money and just need a simple machine for browsing and email, the Acemagic V1 gives you 1TB of storage space and enough RAM to run Windows 11 without choking. Other best Black Friday tech deals Check out our other roundups for the best PC-related Black Friday deals going on in a wide span of categories! LIVE real-time Black Friday deals, picked by PCWorld’s experts Best Amazon Black Friday tech deals Best Buy’s best Black Friday tech deals Best Black Friday laptop deals Best Black Friday Chromebook deals Best Black Friday desktop computer deals Best Black Friday monitor deals Best Black Friday USB flash drive deals Best Black Friday SSD and storage deals Best Black Friday Thunderbolt dock deals Best Black Friday power bank deals Best Black Friday office chair and desk deals Best Black Friday VPN deals FAQ 1. When is Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025? This year, Black Friday lands on November 28th. Cyber Monday is December 1. 2. What are some things you need to consider when getting a mini PC? The first thing you have to check off your list is just what configuration you need to get your job done. Are you going to use your new mini PC for browsing only? Do you want it to be able to juggle a bunch of apps and not choke on 50 browser tabs? Do you want to do some light gaming in your downtime? There are devices for each and every one of these scenarios, and they’re all quite affordable. The best part is that mini PCs are… well, small, and that they support multiple monitors out of the box, so you won’t need to pay for extra hubs. 3. Can a mini PC replace a desktop computer? For most people, the answer is “yes”! Mini PCs are definitely powerful enough to replace desktops for most users, especially if you’re going to use it for work, browsing, or streaming movies. If you want something for photo and video editing, or even gaming, there are models that allow you to do that, but they’ll cost a bit more. If you’re into proper gaming, however, you’re still better off with a gaming PC or laptop. Read...

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Historically, you’ve had two options to expand the port capabilities of your laptop: an inexpensive USB-C dongle or a more powerful, pricey Thunderbolt docking station. A third option is quietly emerging, trying to split the difference. A DisplayLink docking station (sometimes called a USB-C dock) uses data compression to offer the capabilities of a Thunderbolt dock over a standard USB-C or Thunderbolt cable. Why buy one? DisplayLink docking stations work great for normal day-to-day productivity, and historically the docks are cheaper and more stable than older Thunderbolt 3 desktop docks. They’re an upgrade over our picks for the best USB-C hubs dongles, and less expensive than the best Thunderbolt docking stations for your laptop. They can even support more displays than a native Thunderbolt dock. They’re just not suited for gaming. If you need a fuller explanation of how DisplayLink works and what it offers, you’ll find that directly under our two recommended DisplayLink docks, below. You’ll also find a FAQ with answers to questions you might have. I base my recommendations on hands-on testing of the DisplayLink docking stations. Why you should trust me: I’ve worked as a technology journalist for about 30 years, and at PCWorld for the last decade. I’ve tested dozens of USB-C hubs, Thunderbolt docks, and DisplayLink docking stations. I use a docking station in my daily work, connected to multiple 4K displays, and I typically review a handful of new products each month. Updated Nov. 24, 2025 with some additional details from Synaptics. Look for the DisplayLink logo to identify it as a DisplayLink dock.Mark Hachman / IDG The best DisplayLink docking stations Though I’ve tested a number of DisplayLink docking stations for laptops, I have two recommended docks. They’re the same picks that appear on PCWorld’s list of the best Thunderbolt desktop docks for your laptop. Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C (Revodok) Docking Station CM615 – Best USB-C DisplayLink dock Pros Terrific price and value Excellent stability Great display port flexibility Support for two 4K60 displays Cons Have to provide your own power supply Can warm to somewhat alarming temperatures A lack of naming consistency Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $109.98 View Deal eBay $129 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C (Revodok) Docking Station CM615 Like some of the premium Thunderbolt docks, Ugreen’s DisplayLink dock provides options to use either HDMI or DisplayPort to connect a display, allowing you to use your existing display cables and save some money. Like most DisplayLink docks, this dock was unusually stable, with no flickering between displays — one of the reasons I like DisplayLink docks. Some other Thunderbolt docks offer the same flexibility to shift between monitors, but not many. Ugreen’s dock does so affordably. Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C (Revodok) Docking Station CM615: other considerations If you’re not worried about hunting down the proper software driver (because Ugreen, bless them, does not make it apparent that it needs one) than I would recommend that you buy this dock. It offers many of the features of more expensive Thunderbolt docks at an affordable price. Read our full Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C (Revodok) Docking Station CM615 review Plugable USB-C Dual 4K Display Horizontal Docking Station (UD-6950PDH) – Best USB-C DisplayLink dock runner-up Pros Terrific value for office workers Great display flexibility Plenty of USB-A ports SD/microSD card slots, too 100W of charging power Cons No USB-C ports No dedicated charging ports Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $179.95 View Deal B&H $199 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Plugable USB-C Dual 4K Display Horizontal Docking Station If you’re a home office worker who doesn’t want or need to game, this dock will suit you just fine. Plugable’s USB-C Dual 4K Display dock takes Plugable’s traditional approach: provide dedicated display interfaces, and let the user choose between which cables they’ll need to connect to their display. The dock is a pretty simple affair, with a pair of legacy USB-A ports and standard gigabit Ethernet connection. Interestingly, Plugable has recast this dock as a Mac-dedicated device, with a grayish tint to boot. (That’s what you’ll see on the Amazon page.) It’s really not — it will work on Macs and Windows PCs just fine, though you’ll need the Windows driver for it instead. Plugable USB-C Dual 4K Display Horizontal Docking Station: further considerations For whatever reason (maybe the bandwidth that a 10Gbps port consumes?) USB-C ports aren’t common on DisplayLink docks. (The Ugreen dock that we’ve picked as our favorite has one; this dock does not.) This is going to sound redundant, but just keep in mind that these docks are terrific for video playback or office work, but gaming is beyond them. Read our full Plugable USB-C Dual 4K Display Horizontal Docking Station (UD-6950PDH) review Other DisplayLink reviews and features Laptop docking stations may evolve into “AI Docks”: Synaptics believes its high-speed signaling finesse can give it a leg up in future devices. DisplayLink goes ‘Pro’ to highlight even faster speeds: Synaptics’ DL-7000 chip will be rolling out in new DisplayLink docks. Plugable Thunderbolt Docking Station with DisplayLink (TBT-6950PD) review: Add up to four external displays and fast ports with this quality DisplayLink Thunderbolt 4 dock. It’s time to start docking phones again, DisplayLink says: Modern smartphones are powerful enough to try out this technology again, DisplayLink thinks. DisplayLink USB-C docks: How DisplayLink works USB-C hubs, Thunderbolt desktop docks, and now DisplayLink docking stations have emerged because of two factors: the growing ubiquity of do-anything USB-C ports, and the realization by laptop makers that they can use these ports to eliminate all the dedicated HDMI, microUSB, SD card slots, and USB-A ports that can clutter up their notebook PCs. DisplayLink docks provide some of the native functions of a Thunderbolt dock, namely the ability to drive multiple high-resolution displays. Because of the inherent bandwidth limitations, DisplayLink docking stations offer a good choice for office workers, who can use those extra displays for static applications like email, chat, spreadsheets, or office work. A USB-C port typically provides 10Gbps of bandwidth. Thunderbolt 3/4, which runs over the same physical USB-C port, supplies 40Gbps. In the real world, that typically means that a USB-C dongle can connect to a single 4K display (at 30Hz) while Thunderbolt can connect to two 4K displays, at 60Hz. DisplayLink can you give the advantages of a 40Gbps Thunderbolt connection via just a 10Gbps USB-C interface. How? Data compression. A DisplayLink dock can either use a “traditional” 10Gbps USB-C connection, or take advantage of the extra bandwidth provided by an existing Thunderbolt 3 or 4 port. Either way, it uses data compression to squeeze more data throughput over the port. We use data compression every day, in photos and streamed video from YouTube and Netflix, and never notice. It’s the same here; your Windows desktop and applications will look the same. Two similar products with different characteristics: a Lention USB-C hub (left), which has been previously featured among PCWorld’s u003ca href=`https://www.pcworld.com/article/402858/the-best-usb-c-hubs-for-your-laptop-tablet-or-2-in-1.html`u003erecommended USB-C hubsu003c/au003e, and the u003ca href=`` data-product=`699911` data-manufacturer=`10079` class=`product-link`u003eHP Thunderbolt G4 Docku003c/au003e, part of PCWorld’s recommended u003ca href=`https://www.pcworld.com/article/393714/best-thunderbolt-docks-for-a-laptop-pc.html`u003ebest Thunderbolt docksu003c/au003e. DisplayLink is a technology owned by Synaptics, meaning it’s a proprietary standard. Each DisplayLink dock has a special DisplayLink chip built inside of it. (DisplayLink docks rarely, if ever, publish which Synaptics chip they use, so a DisplayLink dock’s capabilities may vary by product.) DisplayLink USB-C docks: Pros and cons DisplayLink’s data compression means there are two negatives to the technology, which we’ll get out of the way. While USB-C and Thunderbolt work out of the box, DisplayLink requires a software driver. Without it, it will function as a generic USB-C dock. I’ve never seen any DisplayLink docks use their own unique drivers (though they may). In any case, you can use Synaptics’ official DisplayLink drivers. Most dock makers publish this information right up front, but not all do. (Be sure to reboot after installing it.) DisplayLink works perfectly well for email, Word, Excel, and anything static, like a web page. But it does have limitations: 10Gbps is a nice chunk of bandwidth. But pushing a ton of data across it will cause images to stutter and hitch. In practice, this means that PC gaming on a DisplayLink dock is iffy: A slow-paced game like Baldur’s Gate 3 should be fine, but a frantic shooter like Battlefield or Helldivers 2 probably won’t give you a good experience at all. Playing 4K video from Netflix or YouTube? It shouldn’t be a problem. Playing 4K video while copying files from a hard drive and downloading a file? Everything will work, albeit slowly. The big advantage for me is that DisplayLink tends to be really stable. Older Thunderbolt 3 hardware can be a little glitchy when connecting to multiple displays. In my experience, DisplayLink docks aren’t. That matters to some people. DisplayLink (often with a DisplayLink 4K logo on it) can also connect to multiple displays, even more than Thunderbolt. I don’t have room to neatly show off a photo of three or even four displays, but trust me — I’ve tried it on multiple occasions, and it works. The hitch is that your laptop has to be capable of rendering on four displays, and you’ll typically need to close your laptop to do so. That may mean adjusting the Windows Control Panel to tell your laptop to leave it up and running. This is only necessary if you are running four 4K displays with a DisplayLink dock. Mark Hachman / IDG Can I get a bit nerdy for a second? When you use a DisplayLink dock to connect to more than two displays, there’s even more magic going on behind the scenes. Take a DisplayLink dock like the Plugable UD-6950PDZ, which supports three 4K displays at 60Hz. It uses Synaptics’ most advanced chip, the DL-6950. But the DL-6950 only supports a pair of displays. To enable a third external display, the dock is using DisplayLink for two displays, and your laptop’s own “normal” DisplayPort connection (called DisplayPort Alt Mode) to drive the third. That brings up the final point that I always have to make: Recent hardware is best. A standard DisplayLink docks works best on, say, a 10th- or 11th-gen Core processor or a complementary AMD Ryzen laptop. With anything more advanced — 12th-, 13th-, and 14th-gen — you should have a pretty ideal experience. To be fair, Synaptics feels that you should be able to use older hardware with DisplayPort, and it should just work. “Regardless of your PC’s specs or age, DisplayLink docks will efficiently allocate bandwidth to handle your network connection and other peripherals, ensuring optimal performance,” a Synaptics representative says. That’s a fair objection. But I’m still more comfortable recommending more modern hardware, perhaps because I’m a little gun-shy after using other USB-C hardware. Unlike other Thunderbolt docks we’ve tested, Plugable’s UD-ULTC4K highlights not only which port is which but which I/O protocol each port is associated with. Note the “Alt Mode” label on the bottom ports.Mark Hachman / IDG How I test DisplayLink docking stations I use the same methodology to test DisplayLink docks as I do to test Thunderbolt docking stations. Here’s a synopsis. First, I take the dock from its packaging and evaluate its construction. I measure the cord length and check the dock’s physical dimensions with a ruler. I’ll then read the manual: Does the dock need any drivers? (Yes it will.) Are there links? What does the manual say about the dock’s capabilities, in terms of power and speed? Next, I take a USB key or two and connect them to the available USB ports to determine if they have enough space to allow several to be connected at the same time. I then examine the display ports, find the appropriate cables, and then connect the dock to the laptop. I use a series of laptops with various generations of AMD and Intel hardware, and check to see if the experience is the same on each one. If it isn’t, I make notes. I then measure the power output of the ports, using a USB multimeter, a smartphone, and a laptop to measure how much power the dock delivers to a laptop. Finally, I check to see how well the dock performs under load. I use a specific test laptop for this purpose for repeatable results. I stream a 4K60 YouTube video using the Ethernet port on the dock (if it has one) and note any dropped frames. I usually check with a pre-recorded 4K60 video running from an SSD. I then run PCMark 10’s SSD storage benchmark off of a test SSD, connected to the dock. I measure the score, then measure the score again while streaming a video. I then copy a large, multigigabyte folder of various files from my laptop across the bus and measure the time it takes to do so. I repeat the test while streaming video. Finally, I check the operation and performance of any SD card slots the dock has and listen to audio through the audio jack, to make sure it works. FAQ 1. Should you buy a DisplayLink USB-C dock? Not all DisplayLink docks are created equal, which is why we test them. But for office workers on Windows, absolutely. For gamers, give it a pass. DisplayLink docking station offers a chance to expand your PC’s I/O capabilities, even with hardware that doesn’t support Thunderbolt. If you aren’t comfortable with this, feel free to return to the relative safety of a either a generic USB-C dongle or a powerful Thunderbolt dock: Both offer simplicity and a known experience. 2. How do I know if my dock is a DisplayLink dock? It should prominently feature a DisplayLink logo, which we include a photo of earlier in the story. Not always, though. Shopping for a DisplayLink dock can be a bit confusing, too, since the term “DisplayLink dock” isn’t really in vogue. Instead, vendors will sometimes use “USB-C dock” instead. Just read the documentation closely and look for the label. 3. How much should a DisplayLink docking station cost? DisplayLink was a much cheaper alternative to Thunderbolt docks during the height of the work-from-home years. Then, a Thunderbolt dock would cost about $300, and a DisplayLink dock about $150 to $200 or so. Prices for both have come down some, with DisplayLink docks starting for as low as $125. 4. How many devices can a DisplayLink dock support? You’ll usually see close to as many ports on a DisplayLink dock as you will on a Thunderbolt dock, and maybe more. In general, DisplayLink is just fine for connecting multiple devices simultaneously. It’s when they’re all in use, transferring data, that the bus may get clogged and transfer rates may slow down. 5. What’s better, a DisplayLink dock or a Thunderbolt dock? For now, there’s a case to be made that a DisplayLink dock is a better value: They’re generally cheaper, more stable, and offer the potential for more displays. But if you’re a gamer, the answer is not the same. Gamers should buy a Thunderbolt dock instead. The game changes, though, when Thunderbolt 5 debuts later in 2024. Then, Thunderbolt 5 bandwidth will shoot up to 80Gbps in both directions, allowing those docks to connect to four 4K displays at 144Hz refresh rates and offer improved charging. Again, Synaptics is competitive; its most recent DL-7000 chip allows four 4K displays to be connected at 120Hz. 6. Can a DisplayLink dock charge your laptop and your smartphone? If the DisplayLink docking station ships with its own external power brick, it should be able to, yes. Most DisplayLink docks supply the same amount of power as a Thunderbolt dock (a maximum of 90 to 95W to your laptop, and hopefully enough power to fast-charge a smartphone.) 7. Is a DisplayLink docking station plug and play? Not really. You’ll need a driver from Synaptics or the dock maker to enable the dock’s full functionality. 8. What’s DSC and HBR3? I’ve heard that those are a competitor to DisplayLink. Display Stream Compression with High Bandwidth Rate 3 (DSC with HBR3) is a more open version of DisplayLink. It doesn’t require a software driver, but you won’t see this technology advertised at all. However, you will find it in products like the Kensington SD5800T, which uses Thunderbolt 4 and DSC to enable four external 4K displays. Basically, the same rules apply. If you own a recent, modern laptop, you may have one with DSC inside: It’s found within laptops with an Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics chip, or as part of Intel’s “Tiger Lake” platform, aka the 11th-gen Core chips. But this is absolutely not a feature that laptop makers advertise, either. 9. Are DisplayLink and DisplayPort the same thing? No, they’re not, though the names are confusingly similar. DisplayPort is a physical display connector as well as a display protocol. Your laptop can route DisplayPort display protocols over Thunderbolt without ever using the connector itself. DisplayPort can also be routed over a USB-C connection encoded with DisplayLink, too. 10. Is a DisplayLink dock good for gaming? Not especially. It’s best for productivity, which uses a number of windows with static applications. Any time you push gobs and gobs of data over the DisplayLink bus, as you would with gaming, you risk the connection being saturated and your game reduced to a stuttery mess. You may be able to “game” with a slow-paced game or one that doesn’t use a lot of fast-paced motion or detailed graphics, but it’s risky. Buy a Thunderbolt dock instead. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Excellent display Great CPU performance and modest GPU performance Not too heavy Cons Disappointing battery life Unfortunately bulky dimensions Uncomfortable keyboard Unimpressive design Our Verdict The Predator Helios Neo 14 AI aims for compact gaming, but ends up neither small nor powerful enough, stuck awkwardly between lightweight and full-size laptops. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI Retailer Price $1,699.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI (PHN14-71-939W) is Acer’s latest stab at a compact gaming laptop. It’s a formula that may have started with Razer but has caught on with many laptop makers, seeing some especially impressive models hit the scene like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14.  While this trend is generally centered around excellence in design met with respectable performance that you wouldn’t expect from such a machine, Acer didn’t seem to fully commit to the bit. This results in the Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI being a bit too big and heavy in the name of performance while still lagging behind the typical gaming laptops that don’t worry as much about their weight. There’s still a lot of good about the Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI, but in the end it just doesn’t stand out.  Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI: Specs and features Model number: PHN14-71-939W CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 285H Memory: 16GB LPDDR5X-7467 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5060 115W Display: 14.5-inch 2880×1800 120Hz OLED, Glossy, G-Sync Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD Webcam: 1080p IR Connectivity: 1x Thunderbolt 4 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x microSD card reader, 1x 3.5mm combo audio Networking: WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 76 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.77 x 10.07 x 1.02 inches Weight: 4.14 pounds MSRP: $1,699 as-tested ($1,699 base) We tested the base model, which comes priced at $1,699. For $1,899, you can upgrade to a configuration with an RTX 5070 and get double the system memory — a very sensible upgrade, especially considering you can’t upgrade the memory after purchase.  Against its rivals, the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI consistently proves to be good, but just not good enough.   Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI: Design and build quality Foundry / Mark Knapp Acer doesn’t appear to have changed too much about the outward appearance of its laptop with this generation. There are a few tweaks here and there such as a different keyboard deck and a larger cutout above the display to house an IR-backed webcam. But the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI appears to follow up on the prior Helios Neo 14 model with largely under-the-hood upgrades.  This leaves you with a reasonably compact and lightweight gaming laptop, though not one that’s pushing the boundaries. The Predator Helios Neo 14 AI is still 4.14 pounds, and though it has a slim profile, its thickest point is a hair over an inch thick (rubber feet included). Acer also made the unfortunate choice of really jutting out at the rear for exhaust, giving the system a 10.07-inch depth that made it hard to fit into a laptop sleeve. The shame of it is that rear exhaust port appears to be largely superfluous. Acer didn’t load it up with a beefy radiator stack — the last half-inch or so of the space is mostly empty. The rest of the laptop’s build is a mix of good and meh. The Predator Helios Neo 14 AI gets an aluminum display lid and base, but the keyboard deck is plastic. The display is also flanked by plastic bezels. Though the laptop feels reasonably sturdy, there’s just a little more flex to the display and light creaking to the base than I like. The hinges hold the display firmly in place and don’t wiggle much after moving the screen. The base of the laptop is also heavy enough to stay in place and make it possible to open the laptop with one hand.  Acer has set the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI to pull in air from the bottom and top of the system, with a large grille above the keyboard hiding what are actually rather small intakes for the job. The exhaust occupies almost the entire rear half of the base, with vents on the sides and rear of the laptop. Acer sits the laptop on four rubber feet that do a good job keeping it in place while also providing some clearance for the bottom vents. Acer has a lot to say about the cooling architecture inside the system, but all that matters at the end of the day is how effective and loud (or quiet, ideally) it is. Fortunately, all the airflow proved sufficient to let the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI run consistently under load, passing 3DMark’s Steel Nomad Light Stress Test. The fans are a little noisy when the system is under a heavy load (even more so in the Turbo mode), but generally not a bother. The Predator Helios Neo 14 AI is a decent enough looking laptop, but it’s hard not to view in direct comparison to the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 — not just because I just reviewed that laptop but also because they are aiming for the same niche. And in that matchup, Acer’s laptop comes away looking and feeling like a disappointing also-ran. It’s bulkier, heavier, less elegant, and feels cheaper. To be fair, it is cheaper, but not by much. At least it has a Kensington lock slot.  Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI: Keyboard, trackpad Foundry / Mark Knapp Like just about every Acer laptop I’ve tested (which is many), the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI has a keyboard that’s hard to love. Rather than having helpful contours to direct my fingers to the center of each keycap, the keycaps bulge slightly, tending to push me to the edges. And without good stability, I can end up rolling off the edges a bit. There’s also inconsistent tactility as the edges and centers of keys depress differently. It’s only thanks to this consistent design on Acer keyboard that I have been able to get so well acquainted with the quirks of these keyboards to be able to reach a typing speed over 110 words per minute in Monkeytype with a decent degree of accuracy, but this speed is never comfortable or confident.  To squeeze in full-size arrow keys, Acer shrunk the right shift key, which can make using it more tedious. Acer has also included a column of extra media control keys at the right edge of the laptop. The result is that the main keyboard is shifted slightly left of the laptop’s centerline, which just may not be an issue for gaming but makes the laptop that little bit more annoying to use for typing.  The Predator Helios Neo 14 AI’s keyboard includes fun, RGB lighting that effectively illuminates the full legends on the keys. It is just three-zone lighting, though, not offering per-key customization. By default, Windows controls this lighting and PredatorSense indicated as much. But this awkwardly made the built-in keyboard shortcuts for adjusting lighting levels not work consistently, and there was no shortcut to the Windows settings for keyboard lighting.  The trackpad on the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI is fine, but not impressive. It’s smooth and responsive. The physical click is a bit stiff and has an unsatisfying thunk. While it’s big enough, it feels almost tiny coming from the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI: Display, audio Foundry / Mark Knapp The Predator Helios Neo 14 AI offers about as good a display as you’re likely to find in a gaming laptop of this class. That is to say, it offers an excellent one that leaves little more to be desired. It achieves 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and manages that with excellent color accuracy, hitting a max dE1976 of just 1.93 and an average of 0.88. It can reach 431 nits for a full white screen in HDR and 10 percent windows can reach 635 nits. Pair that brightness with the infinite contrast of OLED, and you’ve got a screen that really pops. It also zips along at a fast 120Hz for smooth visuals in games and everyday operation while G-Sync helps avoid tearing. If there’s anything to knock, it’s the glossy finish’s reflectivity, which can cause some glare at lower brightness levels. The screen also isn’t perfectly flat, with subtle warping that leads to some funhouse mirror-style reflections. The Predator Helios Neo 14 AI’s speakers put out a good deal of volume, but they lean into the mids and treble too much giving them a harsh quality at high listening levels. While you can rely on them in lieu of headphones from time to time, I’d avoid gaming or listening to music on them, as that harsh quality can be headache inducing after a while.  Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The webcam and microphone on the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI feel like a bit of an afterthought. It’s nice that the webcam supports Windows Hello facial recognition for quick sign-ins, but it would have been even nicer if the webcam looked good in use. The camera struggles with noise even in well-lit scenarios, and the graininess of the footage can end up looking very offputting and reduce clarity in spite of the 1080p resolution.  The mics don’t help much either, as they capture audio at very low level. They don’t seem to struggle with background noise, but that may just be the result of failing to pick up much sound at all. After making a test recording, it was hard to hear myself clearly in anything but a silent room even with the laptop’s speakers maxed out. Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI: Connectivity Foundry / Mark Knapp Acer has done a good job with the port selection on the system. It offers USB-A and USB-C ports on both sides, and both USB-C ports support 90W PD power input and DisplayPort Alt Mode for video output. Only the left USB-C port provides Thunderbolt 4 speeds, but the remaining USB ports are all 10Gbps ports. There’s an HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) port on the right side along with a microSD card slot. Acer rounds out the selection with a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left. The left edge also includes a barrel power adapter for use with the included power brick. Having the option to leave the heavy power brick at home and use a lightweight USB-C charger on the go is always lovely to see on lighter gaming laptops.  The positioning of these ports is less fortunate. Since the rear of the laptop is largely occupied with exhaust vents, all of the ports are pushed forward to the front edge of the front half of the system. This can make using the laptop with peripherals plugged in a little wonky.  The wireless connectivity is solid with fast and stable Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4, which have worked reliably in my testing.  Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI: Performance All it takes is a quick look at the specs list to see that the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI is primed to be a solid-performing machine with ample CPU performance and respectable, if not mind-blowing GPU performance. That Predator Helios Neo 14 AI largely hits the mark, though there are some areas where it falls a little short.  PCMark 10 shows off the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI’s strong general performance, with it delivering a highly satisfactory score. Some gaming laptops push higher thanks to even more potent GPUs than the RTX 5060, but anything above 5,000 points is quite good. he Predator Helios Neo 14 AI might have gone even higher if it weren’t held back by its storage. Though the SSD included in the system hit over 7,100MB/s sequential reads and 6,100MB/s writes in CrystalDiskMark 9, its random read and write speeds were on the slow side at around 380MB/s, which even some old SATA SSDs can muster.  The Intel Core Ultra 9 285H proves a strong inclusion for the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI. It carries the system to a solid lead over most of its competitors, with its 16 cores providing excellent multi-core performance that the AMD competition can’t quite match. Its single-core performance is also excellent, though more readily rivaled by the Razer Blade 14 (2025)’s AMD Ryzen AI 9 365. Newer isn’t always better though, as we see the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI consistently lag behind the Intel Core i7-14700HX in the Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10 on both single-core and multi-core tests, likely thanks to that earlier chip’s 8P+12E configuration, which skips Low Power Efficient-cores entirely and hits a higher max turbo frequency. Still, it’s a close enough matchup, with the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI even pulling off a win in our Handbrake encoding test. A strong CPU is a great partner for a GPU, though power and cooling can often be the bigger factors in laptops. While the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI shows solid performance in 3DMark’s Port Royal test, edging out the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 GA403UM that wields the same GPU (but with a 100W power limit), Acer still falls behind both of Lenovo’s systems. Even with its Turbo power setting boosting its score to 7,337 points, it lags behind those two and fails to catch up to the Razer Blade 14’s RTX 5070. That Turbo power setting tends to only offer a small uptick in performance while coming with a big noise penalty, seeing the fan noise go from reasonable to annoying.  While Port Royal is very demanding of the GPU, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a good showcase for how 1080p gaming can benefit from stronger CPU performance. Here we see the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI once again take the lead over Asus and the Lenovo LOQ 15, both of which trailed it in CPU performance. That lead isn’t quite as great as in pure CPU tests, but it’s a lead nonetheless. We also see the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI not only lag behind the Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10, but also close the gap with the Razer Blade 14 thanks to its CPU performance. A demanding game like Metro Exodus shifts the load back over to the GPU, so performance plays out again much like it did in the Port Royal benchmark. Here, the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI again fails to quite keep up with Lenovo’s system, but remains ahead of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14.  Cyberpunk 2077 again shows how GPU power and cooling can be crucial in graphically demanding games. The Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10 once again leads the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI. Performance is still respectable, with the system managing well above 60 FPS, but if pure performance is what you’re after, the Lenovo has the edge for a better price. Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI: Battery life Performance and battery life are a fine balancing act, and though the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI doesn’t do horribly, it also doesn’t impress. It ran our 4K local video playback test for just over five hours before its 76Wh battery was drained. That gives it a much-needed win over the Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10, which dogged it in performance benchmarks. But that leaves it below even the lifespan offered by the small 60Wh battery in the Lenovo LOQ 15 15AHP10, never mind how far it falls behind the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, which managed almost 13 hours on a 72Wh battery. Real-world battery use tends to see the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI fall more in the range of 4-5 hours, and even that can entail some conservative use of the display’s brightness.  Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI: Conclusion The Predator Helios Neo 14 AI is a competent machine, but not quite the one I’d recommend. While it tries to join the fray of thinner and lighter gaming laptops, it doesn’t quite hit its mark with a weight of over four pounds and awkward dimensions that can make it hard to fit into laptop sleeves. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 fulfills that promise much more effectively, has a better design, an equally excellent display, much longer battery life to go alongside the portability, and it offers close enough performance (that even sometimes catches up in its Turbo mode) while costing a similar amount. And where raw performance is more of a concern than portability, the Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10 showed that it can beat the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI while costing far less. Against its rivals, the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI consistently proves to be good, but just not good enough. Read...

If a mail account is compromised, hackers can not only read messages, but also reset passwords and take over other accounts. This makes it all the more important to take an immediate and structured approach in an emergency. Below we show you what immediate measures you should take and what help pages and support channels the major providers have available for affected users. General measures in the event of a hacked email account Case 1: You can still log in If you can still access your mailbox, you have the best chance of securing your account immediately. It’s important that you close all possible backdoors step by step: Change your password: Log in directly via your provider’s official login page. Avoid links from emails, as these can lead to phishing sites. Choose a new, strong password that you only use for this account and that consists of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters. Log out all devices and sessions: Many providers offer an overview of the devices and sessions currently logged in in the security settings. End all active sessions or use the “Log off all devices” function. In this way, attackers who still have access will immediately lose their connection to the account. Check recovery options: Check which phone numbers and alternative email addresses are stored for account recovery. Attackers often enter their own data here in order to take over the account permanently. Remove unknown entries immediately and only enter your own current data. Delete filters and redirects: Take a look at the mailbox rules in the settings. Attackers often set up automatic forwarding or filters so that emails are forwarded to a different address or certain messages are made invisible. Delete all rules that you have not created yourself. Activate two-factor authentication: If your provider supports it, be sure to activate two-factor authentication. When logging in, you must enter a second factor in addition to your password, for example a code via text message or confirmation in an authenticator app. Even if your password falls into the wrong hands again, you are better protected this way. Case 2: You can no longer log in If you are locked out, everything runs via the support of the respective provider. In this case, use the respective recovery form or the account wizard, which will guide you through the recovery process. Microsoft Outlook / Hotmail Microsoft provides a recovery wizard for hacked accounts. After entering your e-mail address and—if stored—your telephone number, the system checks whether any suspicious logins have occurred. It then guides you through the process step by step: from resetting your password and confirming security information to checking for suspicious activity. If you can still log in, you should immediately change the password in your account and check all stored security data (alternative e-mail, telephone number). If access is already blocked, use the account recovery form. Microsoft offers toll-free numbers in the U.S.: 1-855 270 0615 (or 1-800 865 9408 or 1-800 642 7676). However, Microsoft usually refers hacked or blocked accounts to the recovery wizard and the online support forms, as the identity check is structured there. However, the hotline can support you if you get stuck with the online forms or have any queries. Google / Gmail With Gmail, it’s particularly important to call up the device and security overview. There you can see which devices have recently accessed your account. Unknown entries can be cancelled with just a few clicks. You can find clear instructions in our guide article “Is a hacker logged into your Google account? Here’s how to find out“. Google also provides a detailed guide for a complete recovery: Secure a hacked or compromised Google Account. There you will learn step by step how to reset your password, check recovery options and stop suspicious activity. If you can no longer log in at all, go to the account recovery page linked in the above site and follow the steps provided there. Google does not provide a hotline for free Gmail accounts. The entire process runs via the online help pages and the recovery form. Only paying Google Workspace or Business customers are entitled to telephone support. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Great design Excellent display and speakers Long battery life Capable gaming performance Cons Soldered memory Default profile leaves performance on the table Our Verdict The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 isn’t the beefiest gaming laptop, but it’s a lean, mean machine with stable performance, largely silent cooling, and an overall great package. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 Retailer Price $2,489 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Asus already had a great laptop on its hands with 2024’s ROG Zephyrus G16, and the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 doesn’t change too much. The outward appearance of the laptop is largely the same, continuing to offer a thin and light gaming laptop with an elegant metal build and great display. Asus seems to have taken some of the criticism to heart, though, as it proves a largely quiet running device even when it’s cranked to Turbo settings. And though it has a premium price and trails beefier machines in performance, it remains conveniently portable and even undercuts other design-focused laptops. Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Specs and features CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285H Memory: 16GB LPDDR5X-7467 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5070 8GB 115W Display: 16-inch 2560×1600 240Hz OLED, Glossy, G-Sync Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD Webcam: 1080p IR Connectivity: 1x Thunderbolt 4 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x SD card reader, 1x 3.5mm combo audio Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 90 watt-hours Dimensions: 13.97 x 9.72 x 0.66 inches Weight: 4.01 pounds MSRP: $2,149 as-tested ($2,149 base) This test unit is a special Best Buy model with lower base specifications than Asus’s own store offerings. It has a $2,149 starting price. To get the Zephyrus G16 from Asus directly, you’ll pay $2,799, but you’ll also get bumped up to an RTX 5070 Ti, 32GB of memory, and 2TB of storage. Additionally, Asus offers two even higher configurations. Bumping up to an RTX 5080 and 64GB of memory raises the price to $3,599. For an RTX 5090 and otherwise identical specs, that raises further to $4,599.  The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is an impressive machine. It offers an excellent build, great speakers, a gorgeous display, and fits potent hardware all into a laptop that’s surprisingly thin and light. Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Design and build quality Foundry / Mark Knapp The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is wonderfully built and far sleeker than you’d expect from a gaming laptop, even with the impressively slim models that have been coming out in recent years. It boasts a largely aluminum design with the keyboard deck, base, and display lid all made of metal. The display also has an all glass cover — no plastic bezels. It would be more impressive if it weren’t essentially the same hardware as last year’s Zephyrus G16, but there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken, and the internal components haven’t changed enough to justify a major redesign. All the metal here makes for a firm construction that doesn’t flex much. And even though this is a 16-inch gaming laptop, it weighs only a hair over four pounds. The chassis itself is also just 0.66 inches thick, though its rubber feet add to its overall height. The slim design still has plenty of air intake underneath with a large grille on the bottom panel, but there’s very little exhaust along the back edge, which aims all the exhaust downward. Fortunately, the long rubber foot at the rear of the base prevents any of the exhaust from feeding directly back into the intake fans.  The display has uneven bezels, including a slightly larger one at the bottom that doesn’t look terribly modern but is at least not too unsightly. The thicker top bezel fits in the webcam with Windows Hello tech, which makes it easier to excuse given how convenient this is for quick sign-ins. Chamfered edges around the frame provide a good lip for opening the lid with one hand, and the base keeps planted while doing so. The back of the lid has a stylish slash across it that also integrates some flashy lighting, though it’s not colorful like the RGB keyboard lighting. Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Keyboard, trackpad Foundry / Mark Knapp The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 packs in a great keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard isn’t quite excellent, as it has only subtle contour to the keycaps that doesn’t help with finger centering, and edge stability could use a little improvement. The RGB backlighting also struggles to evenly illuminate larger key legends and secondary functions. But it’s still quite a pleasant keyboard to type on. I was able to reach a typing speed of 126 words-per-minute at 99 percent accuracy. Given this is a 16-inch laptop, it would have been nice to see a number pad, but at least without it the keyboard ends up nicely centered. Asus has squeezed in a massive trackpad that uses up almost all the vertical space available to it with only a thin strip bordered its top and bottom edges. It also spans an extreme width. Between the abundant space for swiping around, the pleasantly soft physical click, and the smooth glass surface, it’s a joy to use. The trackpad also has proven to offer good palm rejection, an issue that held back the Razer Blade 16 and its massive trackpad. Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Display, audio Foundry / Mark Knapp The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is set up well for media. It combines an excellent display and speaker setup. The sizable 16-inch display offers a 2560×1600 resolution and runs at 240Hz for super-smooth visuals. That’s aided along by the panel’s OLED tech, which has fast pixel response times for crisp gameplay and G-Sync support to ensure clean frames and no screen tearing. The display is also wonderfully bright and colorful. It proved capable of hitting 419 nits in SDR and 444 nits in HDR with smaller highlights going brighter still. A 10 percent window in HDR was able to hit 640 nits, and that comes alongside infinite contrast and 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 and sRGB color spaces. Color accuracy was also high with an average dE1976 measured at 0.85 and a max dE of just 2.33. Plenty of high-end gaming laptops have similarly impressive displays, and even some cheaper ones come close. But many laptops skimp on speakers. Asus didn’t. This laptop’s speakers are exceptional. It combines four woofers that balance each other in pairs providing surprising depth for the sound; meanwhile two extra tweeters can deliver crisp high-end. Together, the speakers pump out plenty of volume without distorting or sounding boxed in. Strong sub-bass is still out of the cards, but the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16’s speakers remain impressive for a laptop audio system.  Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The webcam’s performance is mixed. On one hand, it handles exposure well, avoiding blown out highlights or sunken dark details. Even though it’s a 1080p sensor, the visual fidelity is a little lacking with grainy detail anything other than bright lighting and then odd sharpening even in bright light. But the visuals look natural at least, and if you’re just appearing as a small window in a group video call, the quality will be sufficient. The webcam also supports Windows Hello facial recognition, providing a quick and easy way to sign in that has proven handy in testing.  The mics also have mixed performance. They capture my voice quite fully, but they don’t seem to have any processing going on to cancel out room noise. This leads to a bit of room echo, and the mics will pick up background noises quite well, so you’ll want to avoid typing or clicking around with your mouse while you’re on calls.  Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Connectivity Foundry / Mark Knapp The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 offers decent connectivity. It’s a joy to see a laptop spreading out ports of the same type, and the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 puts one USB-A and one USB-C port on each side. Both USB-A ports are 3.2 Gen 2 ports with 10Gbps speeds. The left USB-C port provides Thunderbolt 4 while the right one is only a USB 3.2 Gen 2, and either can support DisplayPort output, though only the right one runs through the GPU for G-Sync support. Asus rounds out the connections with an HDMI 2.1 port and 3.5mm audio jack on the left edge and a full-size UHS-II SD card slot on the right edge. Since the laptop doesn’t include any side vents, all of the ports are situated toward the back half of the laptop as well.  The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 includes a dedicated 200W power brick with a proprietary port on the left edge of the laptop. This is key to getting the full power of the system, but may be a lot to lug around everywhere you go. Thankfully, the system’s USB-C ports can also support power input, letting you juice up on the go with something smaller if you have a GaN charger or other USB-C power source. I was able to trickle charge with a compact 65W PD charger I had handy. Wireless connectivity is also strong. The system supports Wi-Fi 7 and has offered high bandwidth and stability connectivity throughout testing. It’s disappointing to see Bluetooth 5.4 still now that 6.0 exists, but the laptop’s Bluetooth connection at least provided reliable, quickly reconnecting to a paired set of headphones whenever I turned them on and never once dropping that connection.  Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Performance The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 packs in powerful components, so it stands to reason that it would have plenty of performance. And for the most part, this is the case. We can see in the holistic PCMark 10 benchmark that the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 offers plenty of speed for everyday office tasks and even creative workloads, dramatically exceeding the 5,000-point threshold that tends to mark a machine that’ll readily handle most office tasks. It largely keeps pace with similar systems running Intel and AMD hardware.  While general tasks will be a breeze on the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16, once you start getting into more demanding tasks that put serious strain on the system, you may begin to encounter some of its limitations. The CPU included is simply not as potent as what you can get in some of its competitors. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285H’s single-core performance is excellent, but it’s no match for HX-series CPUs from Intel, which many of its competitors include. Across Cinebench R15, R20, R23, and R24, it falls well behind. This lower performance also sees it take longer in our Handbrake video encoding test. While heat could be a factor for the thin Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 in Cinebench R24’s and Handbrake’s longer tests, the lower performance in Cinebench R15, R20, and R23, which are much quicker, suggests it’s just a limitation of this CPU next to the competition.  Graphical performance is also respectable in the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16, though not necessarily what you’d expect from a system with an RTX 5070 and a price tag over $2,000. In the graphically demanding 3DMark Port Royal test, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 lags behind RTX 5070-equipped systems like the Alienware 16X Aurora and Asus ProArtP16, but perhaps more embarrassingly, it even falls short of the RTX 5060-powered Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10 — a system that costs almost half as much. The same fate befalls the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 in Time Spy as well. The curious thing is that the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 isn’t limited to that performance level, but Asus just defaults to it. In fact, using the laptop’s Turbo profile, its Port Royal score leaps up to 8,552 points. This kind of bump from changing power profiles is fairly common, but the fact Asus’s default Performance profile sees the RTX 5070 nerfed to RTX 5060 levels is an odd choice that its competitors don’t seem to be making.  The shortcoming in graphical performance stemming from Asus’s settings combine with the weaker CPU in the system to leave the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 falling behind the pack in actual games. We see it lag the whole field in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which tends to lean a bit more heavily on the CPU than some other games, thus giving those systems with more powerful processors an edge. Again, enabling Turbo mode brings the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16’s average frame rate up to 159.  Cyberpunk 2077 is an especially demanding game, enough so that even the power-limited RTX 5070 could at last come out ahead of the Legion’s RTX 5060, likely aided along by the faster single-core performance of the CPU, which tends to improve frame rates. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 doesn’t pull ahead of its competitors though, unless Turbo mode is enabled, then its average frame rate jumps to 99.  While the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 tends to fall behind the other systems in its default Performance profile, a perk of the system is that it musters that performance while remaining rather quiet. Even under load in its Performance mode, the fans are hushed and hardly a bother. For some, that may be a worthwhile trade-off, and from time to time, when serious performance isn’t essential, it can certainly be a benefit. The system even remains stable with that light fan operation, with it providing 99.1 percent stable performance in 3DMark’s 20-run Steel Nomad Stress Test. The fans really only kick into high gear in Asus’s Turbo mode, and even then they’re not shrill, just a noisy breeze. They also manage the heat well, with the system again maintaining stable performance in the Steel Nomad Stress Test and the surface of the laptop not even getting hot over the course of the test. It’s great to see that Turbo mode can bring the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 largely back into performance parity with its rivals, though it’s equally likely that those systems would recover a good chunk of their leads if they, too, flipped over to their highest power settings.  Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Battery life Conservative power management tends to have a benefit where battery life is concerned, and that proves the case for the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16. In our offline video playback tests, which run a locally stored 4K video on repeat with the display brightness set between 250 and 260 nits, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 managed an impressive 12 hours and 46 minutes, showing past Asus’s own ProArt 16 and dramatically outpacing the other systems running on HX-series Intel processors.  As great a result as that is for a gaming PC, you still shouldn’t expect the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 to be an all-day performer for actual use outside of video playback. It’s good for a gaming PC, but real-world office use tends to see the battery drain after five to six hours. That still beats the two to three hours you can expect from a lot of gaming laptops.  Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Conclusion The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is an impressive machine. It offers an excellent build, great speakers, a gorgeous display, and fits potent hardware all into a laptop that’s surprisingly thin and light. All the more surprising is the fact that the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 doesn’t show much of a struggle managing its heat. By default, it doesn’t take full advantage of its hardware, and it remains quiet thanks to that decision, but full performance is just a couple clicks away and helps the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 keep pace with its competition better. While you’ll still likely want a beefier laptop if you want full performance all the time, there’s something to be said for the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16’s ability to deliver solid performance sometimes and good portability the rest of the time. The pricing on the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 also makes it a true threat to the Razer Blade 16, a system that is thicker, heavier, and generally more expensive for like configurations. Read...