At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Enjoyable and spacious keyboard Lots of ports including Thunderbolt 4 and Ethernet Cons Mediocre build quality and feel Intel Core 5 210H processor isn’t that quick Dim, low-contrast display Sub-par integrated graphics experience Disappointing battery life Our Verdict Lenovo’s ThinkBook 14 has a great keyboard and lots of ports, but its performance and battery life fall way behind the pack. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices How much are you willing to sacrifice for a laptop with tons of ports? The ThinkBook 14 is likely to test the commitment of even the most committed port-fiends. It has Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, USB-A, Ethernet, a full-sized HDMI 2.1, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a 4-in-1 SD card reader, all in a laptop under $1,000. Unfortunately, it also falls way behind the competition in performance and battery life. Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Specifications The Lenovo ThinkBook 14’s specifications are rather basic. It has an Intel Core 5 210H which, though it does provide eight cores (four performance, four efficient), relies on cut-back Intel Graphics and lacks an NPU. The model I reviewed also stuck to Wi-Fi 6, instead of the newer Wi-Fi 7 standard, and had a small 256GB solid state drive. Model number: 21SG000FUS CPU: Intel Core 5 210H, 8 cores with 12 threads Memory: 16GB LPDDR5x Graphics/GPU: Intel Graphics NPU: None Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 60Hz 300-nits Storage: 256GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe solid state drive Webcam: 1080p 30fps camera with privacy shutter Connectivity: 1x Thunderbolt 4 40Gbps / USB-C with Power Delivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB-C 10Gbps, 2x USB-A 5Gbps, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45), 1x 4-in-1 SD card reader Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Biometrics: Fingerprint reader Battery capacity: 45 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.34 x 8.82 in x 0.69 Weight: 3.0 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Home Price: $949.99 MSRP / $828.99 typical retail (CDW) Lenovo’s pricing doesn’t reflect the laptop’s basic hardware. The configuration I tested carries an MSRP of $949.99 on enterprise-focused retailer CDW, though it’s more frequently sold for $828.99. Even then, the ThinkBook’s specifications are lackluster compared to alternatives like the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED or Dell 14 Plus. The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 is a laptop stuck in the past. Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Design and build quality IDG / Matthew Smith The ThinkBook line is Lenovo’s entry-level business and enterprise sub-brand. It’s designed to provide some benefits of ThinkPad laptops at a lower price point. The ThinkBook 14 fulfills that mission in some areas, but design isn’t one of them. I’ll give the Thinkbook credit for one thing: it’s distinctive. The two-tone silver display lid and prominent ThinkBook branding is less subdued than competitors like Dell’s Pro and Acer’s Travelmate line-up. Open the laptop, however, and it’s clearly built to a budget. Plastic is the material of choice. The chassis mostly resists flex but can feel squishy across the middle of the keyboard. It’s also rather light at three pounds. That’s good for portability but underscores the laptop’s budget feel. I thought it felt a bit hollow, as if most of the interior was empty (which, to be clear, isn’t the case). None of this is shocking for a Windows laptop priced under $1,000, but buyers can do better. Asus Zenbook, Dell Plus, and Lenovo IdeaPad laptops tend to offer a more attractive and premium design for the money. Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Keyboard, trackpad IDG / Matthew Smith While it might not look premium, the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 has a great keyboard that’s generally better than most Windows laptops and certainly solid for a laptop under $1,000. The keyboard is spacious, provides good key travel, and benefits from a crisp, snappy key feel. A few keys, like Backspace, are a bit smaller than on a full-sized keyboard, but it’s a spacious and enjoyable experience overall. The ThinkBook 14 I tested had a keyboard backlight, but it’s not standard, so keep that in mind when shopping for the laptop. The backlight was unimpressive, but it did the job. The touchpad measures just a hair under five inches wide and three inches deep, which is typical for a 14-inch Windows laptop. It was responsive in my testing and, importantly, never picked up on unwanted inputs while typing. A few competitors, like the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13.8 and Asus Zenbook 14 OLED, offer a larger touchpad (though, to be fair, Microsoft’s Surface is much more expensive). Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Display, audio IDG / Matthew Smith Most Lenovo ThinkBook 14 configurations, including the one I tested, ship with a 14-inch 1080p IPS display. An optional touchscreen is available, too, and it’s also a 14-inch 1080p IPS panel. The display is a bit disappointing overall. It’s advertised with a maximum brightness of 300 nits and, in my testing, barely exceeded that. That’s not bright for a laptop and it can make the screen difficult to view in brighter rooms. Outdoor use will prove nearly impossible on a sunny day. It’s not a great display for color and contrast, either. Movies and games look muted and washed-out and viewing the display in a dark room will reveal noticeable “IPS glow,” which casts a silver-gray sheen over the display. The recent proliferation of affordable OLED panels has reduced the appeal of basic IPS displays like that found in the ThinkBook 14. The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED, Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1, and Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro all provide more colorful and rich OLED displays and, at current pricing, they’re competitive with the ThinkBook 14. Audio performance is a downside for the ThinkBook 14. The laptop has simple downward-firing speakers that struggle to provide adequate volume and quickly become muddy in music, movies, and games. The speakers are fine for podcasts and video calls, but that’s about it. Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Webcam, microphone, biometrics Most Lenovo ThinkBook 14 configurations ship with a 1080p webcam capable of recording up to 30 frames per second and a dual-array microphone. This is a typical configuration for a laptop sold in 2025, and it provides good video quality and audio quality for video calls. A physical privacy shutter is included. An IR camera with support for Windows Hello is also available but wasn’t on the laptop I reviewed. It did have a fingerprint reader, however, which was bundled into the power button. It worked about as well as usual. The fingerprint reader is often responsive but may struggle if touched slightly off-center or with greasy, damp, or dirty hands. Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Connectivity IDG / Matthew Smith I’ve mostly ragged on the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 so far, and for good reason. It’s behind the competition in several areas. But if you want ports? Oh, boy, does the ThinkBook 14 have ports.  The laptop has one Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C port with USB Power Delivery and DisplayPort, plus a second USB-C port that also supports power. It also has two USB-A ports, full-sized HDMI, a Gigabit Ethernet jack, a 3.5mm combo audio jack, and even a 4-in-1 SD card reader. I like Lenovo’s no-compromise approach. The ThinkBook 14 supports Thunderbolt 4 for fast connections to modern displays, storage, and docks, but it also supports USB-A and Ethernet.  Wireless connectivity, on the other hand, is a miss. The ThinkBook 14 only supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, but most modern laptops have upgraded to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. This won’t be a huge issue for most shoppers, because you need a Wi-Fi 7 router or Bluetooth 5.4 device to see any difference. However, sticking to older standards will make the ThinkBook 14’s wireless connectivity feel dated quickly. Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Bloatware woes We’ll dig into performance in a moment, but, before we do, I need to explain a major problem I experienced while testing the laptop. The Lenovo ThinkBook 14, like most Lenovo laptops, ships with a smattering of Lenovo software. It’s meant to provide all sorts of functionality, from customization of power profiles to improvements to video quality in video calls. Most of this is lumped under Lenovo Vantage, but other services include Lenovo Smart Meeting and Lenovo Now. I quickly noticed that the ThinkBook 14 wasn’t performing as well as expected. On closer inspection, I noticed a program called Lenovo Live Face Filter was constantly battering the CPU, which seemed to also reduce performance in benchmark scores. The solution? I uninstalled software called Lenovo Smart Meeting Components, which apparently included the Live Face Filter. The performance and results below were reached with Live Face Filter turned off. However, users who fail to uninstall it can expect to see a 10 to 20 percent reduction in performance. That’s a terrible penalty for pre-installed bloatware and immediately sinks the ThinkBook 14’s hopes of competing against other laptops. Lenovo needs to pay much closer attention to the behavior of software it ships on its laptops. Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Performance The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 I reviewed was a barebones configuration with an Intel Core 5 210H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB PCIe 4.0 solid state drive. It’s close to the most basic version of the ThinkBook 14 available and its only upgrades—a fingerprint reader and the keyboard backlight—of course have no impact on performance. So, how does the Intel Core 5 210H hold up? Well, not great, even with Lenovo’s Live Face Filter disabled.   IDG / Matthew Smith The ThinkBook 14 was off to a bad start in PCMark 10, where it hit a combined score of just 5,060. That’s a rather low result which puts the ThinkBook behind competitors like the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1, Framework Laptop 12, and Acer Aspire 14 AI. Asus’ older Zenbook 14 OLED, meanwhile, runs away from the pack—which is a big problem for all competitive laptops, as that model is available online for about $850. IDG / Matthew Smith Handbrake results were similarly unimpressive. Though the CPU has eight cores overall, only four are performance cores, and the ThinkBook 14 seems to have trouble sustaining performance over long durations. That puts it at the rear of the pack. IDG / Matthew Smith Cinebench 2024 is no more favorable, once again placing the ThinkBook 14 behind the pack. The laptop fails to sustain a high level of performance over the test’s duration, which tanks the score. It makes the benchmark painful to run, as it takes a long time to complete. IDG / Matthew Smith Graphics performance isn’t a strength for the Lenovo ThinkBook 14, either. The Intel Core 5 210H sticks with Intel Graphics, which has just 48 execution units and a top clock speed of 1.4GHz, and the execution units (EUs) are of an older generation. By comparison, the Intel Arc 140V graphics in the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition provide 64 of Intel’s latest EUs with a max clock of 1.95GHz. Put simply, the ThinkBook 14 ain’t it when it comes to graphics, falling a tad behind the Framework Laptop 12’s Intel UHD graphics and the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1’s AMD Radeon 840M. Even games from the PS4/Xbox One console generation won’t run smoothly without significant cuts to graphics detail and resolution. In summary, the ThinkBook 14 is not a performer. So much so that you might be wondering what, exactly, is up with the Intel Core 210H that powers it. That’s a good question, and it’s worth mentioning that the ThinkBook 14 appears to be significantly behind other laptops with the Intel Core 210H. Those laptops, which include the Asus Vivobook V16 and Dell Inspiron 16 Plus, are larger. They also ship with larger power adapters (150 and 100 watts, respectively). That leads me to speculate the ThinkBook 14’s smaller configuration, powered by a 65-watt adapter, is a bit starved for power. Whatever the case, the results were clear—and not to the ThinkBook’s benefit. Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Battery life and portability The Lenovo ThinkBook 14’s specifications don’t look promising when it comes to battery life, as the laptop has a relatively small 45 watt-hour battery–while that is similar to a MacBook Air 13, it’s smaller than many 13-inch and 14-inch Windows laptops, which tend to land in the 50 to 70 watt-hour range. IDG / Matthew Smith As a result, the ThinkBook’s portability was disappointing. The laptop endured eight hours and 43 minutes, which is barely enough to handle a full workday. And, if anything, I think the battery life test—which uses a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel—was more charitable than my real-world experience. A two-hour visit to a local coffee shop often left me with less than 50 percent of a charge remaining. Keep in mind, too, that this result was achieved with Lenovo’s persistent Live Face Filter software uninstalled. With it installed, the ThinkBook 14’s battery life was just six hours and 28 minutes. I do have one nice thing to say about the ThinkBook 14’s portability. I like the USB-C power adapter. It’s a compact 65-watt charger that’s light and easy to tote in any bag that will fit the laptop. Some competitors at this price point still use brick-style adapters, so it’s good to see a compact charger included. Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Conclusion The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 is a laptop stuck in the past. From its display to its design, to its battery life and performance, nothing about it feels modern. Even its perks are countered by trade-offs that don’t work to its benefit. It has the physical connectivity that a prosumer or frequent flier might want to connect to anything they encounter on the road, but it lacks the performance and battery life to be a great travel companion. It has a keyboard that is great for long typing sessions, but the display is often too dim to easily see what’s on screen. The real problem, however, is that it faces competitors that do better in nearly every metric, aside from connectivity. That’s what ultimately sinks the laptop’s fortunes: if you’ve got about $800 to spend, you’ve no shortage of much better options, from the Asus’ Zenbook 14 to Lenovo’s own Ideapad models. And that’s to say nothing of Apple’s MacBook Air 13, which, if you’re ok with MacOS, is quicker, lighter, delivers far better battery life. Read...

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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Great CPU performance Often record-setting GPU performance Fast SSD and AI performance, too 4K 120Hz display with Mini-LED backlight Lots of connectivity Cons Heavy and bulky So-so keyboard and touchpad RTX 5090 price premium is hard to justify Minimal battery life Our Verdict The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W pairs AMD’s new Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU with Nvidia’s top-tier RTX 5090 mobile GPU. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the combo delivers record-setting performance. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: MSI Raider A18 HX A9W Retailer Price $6,714.89 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices 2025 is shaping up to be a good year if your laptop buying tastes skew towards the equivalent of a family-sized meat-and-cheese platter. The launch of new Nvidia RTX mobile graphics—including the top-tier RTX 5090 with 24GB of VRAM—has the potential for chart-topping performance. Now it’s joined by AMD’s Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, a 16-core CPU with the company’s vaunted 3D V-Cache, an extra stack of L3 cache that can prove useful in games. The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W brings both new chips into one chassis. And, as a bonus, it tosses in 64GB of memory and a 2TB PCIe 5.0 solid state drive. That’s incredible hardware, but the laptop retails for an equally incredible MSRP of $5,099.99. So, is it worth it? MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: Specs and features The highlight of the MSI Raider A18 HX A9W is undoubtedly the combination of AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D processor and Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics. Each is an undisputed heavyweight in its category and should deliver a killer one-two punch of CPU and GPU performance. With that said, however, this MSI Raider A18 HX A9W still must deal with the power and thermal constraints faced by every laptop—and it will be interesting to see the results. The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W delivers additional technical highlights, too, like the PCIe 5.0 solid state drive and the 4K Mini-LED display. Model number: A18?HX?A9WIG-082US CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D Memory: 64GB DDR5-5600 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5090 (Max 175W with Dynamic Boost) NPU: None Display: 18-inch 3840×2400 120Hz Mini-LED with HDR Storage: 1x 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD Webcam: 1080p 30fps camera with Windows Hello support Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 5 / USB-C 4 with DisplayPort and Power Delivery 3.1, 3x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1x SD card reader, 1x HDMI 2.1 (up to 4K @ 120Hz), 1x 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Facial recognition, fingerprint reader Battery capacity: 99 watt-hours Dimensions: 15.91 x 12.11 x 1.26 inches Weight: 7.94 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Pro Price: $5,099.99 MSRP Features like these don’t come cheap, of course, so the Raider A18 HX A9W rings up at $5,099.99. That’s a lot of money! However, it’s not unusually expensive for a top-tier gaming laptop. A variety of high-end laptops retail at higher prices, from fully configured Apple MacBook Pro 16 configurations to top-end Razer Blade, Alienware, and MSI Titan laptops. If $5,099.99 is a bit rich for your blood, MSI provides a configuration with Nvidia’s RTX 5080 for $4,099.99. It’s otherwise identical to the model reviewed here and a good bet for gamers who don’t plan to use the laptop’s GPU for creative or AI workloads. The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W is a CPU, GPU, and storage performance powerhouse. It delivers across the board with strong results in every benchmark, from multi-core sustained CPU workloads to ray-traced gaming and even AI large language models. MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: Design and build quality IDG / Matthew Smith The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W shares a chassis with its Intel-powered sibling, and it’s a substantial piece of hardware. It tips the scales at nearly 8 pounds and measures 1.25 inches thick, as well as close to 16 inches wide. It won’t even fit in a typical backpack or messenger bag meant to carry a laptop. You’ll need a special bag designed for the purpose (and MSI has a bag to sell you). Beyond its imposing size, the Raider 18 provides a functional yet unremarkable aesthetic. The black plastic construction is punctuated by red detailing, creating a decent visual appearance that falls short of the premium feel found in more professionally oriented machines like Razer’s Blade 18. It also lacks the dramatic flair of MSI’s own Titan laptop, which serves more as a statement piece (at an even higher price). The most notable visual quirk is the LED lighting at the front of the laptop, but that trick is emulated by other high-end machines. Still, the Raider 18 feels dependable. There’s not much flex to be found, even in traditional weak spots like the center of the keyboard, and the laptop doesn’t creak or groan when handled. Machines in this category can feel a bit rickety due to their size, bulk, and the numerous chassis components and internal PCBs they’re constructed from. The Raider 18 isn’t as solid as the Razer Blade 18, but it feels more robust than most laptops in its category. MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: Keyboard, trackpad IDG / Matthew Smith MSI stretches a spacious keyboard with numpad across the Raider 18 HX AI’s deck. Most keys feel generously sized though a few, like Caps Lock, remain slightly smaller than standard. The numpad keys match the size of the main alphanumeric keys, which is a welcome change from laptops with undersized numpads. Despite the SteelSeries branding, the keyboard’s feel disappoints. I didn’t notice a difference between this keyboard and typical competitors, including alternatives that are much less expensive, like the Asus TUF series. The large chassis provides ample room for key travel, but the bottoming action is lacking in tactile feedback. The keyboard is still fine, but the Raider’s price tag sets expectations the keyboard doesn’t deliver. RGB backlighting saves the keyboard from complete mediocrity. Owners can customize each key individually through the Steelseries GG app, which handles both lighting profiles and macro configurations. I appreciate this software—it looks polished, works intuitively, and lets you save multiple setups. While these features aren’t groundbreaking, SteelSeries outpaces competitors like Gigabyte and Acer, which lag in software quality. The touchpad is more of a mix. It measures roughly 5 inches wide by 3 inches deep, which isn’t large for an 18-inch gaming laptop. The surface is responsive, but unremarkable, and the physical button action produces a springy yet hollow click. Competitors like the Razer Blade 18 and Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 offer a noticeably larger touchpad. MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: Display, audio IDG / Matthew Smith The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W has the same 18-inch Mini-LED display found in the Intel-powered Raider 18 HX AI. It provides 3840×2400 resolution, which is a bit higher than a typical 4K display (4K is usually 3840×2160), alongside a 120Hz refresh rate. A Mini-LED backlight lights the display with numerous individual LEDs positioned directly behind the LCD panel. Those LEDs can turn on and off individually, which greatly improves contrast. In my testing, the Raider A18 HX can hit a minimum luminance of zero nits, which means its contrast is technically on par with OLED. However, Mini-LED displays suffer a “blooming” issue where bright halos (or inverse shadows) appear around or inside small, high-contrast objects. The MSI Raider A18 HX does a good job of minimizing that issue, and I personally didn’t find it distracting, but it’s something to keep in mind. The Raider A18 HX has a matte panel, rather than a glossy panel, so it doesn’t “pop” in quite the same way. Despite that, the display still provides an incredible color gamut. It’s also ultra-bright and ultra-sharp; the pixel density works out to 252 pixels per inch, which is higher than even a 27-inch 5K monitor (which has 218 pixels per inch). HDR support is great, too, and this is an area where many gamers will prefer the Mini-LED over OLED, because OLED can’t match Mini-LED in HDR brightness. The Raider 18 also provides solid audio performance, though it’s ultimately less impressive. The built-in speakers have plenty of volume, and the laptop includes woofers for low-end bass, but I found the audio presentation was a tad metallic, grating, and muddy as I cranked the volume up. Still, the sound system is good for a Windows laptop. MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: Webcam, microphone, biometrics A decent 1080p webcam is found in the Raider A18 HX A9W. It boasts 1080p resolution and provides good video quality in rooms with moderate to great lighting. Though not suitable for YouTube or other more serious work, the 1080p webcam is ideal for video calls. It also has a physical privacy shutter. The microphone is respectable, too. It picked up my voice without issue and had decent noise cancellation. Notably, the MSI Raider A18 HX A9W doesn’t support Windows’ built-in Studio Effects filters, which use AI for effects like background blur. That feature is supported on the Intel-powered Raider 18 HX AI. The Raider A18 HX A9W supports biometric login with a fingerprint reader and an IR camera for facial recognition. Both biometric login options worked well in my testing. MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: Connectivity IDG / Matthew Smith The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W provides top-tier connectivity. We’re talking two Thunderbolt 5 ports, each with USB-C, DisplayPort, and Power Delivery. Thunderbolt 5 can provide data rates up to 80 Gbps bi-directional which, frankly, is way beyond what most use cases require. They’re particularly useful for people who want to use the laptop with a Thunderbolt 5 dock that has numerous downstream ports. The Thunderbolt 5 ports are joined by three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, HDMI 2.1, a 2.5G Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. There’s an SD card reader, too. Overall, the laptop’s ports offer a great range of physical connectivity that can handle both the latest Thunderbolt and USB peripherals and older USB-A devices. However, as with the Intel-powered MSI Raider 18 HX AI, I have a small nitpick. Both Thunderbolt 5 ports are on the right flank, and at roughly the mid-point between the front and rear of the laptop. That can lead to more cable clutter on your desk, since it’s difficult to neatly hide and route cables connected to these ports. Wireless connectivity is great, as well, with support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4—the latest version of each standard. MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: CPU Performance The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W is, on paper, one of the most expensive, exotic, and powerful laptops ever sold. It provides two heavy hitters. The first is AMD’s Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, a 16-core and 32-thread chip with AMD’s 3D V-Cache, which could improve performance in games. It’s joined by Nvidia’s RTX 5090 mobile, the most powerful RTX-series mobile GPU in Nvidia’s line-up which, by extension, makes it the most capable mobile gaming GPU available right now. As mentioned earlier, PC World also reviewed an MSI Raider 18 laptop with Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285HX and Nvidia’s RTX 5080. It was a bit less expensive at $4,499. So, does the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D and RTX 5090 provide a useful upgrade? IDG / Matthew Smith PCMark 10, a holistic system benchmark, spat out a result of 8,581 on the MSI Raider A18 HX A9W. That’s highly competitive with other laptops in this category, though it doesn’t quite match some Intel-powered laptops we’ve recently tested. Still, the results here are very close, so this benchmark alone isn’t enough to make any firm statements about how the AMD Radeon 9 9955HX3D and Nvidia RTX 5090 perform. IDG / Matthew Smith Next up is Handbrake, a heavily multi-threaded CPU benchmark, where we use the CPU cores (and not any special encoding hardware on the chip) to transcode a feature-length film from .MP4 to .MKV. This benchmark shows a lean towards Intel’s chips. This is perhaps due to their higher number of cores overall. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX has 24 total cores (though only eight are performance cores, with the remaining 16 being efficiency cores). This is a trend across all Intel and AMD chips, with the Intel P-core + E-core architecture being a better fit for this benchmark than AMD’s CPUs that only have high-performance cores, but fewer cores overall. IDG / Matthew Smith Next, we jump over to Cinebench 2024, the latest version of the popular benchmark, which again places a heavy load on all CPU cores. In this test, however, the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D provides performance that is more directly competitive with Intel’s best CPUs. In fact, the MSI Raider A18 HX A9W’s score of 2,111 is the second-best PCWorld has recorded from a laptop to date—coming just a hair behind the MSI Raider 18 HX A2XW with Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX. The AMD and Intel CPUs are basically tied here, and both deliver results that rank among the strongest from any laptop ever sold. The results might seem a bit disappointing, however, at least if you’re an AMD fan. The AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D is great, but in PCWorld’s tests, it didn’t clobber Intel’s top-tier equivalents. But let’s be clear here. The AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D didn’t run away from the pack, but it’s still among the most powerful mobile CPUs we’ve ever tested, and certainly an outstanding pick for CPU-heavy workloads. MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: GPU Performance However, the 9955HX3D is aimed firmly at gamers, as the chip’s 3D V-Cache can often provide an advantage there. The RTX 5090 also deserves time in the spotlight, too. So, let’s move on to the 3D benchmarks. IDG / Matthew Smith 3DMark, the gold standard of 3D gaming benchmarks, produced mixed results that ultimately favor the MSI Raider A18 HX A9W. The AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D and Nvidia RTX 5090 didn’t leap ahead in 3DMark Time Spy, which is an older (though demanding) benchmark that doesn’t test ray tracing. But in the Port Royal benchmark, which does test ray tracing, the Raider A18 HX A9W leaped ahead to a score of 16,416. That’s the new high-water mark in PC World’s testing, and by a respectable margin—it’s roughly 11 percent quicker than the quickest Intel/Nvidia RTX 5080 laptop we have tested to date. IDG / Matthew Smith Next up is Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which PCWorld tests at 1080p and on Highest detail, but with ray-tracing off. Here the MSI Raider averaged 230 frames per second, which is an excellent result. It’s not the best we’ve seen, however, so there’s not much benefit to selecting the RTX 5090 over the RTX 5080 in this game. IDG / Matthew Smith Now we move on to Metro: Exodus, which we run at Extreme detail but without raytracing turned on. Here, the Raider A18 managed to reach an average of 99 frames per second, which is an excellent result. It’s only a minor uplift over RTX 5080 laptops, however, so the RTX 5090 isn’t a compelling GPU upgrade for this title under the conditions we tested it. IDG / Matthew Smith We wrap up gaming testing with Cyberpunk 2077, as the graph shows, the MSI Raider 18 was quick in any situation, hitting new high scores. The uplift was often rather substantial, too—20 FPS or more at 1080p and Ultra detail, and 5 FPS or more in the Overdrive ray-raced preset (which is meaningful when most laptops average 30 to 40 FPS).And that’s with Nvidia DLSS turned off. I also tried the game with the DLSS Transformer model in use, with Nvidia DLAA upscaling quality and DLSS Frame Gen 3x turned on. With all those options in use, Cyberpunk 2077 averaged 127 frames per second at 1080p in the Overdrive ray-traced preset. That’s an incredible result, and in general, Cyberpunk 2077 felt incredibly smooth—smoother than on any laptop I’ve tested so far. The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W’s overall GPU performance is outstanding. With that said, the RTX 5090 is a luxury. Choosing the RTX 5090 over the RTX 5080 adds $1,000 to the Raider A18 HX A9W’s price, but provides a performance gain of about 10 percent, at best. That’s tough to justify. MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: AI performance When it comes to AI, however, the RTX 5090 is a bit more appealing—and it mostly comes down to the memory. The RTX 5080 has 16GB of VRAM, which is a healthy figure for gaming, but rather cramped if you want to run AI models on your laptop. The RTX 5090, however, provides 24GB of VRAM. That increase means it’s possible to offload larger models like Google Gemma 3 27B and Qwen3 32B to the GPU. Both weigh in at a tad above 16GB, which is above the VRAM available on the RTX 5080. Google Gemma 3 27B produced an average of 12.67 tokens per second across three prompts and replies, that spanned about 1,000 tokens each. That’s a solid result and more than twice the speed of the Raider 18 HX AI, as that laptop, which was tested with an RTX 5080, didn’t have enough VRAM to execute the model on the GPU. On top of that, models like Google Gemma 3 27B are more intelligent than their smaller siblings. In that way, the RTX 5090 can provide a boost to both model quality and the speed at which responses are generated. MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: SSD performance The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W’s solid state drive performance deserves special mention. Like its Intel-powered sibling, the Raider 18 HX AI, the A18 has a PCIe 5.0 solid state drive. In this case, it’s the 2TB Samsung PM9E1. And, wow, does it deliver on performance. I measured CrystalDiskMark read speeds of 14654MB/s and write speeds of 11046MB/s (in SEQ1M Q8T1). Those are huge figures. If you need storage performance, the MSI Raider has the goods.  MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: Battery life and portability The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W does all it can to provide acceptable battery life. It includes a 99-watt-hour battery, which is the largest found in laptops due to limitations on the size of lithium-ion batteries allowed on flights. It also supports hybrid graphics, meaning the powerful and power-hungry RTX 5090 can switch off, handing graphics responsibilities to the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D’s miserly Radeon 610M integrated graphics. IDG / Matthew Smith Unfortunately, it’s not enough to provide much battery life. The Raider endured a bit under three hours of use in our standard battery test, which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel. My subjective use seemed to provide slightly better results, but I still found that just a couple of hours of use could leave the battery with just 30 percent of its charge left in the tank. To make matters worse, the Raider ships with a huge 400-watt power brick. To be fair, it’s not that large for a 400-watt unit, but it’s still among the larger power bricks I’ve seen so far in 2025. While the power brick connects over a proprietary connector, the laptop can be powered over USB-C. That won’t deliver enough power to fully handle the laptop in all load situations, however, so you may see the battery discharge while connected to USB-C power. While the Raider A18’s battery life isn’t great, it isn’t much worse than that of other laptops in this segment. In general, you’re going to get four or five hours, at most. The one clear exception is the Razer Blade 16, which stretched battery life to more than 10 hours. That’s thanks to its much less powerful, but much more power-efficient, AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU. MSI Raider A18 HX A9W: Conclusion The MSI Raider A18 HX A9W is a CPU, GPU, and storage performance powerhouse. It delivers across the board with strong results in every benchmark, from multi-core sustained CPU workloads to ray-traced gaming and even AI large language models. Compared to its Intel-powered alternative, the Raider 18 HX AI, the A18 is broadly similar but scores small wins in gaming and storage performance. The A18 also notches a large win in AI performance thanks to the RTX 5090’s 24GB of VRAM. It’s not a perfect laptop. The Raider A18 is thick, heavy, and not much to look at. It also suffers a mediocre keyboard and touchpad and, as you might expect, can be loud under full load. The RTX 5090 version is also quite expensive at $5,099.99; the less expensive RTX 5080 model, priced at $4,099.99, is a better value in many situations, as it has the same AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU, and the RTX 5080 only slightly lags the RTX 5090 in games. But at the end of the day, performance matters, and the Raider A18 HX A9W is an obvious choice if you want the best performance you can find in a modern laptop. It set records in multiple benchmarks and was still competitive in benchmarks where it didn’t top the charts. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Solid CPU performance in its class Sturdy metal build Excellent 120Hz OLED display Cons Battery life comes up lacking Weak iGPU versus Intel Arc Tricky keyboard Our Verdict The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is a capable enough 2-in-1, with ample CPU performance and a gorgeous display. But it’s a little bit boring, has a troubling keyboard, offers weak iGPU performance, and sacrifices battery life. To still have a $1,509 price tag with that many trade-offs puts it in a tough position. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: HP OmniBook X Flip 14 Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is here to stretch the OmniBook family even further. The branding was reintroduced alongside the introduction of Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs, set to usher in a new era of AI-powered systems. To that end, the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 features either a recent AMD Ryzen AI chip or an Intel Core Ultra 200-series chip, both of which have NPUs on deck. That said, plenty of other systems are doing the same thing, and the utility remains questionable.  Beyond this AI-everywhere bandwagoning, the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is actually a fairly straightforward 2-in-1, and it has the looks of one. It’s a higher tier among OmniBooks, which means it comes with price tags ranging from $1,000 and up. The competition gets fierce once you break $1,000. And the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 has a hard time proving it merits the price tag. It’s a fine laptop, but it has little beyond a great display to get excited about.  HP OmniBook X Flip 14 : Specs and features CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 Memory: 32GB LPDDR5x-7500 Graphics/GPU: AMD Radeon 860M Display: 14-inch 2880×1800 OLED touchscreen, glossy Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD Webcam: 5MP + IR Connectivity: 1x USB4 Type-C with Power Delivery and DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB-C 10Gbps with Power Delivery and DisplayPort 2.1, 2x USB-A 10Gbps, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 59 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.32 x 8.60 x 0.7 inches Weight: 3.12 pounds MSRP: $1,509 as-tested ($1,099 base) The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 clearly has enough might to keep up with general workloads. The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 launched with a stated starting price of $1,099 at Best Buy. That configuration provides an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 chip with 24GB of memory, 1TB of storage, and a 1920×1200 IPS touchscreen. HP offers its own configurations, which actually start with lower-end specs than that for $1129. HP includes upgrade options to the memory and display. Our test configuration represents the highest spec, coming with 32GB of memory, 1TB of storage, and a 2880×1800 OLED display. As tested, the system costs $1,509.  Separate from this, HP has an Intel-powered version which it interestingly has at a lower $999 starting price. While we can’t determine how similar the two versions are without testing, it’s a solid guess that the Intel version has better graphics, worse CPU performance, and longer battery life based on everything we’ve been seeing from the latest systems running Intel and AMD mobile chips.  Even though the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 has just launched, HP has already begun offering discounts. I’ve spotted it going for as much as $500 off.  HP OmniBook X Flip 14 : Design and build quality IDG / Mark Knapp The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is a refined but simplistic two-in-one laptop. It has nicely rounded corners and smooth edges for comfort, but it’s fairly plain to look at. Perhaps the only little bit of real visual intrigue is the lattice-less keyboard, but that comes with its own downsides, which we’ll get into later. Included in that nice build is an expansive use of aluminum, which is anodized and sandblasted, giving it a pleasingly smooth texture. The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 still has subtle flex here and there, but feels plenty rigid. It should feel sturdy, though, as it’s not exactly thin or light for a 14-inch laptop, measuring 0.7 inches thick and 3.12 pounds.  Though laptops have come a long way in trimming the excesses in their designs, the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 isn’t quite there. It has relatively thick top and bottom bezels, around its display and an extra little strip of plastic below the display. As a result, it doesn’t feel quite as futuristic as something like the XPS 13.  In between the base of the laptop and the display, you’ll find the typical 360-degree hinges on either side, which allow the laptop to flip over into tent mode and tablet mode. To help keep the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 in its tablet position, HP has integrated strong magnets that hold it open so the display doesn’t flop around. These magnets also serve to keep the lid closed when the laptop is stored away. The lid doesn’t have a very good lip to get ahold of when trying to open the laptop, and with the fairly firm hinge, the magnets, and light base, it becomes difficult to get the laptop open. If I had shorter fingernails, I think I’d truly struggle getting it open.  The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 works with a stylus, too. HP’s included stylus latches onto the side of the system using the magnets as well. This can be reasonably secure, as long it’s in the correct position. The thing is, the stylus is happy to latch on loosely in several other positions.  The laptop sits on very thin, long rubber feet that barely lift the base up at all. This creates a very small channel for airflow while simultaneously not creating much surface area to get traction on tables or desks. While normally it would be a little bit concerned about this kind of constraint, the fact is that the grille underneath only provides a small hole for airflow, and is likely the limiting factor. It’s curious that there is such a wide grille on the underside, as much of it seems to lack purpose. Even where the fan is located, HP has taped off some of the grille, so only a portion of the fan is able to pull air in. Given all that, it’s not surprising that the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 can get a bit warm in everyday use. Above the display, HP fits a small webcam with a privacy shutter. But the shutter has black and white stripes on it that can be hard to distinguish from glare, rather than an easy-to-see red dot like some of its competitors. HP packs the laptop’s speakers into slits that sit along the front edge of the laptop. This somewhat cleverly sees them face forward in the laptop position, tent position, and tablet position (if you have them turned to face you).  HP OmniBook X Flip 14 : Keyboard, trackpad IDG / Mark Knapp HP had a decent keyboard on its hand with the 2024 introduction of its OmniBook lineup. But this year, HP has taken a page — the worst page — from Dell’s playbook and tried copying the near gapless design of its recent XPS laptops while also ditching the fun multi-color design it had started out with. The result is a packed-in keyboard with very flat keys and little contouring to feel out what you’re typing on. While it’s still possible to type by feel, if you have a tendency to drift slightly, as I do, you may struggle to regularly recalibrate because you won’t feel the edges of the keys. The extra width of the keycaps also makes them simply less stable than they might otherwise have been.  I did manage 107 words-per-minute at 98 percent accuracy in Monkeytype, but it felt like I was rushing the whole time, and the keys simply didn’t have the greatest feel. When typing quickly, the actuation and bottom-out point don’t end up feeling very distinct. The trackpad is a better experience. It’s sizable for a 14-inch laptop, lets my fingers glide along smoothly, and has a gentle hardware click with a shallow travel. It’s nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.  HP OmniBook X Flip 14 : Display, audio IDG / Mark Knapp The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 packs in an exceptional display. It packs in a resolution of 2880×1800 onto its 14-inch panel. This is an OLED display that’s capable of reaching 395 nits (for a full white screen) alongside infinite contrast. And it’s very colorful, achieving 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. that color is largely accurate as well with the average Delta E of 0.94 and a max of 2.4. To top it off, the panel is capable of going up to 120Hz and supports VRR down to 48Hz.  All of this combines to make for a display that looks great for just about anything you’re doing. Movies and TV will look good, games are vibrant and smooth, and everyday office work just pops a little bit more. It is glossy, though, which can make it hard to see with bright ambient lighting. IDG / Mark Knapp The display isn’t just an output either. It has touch input allowing for quick selection and easy scrolling. And it works with HP’s included stylus. I find the stylus quite responsive, making for easy and precise input. But I struggle to avoid touchscreen inputs while using the stylus. Some sort of better palm rejection or a quick toggle to disable the touchscreen but keep the stylus functioning would be a big help.  The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 speakers produce nice and clear sound, even at its max volumes. They do get a touch harsher at high volumes, but they’re not terrible. The speakers lack much bass, which leaves music and movies feeling a bit flat. But they’re a solid choice for listening to speech and presentations. HP OmniBook X Flip 14 : Webcam, microphone, biometrics The webcam on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 produces sharp video that looks quite good for a laptop’s built-in camera. Brightness levels can shift around a bit as the camera makes on-the-fly exposure adjustments, and it doesn’t always get it right on the first try, but it hasn’t looked outright bad in my testing. The camera also provides facial recognition for Windows Hello authentication.  The mic array does a stellar job focusing in on my voice. Even with a fan blowing hard just a foot away from the laptop, it only picked up my voice. I could clap loudly in front of the laptop while I spoke as well, and the mics would still only pick up my voice. And even with their noise suppression, my voice sounded clear and not digitized in any meaningful way.  HP OmniBook X Flip 14 : Connectivity IDG / Mark Knapp Despite being a much smaller system than the Flip 16, the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 actually features the same number and types of ports. That gives you two USB-C ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a USB-A port on the left side. And on the right side, you’ll find another USB-A port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. One of the Type-C ports offers USB4 speeds while the other is limited to 10Gbps, but both support power delivery and DisplayPort 2.1. Both USB-A ports also can reach 10Gbps.  For wireless connections, the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 uses Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. In my time testing, I’ve never struggled to get the laptop online, and have enjoyed fast internet speeds, with the laptop readily taking advantage of my fiber internet connection.  HP OmniBook X Flip 14 : Performance The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 has the makings of a fairly potent 2-in-1 with its AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor and 32GB of memory. But its pricing leaves it wide open to competition. The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 only lags a bit behind in terms of specifications and may make sacrifices in its bill of materials, but it costs less than half as much. The MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo brings the rival Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, as much RAM, double the storage, a bigger battery, a slightly smaller size, and a comparable aluminum build all for $1,499, though it doesn’t get the sharp OLED panel. Lenovo offers a compelling alternative in the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition, which was $2,336 as tested and well equipped, albeit only with a 1200p IPS display (though a low-power one with an excellent anti-reflective finish). And Lenovo has a knack for discounting its ThinkPad prices by almost inconceivable amounts (if you can wait a few months). But perhaps the HP OmniBook X Flip 14’s biggest threat comes from the Asus ProArt PX13, another little 2-in-1 that tucks in a more powerful AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, an RTX 4050, 32GB of memory, 1TB of storage, a 2880×1800 OLED display of its own for $1,699, a price that’s way too close to the HP OmniBook X Flip 14’s for comfort.  The kit inside the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 gives it respectable performance. Its processor can cruise along in daily operation and light productivity workloads quite well, and we see that confirmed by the holistic PCMark 10 benchmark. Here, the speed of the CPU, storage, and integrated graphics all weigh into the score, and the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 clearly has enough might to keep up with general workloads. A score of 5,000 is pretty good, but the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 goes well beyond that. That said, the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 really only leaves the Dell in its dust, as MSI’s laptop is very close in performance and largely held back by its slower storage. Lenovo and Asus both get away from the HP OmniBook X Flip 14, with Lenovo benefiting from even faster storage and stronger integrated graphics and the Asus ProArt PX13 leveraging its RTX 4050 for a big leg up in content creation.  When it comes to raw CPU performance, the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 benefits greatly from the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350. This recent lineup of AMD CPUs offers excellent single-core performance that comes close to matching Intel’s, but it also delivers a ton of cores to really power through multithreaded workloads. We see that clearly in our Handbrake test, which encodes a large video file. The eight cores (all with multithreading capabilities) zoom past the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V. Even Dell’s six core CPU gets out ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V. But the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is still outdone by the Asus ProArt PX13, which puts its 12-core AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 to work. The results are actually somewhat surprising, as thermal throttling in this test can make some “more powerful” machines still fall by the wayside. So the fact the compact ProArt PX13 still manages to lead the pack here is a good indicator not only of its CPU performance but of Asus’s cooling and power management.  Cinebench can show us a bit more about the CPU performance of each machine, measuring burst speed in earlier versions of the benchmark, helping highlight throttling in Cinebench R24, and providing both single- and multi-core performance measurements. The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 consistently leads the Dell, Lenovo, and MSI systems for multi-core performance, though its lead narrows in Cinebench R24, likely due to its meager cooling system. But again, we see the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 fall way behind the ProArt PX13, which keeps its CPU cruising far ahead of the pack, only ever lagging behind in Cinebench R24’s single-core test, where it just narrowly trails the Intel-based systems.  As great as they are for CPU performance, the recent AMD chips just aren’t offering integrated graphics as solid as Intel’s Arc iGPUs. This sees the tables turn for the HP OmniBook X Flip 14, which falls way behind the Lenovo and MSI systems in 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark. That same weakness hits the Dell even harder, but not the Asus. Since the ProArt PX13 can turn to its RTX 4050 instead of its integrated graphics, it not only leaps ahead of the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 but also soars past the MSI and Lenovo systems by a mile.  Even though the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is a decent performer, seeing it so consistently and thoroughly shown up by the Asus ProArt PX13 — a machine that’s less than $200 more expensive — puts it in a tough spot.  HP OmniBook X Flip 14 : Battery life The hope is that for every shortcoming in performance will be made up for in efficiency. That’s a hope largely realized by the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition and MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo. While they struggled to get ahead of the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 in performance, they benefited from excellent battery life. The MSI system managed over 21 hours in our battery test, and Lenovo’s dazzled us with over 24.5 hours, even with just a 57Wh battery — the smallest of the bunch. The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 almost doesn’t even deserve to be compared to them, as it fell short of 11 hours. Even the Dell stepped up with over 15 hours, though that’s still a meager result for recent laptops. What is perhaps most astounding is that the Asus ProArt PX13 yet again got ahead of the HP OmniBook X Flip 14. Asus managed over 14 hours. Somehow, that little Asus system — which is smaller and lighter than HP’s — managed to pack in a more potent CPU, a discrete GPU, a bigger battery to let it run faster and longer than the HP OmniBook X Flip 14.  Local video playback tests are also rather favorable tests, especially when a display can slow down its refresh rate and turn off pixels to display black letterboxing, as is the case for the HP OmniBook X Flip 14. In real world use, with Wi-Fi on, plenty of tabs going in Chrome, and plenty of white on the screen, battery life can drop. I found the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 up to the task of getting through an eight hour workday, but only with some hand-holding and a slightly dimmed display. If I wasn’t careful, it would fall a bit short.  HP OmniBook X Flip 14 : Conclusion The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is fine, but it just doesn’t have the sauce. It provides respectable performance and a gorgeous display, but trades battery life to deliver that. While Windows laptops have been seeing leaps and bounds forward in terms of battery life, the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 fails to take much more than a few steps forward. The AMD processor is part to blame, but HP bears some responsibility as well.  When you then factor in that the system is a little boring, has a contentious keyboard, and comes with a price tag that puts it in dangerous waters, it just becomes a laptop that’ll be easy to overlook. When Asus can pack in a better CPU, discrete graphics, and make its system run longer for close to the same price, what shot does the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 really have? The answer: not a very good one, unless HP wants to keep the huge discounts it was offering toward the tail end of my testing. Read...

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Amazon’s Prime Day 2025 sales event is almost here and there are already early-bird deals to be found on chargers and power banks. This year, Prime Day runs from July 8 through July 11, and will include some great bargains. So, whether you’re looking to snag a travel-friendly pocket charger or upgrade to a high-capacity drive, there is no better time to get discounted chargers and power banks. You’ll need to be a Prime member to take advantage of Amazon’s steep discounts. If you aren’t a member already, check out our guide for how to get Amazon Prime for free. As a tech editor, I’ve been following and writing about the latest tech deals professionally for years, and have developed a keen eye for finding the best sales from all over the internet. My picks take into account a combination of online reviews from tech sites like PCWorld (when available), user feedback, and pricing history. Read on for all of the best deals on chargers and power banks, and be sure to check out our Amazon Prime Day Tech Deals 2025 hub for more great sales across all the tech categories. Best early Prime Day 2025 deals on chargers & power banks Anker 622 MagGo, 5,000 mAh/1x USB-C/Magsafe-compatible, $33.99 (29% off on Amazon) Blavor Solar Charger Power Bank, 10,000 mAh/2x USB-C/1x USB-A, $23.99 (40% off on Amazon) Anker 621 MagGo, 5,000 mAh/1x USB-C/Magsafe-compatible, $31.99 (20% off on Amazon) Anker Nano 3-in-1 Portable Charger, 10,000 mAh/1x USB-C/Wall plug, $34.99 (22% off on Amazon) INIU Portable Charger, 10,000 mAh/2x USB-A/1x USB-C, $17.99 (18% off on Amazon) Charmast Portable Charger, 10,000 mAh/2x USB-A/1x USB-C/1x micro-USB/1x Lightning, $19.99 (33% off on Amazon) OHOVIV Portable Charger, 50,000 mAh/2x USB-A/1x USB-C/1x micro-USB, $34.99 (83% off on Amazon) LoveLedi Portable Charger, 40,000 mAh/2x USB-A/1x USB-C, $20.15 (28% off on Amazon) This Prime Day 2025 early deals are already heating up. The Anker 622 MagGo Battery for $14 off on Amazon is a personal favorite thanks to its charging stand as well as its Magsafe charging compatibility for convenient on-the-go charging. If you need something rugged and reliable that you can bring on even the harshest of adventures, then look no further than the Blavor Solar Charger Power Bank on sale for $17 off on Amazon. This absolute tank of a power bank can recharge without the need for an outlet thanks to its built-in solar panel, and its IPX5 waterproof rating. FAQ 1. What should I look for in a portable charger and power bank? Quality can differ greatly among power banks, so it’s best to stick to recognizable brands like Anker, Mophie, Belkin, and the like. That said, there are a few things you should always look for when shopping for a power bank. First, make sure the battery pack is Quick Charge 2.0, 3.0, or PD certified. Next, don’t put too much confidence in a company’s claims that it can charge certain devices in a specific amount of time, such as the pack can charge an iPhone 15 in two hours. Focus more on the battery capacity, along with weight and size. Larger capacities in the 20,000 mAh or higher range should be enough for most small devices such as tablets or smartphones. Finally, make sure that the power bank comes with all of the correct connectivity options you need—USB-A or USB-C, etc. 2. What battery capacity should I look for in a charger? For a portable power bank that you can easily travel with, you should look for a minimum of 10,000 mAh. Most models these days even offer 20,000 mAh for reasonable prices. The more mAh, the better. Just be sure to weigh your capacity needs against the physical size of the power bank. Generally, the more mAh a power bank has, the larger its physical size and the heavier it is, as well. Therefore, we recommend when looking at a power bank, you first consider the amount of power you need to charge your devices, and then adjust your expectations according to the size and weight you are willing to carry around with you. 3. What is mAh capacity? The mAh (milliampere per hour) capacity rating refers to the available storage capacity for a battery. A higher number means that the battery can store more energy and has a longer battery life when charging a device. So for example, an iPhone 13 Pro Max’s battery is rated at 4,352 mAh. This means that a power bank with 10,000 mAh can fully recharge that phone a little over twice before running out of power. 4. Will tariffs affect portable charger and power bank prices? Yes, it’s likely that any tariffs on foreign imported power bank products or their component are going to lead to an increase in prices for the consumer. Many of the most common portable charger and power bank brands are located in, or are produced in China and other various Asian countries facing heavy tariffs. Since companies typically don’t want, or can’t afford, to eat these increased costs they usually shift the burden to consumers. At this point it’s still hard to tell how much prices will increase; just because a 20% tariff is imposed on a country’s goods doesn’t mean power banks and chargers will become that much more expensive. Every company will adjust prices differently and products with individual battery components—included in power banks—will vary due to the tariff effects on each component. 5. Is now a good time to buy a portable charger or power bank? The prospect of tariff-induce price increases may seem daunting, but I believe the timing on this Prime Day may actually make for a great time to buy a new portable charger or power bank so long as you time it right. Currently, tariffs have been paused until July 9 with many countries scrambling to make deals exempting technology products. This means that you might have a small window to get in and snag a good deal on a power bank during Prime Day before any additional tariffs take effect. Read...

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