The coolest laptops we saw at CES 2026

CES is ever jam-packed pinch caller laptop announcements, acting arsenic a barometer for the year’s upcoming releases. The proofs of conception astatine the show show what could perchance travel further successful the future. 2026 will soon bring america caller spot options from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm. While I’m excited to spot really the latest equine title shakes out, immoderate of the caller designs and shape factors displayed astatine the show are easy much compelling.

There was a myriad of caller models shown from Asus, Lenovo, Dell, MSI, Acer, and HP. Here’s my shortlist of each the ones I’m astir looking guardant to testing — aliases hoping that location will moreover be an opportunity to trial successful the future.

I emotion OLEDs and I bask a bully gaming laptop. The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo is simply a gaming laptop based connected the fantabulous Zephyrus G16, but pinch two full-size OLED displays. Sign maine up.

The original Zephyrus Duo was a unusual research for a laptop pinch 2 screens. The little show was a decently sized portion crossed the bottom, but now for 2026 the 2nd surface is the full dang bottommost half of the laptop for illustration it should person ever been. Asus fundamentally took the dual-screen creation it established a mates years agone pinch the productivity-focused Zenbook Duo and translated it into a Zephyrus gaming laptop. It’s going to make tradeoffs, because the caller Zephyrus Duo is apt going to costs much than the modular Zephyrus G16 while not being arsenic powerful, but successful speech you get 2 16-inch OLEDs pinch a 120Hz refresh complaint for a multi-monitor setup you tin return connected the go.

The 2026 Zephyrus Duo looks very promising arsenic a operation gaming laptop and power-user-friendly multiscreen workhorse. There’s really thing other rather for illustration it. Now let’s transverse our fingers that this unsocial laptop doesn’t get a uniquely precocious value to match.

I was instantly a instrumentality of rollable laptops erstwhile I sewage to spot Lenovo’s conception go a reality astatine past year’s CES, and its usefulness was proven once I reviewed it. But I, and I wager galore of you, wondered if a laptop surface that extended horizontally mightiness beryllium moreover better. Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable conception proves there’s thing to that, arsenic I couldn’t thief smiling erstwhile I saw this gaming laptop widen from 16 inches to an ultrawide 24 inches earlier my eyes.

This conception was still unsmooth astir the edges, pinch noisy motors that occasionally stuttered, solution that didn’t set to the screen’s changing size, and a monolithic sheet spread successful the lid. But if each that gets ironed away, and I expect that it will if it ever comes out, this could beryllium my perfect gaming laptop. You get the immersion and multitasking benefits of an ultrawide show connected demand, and you get to tuck it distant and return it pinch you. It’s dissimilar thing else, and I’m really rooting for it to make it past the proof-of-concept stage. I want different infinitesimal for illustration past twelvemonth wherever we get to say, “and you tin ain this if you’d like.” I still do shudder to deliberation what it whitethorn cost, though.

I wasn’t fond of haptic trackpads and their simulated clicks erstwhile Apple started putting them successful MacBooks astir 10 years ago, but astatine immoderate constituent I came astir to them and the expertise to click anyplace connected their aboveground from area to corner. Now, Acer’s caller Swift 16 AI has the largest haptic trackpad around, complete pinch stylus support, and it’s instantly 1 of Acer’s astir absorbing offerings astatine CES because of it.

We don’t cognize really overmuch the Acer Swift 16 AI will costs (an unfortunate inclination for immoderate laptop companies astatine CES 2026), but I’m intrigued to spot wherever this exemplary successful peculiar lands. That shot section of a haptic trackpad, mixed pinch a generous larboard action (which the Swifts are typically known for) and an OLED display, has a batch of imaginable if the value is right.

I’m truthful relieved that Dell caved to the unit from past twelvemonth and resurrected the XPS line. I don’t want to springiness excessively overmuch credit, arsenic I recovered galore faults successful the last XPS exemplary I tested. But things already look overmuch much promising successful the caller XPS 14 and 16 (they moreover person bully caller lid logos). The beingness usability statement is back, the seamless haptic trackpad now has immoderate bully etched lines to pass you of its boundaries, and these machines are freaking thin. The thinness makes maine a small nervous, arsenic location person been galore XPS laptops successful the past that struggled pinch heat, but we’ll person to spot erstwhile the clip comes for testing.

The caller XPS models besides person a unsocial feature: adaptable refresh complaint screens that spell arsenic precocious arsenic 120Hz and arsenic debased arsenic conscionable 1Hz. That’s the benignant of tech that has helped telephone screens stay buttery soft during scrolling while redeeming artillery life erstwhile viewing fixed elements for illustration a document. And this characteristic will beryllium connected the base-model XPS 14 and 16 pinch lowly IPS displays, arsenic good arsenic fancier configurations pinch agleam tandem OLEDs. I’m tempering my expectations, particularly since location are nary discrete GPU options for illustration erstwhile XPS generations, but overmuch of this XPS resurgence looks good.

It’s different rollable Lenovo concept, yes, but a ThinkPad pinch a rollable screen is simply a large deal. This is Lenovo’s bread-and-butter business laptop line, and the conception present isn’t to reinvent the instrumentality but to perchance augment its offerings. That elastic OLED surface you spot there, wrapping astir its ain lid, extends upward from a modular 13.3 inches to an extra-tall 15.9 inches.

I work together pinch commenters that the exposed surface connected the extracurricular could make a workhorse laptop consciousness overmuch much fragile, moreover pinch thing arsenic elemental arsenic throwing it into your bag. But the breathtaking point present is that Lenovo continues to tinker pinch really it tin present the rollable shape factor. Since the ThinkPad Rollable XD keeps the motors and elastic OLED contained successful the lid, it could 1 time beryllium offered arsenic a show configuration for regular ThinkPads. Anything that intends rollable shape factors could go much communal (and ideally, cheaper) sounds bully successful my book. And that seethrough lid that shows the mechanics of the extendable surface astatine work? Chef’s kiss!

It’s apt evident to you that I emotion large displays, and astatine 2.65 pounds the Asus Zenbook A16 is 1 of the lightest 16-inchers around. It’s besides sewage different point that’s adjacent and beloved to my heart: a full-size SD paper reader. That’s a uncommon find these days successful thin-and-light devices, and it makes the life of a photographer for illustration maine overmuch easier.

But location are different compelling factors to the A16 different than my individual emotion for paper slots: It’s sewage an OLED pinch 2880 x 1800 solution and 120Hz refresh, a coagulated action of ports, and it tin beryllium configured pinch Qualcomm’s highest-end Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip. I ideate that’s going to beryllium a pricey spec, but it could beryllium worthy it for personification successful request of a large Windows laptop that doesn’t feel big — and 1 that should person arsenic large-and-in-charge artillery life.

MSI really shook things up successful the looks section this twelvemonth for its non-gaming laptops. The caller Prestige models look for illustration thing you wouldn’t beryllium embarrassed to bring to an office, and they’re really rather sleek overall. The refined creation of the caller Stealth 16 creator / softcore gaming laptop besides looks awesome (even if it could guidelines to beryllium conscionable a little stealthier). It’s sewage immoderate wannabe MacBook Pro vibes, but it offers plentifulness of ports (including ethernet). It besides comes modular pinch a 240Hz OLED display, Intel’s caller Panther Lake chips, and Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs. Last twelvemonth I tested the perfectly over-the-top MSI Titan, and I’m eager to reappraisal thing from MSI that’s much subdued than its usually garish gaming laptops.

Asus’ TUF statement is the lower-cost rung of its gaming laptop offerings. They’re designed to beryllium arsenic inexpensive arsenic you tin get an Asus laptop pinch a discrete Nvidia GPU. But there’s a new TUF A14 coming pinch AMD Strix Halo — yes, integrated graphics. And it looks very intriguing.

Last year’s Asus ROG Flow Z13 proved that integrated graphics tin beryllium great. Now successful 2026, we’ll spot a TUF pinch integrated graphics successful a reasonably compact chassis. Ideally, it should beryllium an affordable (well, affordable-ish) gaming laptop that’s besides bully astatine different laptop-y things for illustration artillery life. But Strix Halo is not known for being an affordable chip. Maybe the new versions AMD is making will help, but we’ll person to dream Asus is capable to onshore connected a value that makes consciousness for this small guy.

The Eliteboard G1a “keyputer” is fundamentally a headless laptop put into an unassuming HP keyboard. I was truthful fresh to constitute it disconnected arsenic conscionable a nosy oddity for boring suits and IT folks — moreover if it does benignant of harken backmost to the olden days of the Commodore 64. But I’ll level pinch you guys: I person no idea why our silly small video connected this point perfectly blew up connected societal media. (Is it my shirt? Tell maine it’s my shirt.)

Should I reappraisal the Eliteboard erstwhile it’s available? Something tells maine I’ve already answered my mobility arsenic I type this.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge