2025 AI PC Buyers Guide

If good looks is on your list for your next business laptop, the ThinkPad X9 14 Aura Edition checks that box. “The prettiest business PC,” concludes Tom’s Hardware, approving of its slim and light chassis (about 2.8 pounds) and its ability to fold flat, thanks to a patented 180-degree hinge.  

PCWorld agrees with that assessment, calling it “a sleeker, more luxurious ThinkPad.” 

“Lenovo has made one of the most promising responses to Apple’s leading laptops I’ve seen in a long time. The MacBook Air casts a long shadow across the PC laptop market, inspiring laptop makers to continuously innovate to steal back some of the spotlight,” concludes PCMag. 

Armed with a 14-inch screen, this Intel vPro®-capable Copilot+ PC powered by Intel® Core™ Ultra processors had “the longest battery life in the group and one of the brightest screens” PCMag tested, giving the business workhorse machine 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 and a 👍🏻nod. 

“The HP EliteBook X Flip G1i is a very good business 2-in-1. It's sturdy, relatively compact and portable, has excellent input devices, is very quiet in every situation, and boasts good battery life,” concludes Notebookcheck, awarding the device its Top Rated award. 

Combining elegance with functionality in a sleek chassis that weighs less than 1 kilogram (about 2.2 pounds), this is the AI PC for busy executives on the go.  

“It’s packed with ports, delivers long battery life, is surprisingly lightweight, and has a nice matte screen designed to avoid glare in normally uncomfortable lighting conditions. It’s a nice and supremely practical piece of hardware, and I’d be happy to get a machine like this from my job,” declares PCWorld, in a nod to its $1,329 price. 

“These new Core Ultra 200V processors promise a lot of improvements,” writes Notebookcheck, explaining the thin-and-light design complements new AI features like AI Boost and other Acer-designed AI functions that “promise to enhance security and productivity.”  

“If it’s not hired already, it at least deserves a second interview,” declares Laptop Mag, citing the ASUS laptop’s “durable thin-and-light form factor combined with an excellent warranty, long-lasting battery life and bright 144 Hz display.”  

Bonus for touch typists, the AI PC also boasts “the fastest laptop keyboard I’ve reviewed,” says Laptop Mag of the large touchpad and well-spaced keys.  

“HP's Fury brand is one of the most potent workstation lines around,” says PCMag in its opening review of this laptop powered by the Intel® Core™ Ultra HX (Arrow Lake) CPU, adding that the Fury’s availability in both 16- and 18-inch screen options “is a significant and hefty system that will likely serve to replace a desktop entirely, or at least substitute for one when away from the office, transported only when really needed.” 

Looking for a workhorse laptop for work, school and everything in between? Consider the new Acer Swift Edge 14 AI. Boasting a gorgeous OLED screen (it’s the “real star” of this notebook, wrote PCWorld), this AI PC includes Acer Assist, a dedicated AI app that “provides a folder into which users can load documents and then assign an LLM to make sense of them all.” 

If you’re looking for a dual-screen machine, consider the ASUS Zenbook Duo UX8406. It includes two full-size OLED touchscreens, a detachable full-size keyboard and built-in kickstand. 

“This Asus Zenbook Duo is arguably the best dual-display portable laptop available today, well-built, functional, and plenty powerful for daily use and multitasking, where it excels,” writes Ultrabookreview.  

It’s available with an Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 1 or Series 2 chip.  

“Sporting the same sleek design we saw in the 2024 Dell XPS 13 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip, the new model basically takes everything that laptop did and does it better, thanks to new Lunar Lake processors from Intel,” writes TechRadar.  

“In our review model, that's the Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 258V, which delivers staggeringly good battery life and a general uptick in performance over the Snapdragon model,” TechRadar concludes, citing the laptop’s ability to play videos over a 24-hour period, “beating most of the machines on our current list of the best laptops.” 

Packing a large 17-inch screen into a slim chassis that’s just a hair above 2 pounds (about 1 kilogram), this is the ideal laptop for busy, always-on-the-go travelers. 

“The LG Gram 17-inch provides the portability that I need with the size I didn’t know I could have,” concludes Patrick Moorhead, founder of analyst firm Moor Insights & Strategy. “It has all the ports, internals, and the display that you would want from a 17-inch laptop without the extra baggage of its 17-inch competitors. I would recommend the LG Gram 17-inch to anyone looking for a featherweight portable uncompromising powerhouse.” 

For a general consumer’s take on a new laptop, Reddit is often a great source of information. This Reddit reviewer had a positive experience with his Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360, writing, “The Galaxy Book5 Pro 360 changed my mind on 16-inch, Intel-powered laptops.” 

The positives: good weight distribution across its thin-yet-sturdy metal build, its 14-hour battery life that “blew my expectations out of the water” and overall performance that “I can confidently say is just fine for most people.” 

There probably isn’t a better review than one that begins with a headline that reads “Literally everyone should buy this.” 

That’s the takeaway of XDA, which loves its unique design and an OLED screen that bests its predecessors. The best part about this laptop? “But what really shines is Intel's Lunar Lake processors, which bring unprecedented battery life and integrated graphics power to the platform,” concludes XDA. 

“Lenovo's 15.3-inch Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition laptop has a gorgeous touchscreen and lengthy battery life for a fair price,” reads PCMag’s summary of the sleek device, citing its 2.8K IPS screen, impressive audio quality, great battery life and plethora of ports as positives. 

Ultrabookreview agrees, writing “If you’re in the market for a balanced, compact and ultra-light laptop with good ergonomics, a nice display, and solid everyday performance, this Lenovo Slim 7i Carbon is surely an option to consider.” 

Despite a starting price of $3,699, this gaming laptop is a PC gamer’s dream machine, writes Laptop Mag.  

There’s plenty to like about the all-new MSI Raider 18 HX – it’s powered by an Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 285HX CPU and packs 64 gigs of RAM, a 4TB SSD, a sharp 18-inch Mini LED screen and an Nvidia RTX 5080 with 16GB VRAM. 

“Powerful gaming laptops command premium prices, and the MSI Raider is no different,” Laptop Mag continues. “The Raider has strong general performance, fluid gaming performance, a bright Mini LED display, a comfortable keyboard, powerful audio, and more ports than you’re likely to need, even with a multi-monitor setup.” 

“It costs more than my rent, but it’s worth every penny.”