Best laptops of CES 2025: These 5 Windows PCs left the biggest mark on the show floor

2024 was a huge year for laptops. But at CES 2025, the big names in the industry got a chance to show off what they have in store for the rest of 2025. There were a ton of new product announcements, but as always, some stand out more than others. 

Also: CES 2025: The 12 most impressive products so far

This year saw a bunch of new gaming laptops (particularly with AMD chips), lots of OLED displays, a “rollable” laptop, and thin and lightweight devices all around. But we’re always on the lookout for standouts that offer something different — whether that’s a useful new feature, great design, or a fantastic value. 

We’re currently here in Las Vegas on the convention floor, and after going hands-on with every laptop in a square mile radius, we’ve narrowed down our picks for best laptops at CES 2025. 

1. Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition

The best laptop at CES might not seize your attention at first glance, but upon closer inspection reveals some interesting design elements. Lenovo’s 14-inch ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition hits all the right notes: performance, portability, and features while bringing a fresh perspective to the table. 

As a bit of a departure from previous ThinkPad models (no TrackPoint here), the keyboard and cover are sleek and minimalist, while the bottom of the device has an industrial grooved surface and a completely new design: the “engine hub”, a bar that runs the length of the device where the fans and port architecture lives. 

Also: Every new laptop Lenovo announced at CES 2025: Including its wild ‘rollable’ model

The engine hub allows for the clamshell to be particularly thin, while also propping up the device when it’s in use. Intended for the mobile professional and business consumer, the ThinkPad X9 houses up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 “Lunar Lake” processor, a vibrant OLED display, 32GB of RAM, up to 2TB of storage, and support for Wi-Fi 7. 

You wouldn’t be the only one to mistake this device for a MacBook, and that certainly wouldn’t be an accident. Lenovo took aim at that exact demographic for the design of this device, and it certainly has everything it needs to compete with it. 

It’s a solid device with a strong identity, but practical and ready to get down to business at the same time. It’s our favorite laptop we’ve seen at CES and one that we’ll no doubt see more of in the year to come. 

2. MSI Raider 18 HX AI

Gaming laptops have hit 2025 with a boom, and a big part of that is thanks to MSI’s lineup. The company announced a veritable army of 18-inch heavy-hitters at CES, but our favorite among the crowd is the new Raider 18 HX AI/A18 HX. Why? Well one of the reasons is obvious: it just looks so cool.

The laptop features a per-key RGB keyboard, meaning you can change the individual backlighting for each key. Below the trackpad is MSI’s Matrix Light Bar, which, when combined with the red accents, gives the device an otherworldly look.

Also: MSI goes big at CES 2025 with its lineup of new 18-inch gaming laptops

The hardware on board is not messing around, either. Like the other 18-inch gaming rigs MSI announced at CES, it comes in either an Intel or AMD configuration, with an Intel Core Ultra 9 or AMD Ryzen 9 9955 processor, up to 96GB of memory, and an 18-inch Mini LED display with a 120Hz refresh rate.

Ultimately, if you’re going to commit to an 18-inch gaming laptop, it’s great to have options, and MSI brings plenty to the consumer with its new lineup. The Raider stands out, however, hitting that sweet spot of high performance, top-tier hardware, and realistic pricing. 

3. Asus Zenbook A14

Asus rounded out its lineup with the introduction of the Zenbook A14, a thin and exceedingly light 14-inch with the Snapdragon X Plus processor and gorgeous Lumina OLED display. Unlike many of the other ultraportables with OLED displays we saw this year, the Zenbook A14 aims for a more accessible price point, starting at just $1,099.

Also: Asus’ 2025 laptop lineup features a sleek, understated design ethos (and OLEDs all around)

Weighing just 2.16 pounds, I’ve heard multiple people say that the device feels like an empty clamshell until they open it up and spot the display at work. Asus’ proprietary ceraluminum material takes on a slightly different texture on this device than on other Zenbooks, as it’s smooth to the touch and lightweight while also being quite sturdy. 

Qualcomm’s ARM-compatible processor ensures battery life that should extend past that 20-hour mark, as well as cool and silent operation. Other notable features include up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB SSD. Out of Asus’ line, the Zenbook A14 is the one I’m looking forward to the most.

4. Razer Blade 16 (2025)

Gaming laptops used to all be big, bulky machines, but advancements are making them slimmer every year. Now, it appears we’ve hit the pinnacle of this design change with Razer’s new Blade 16 — the company’s thinnest laptop ever, measuring just 0.59 inches thick. That’s the thickness I would expect to see on a work computer, not on hardware like this.

And the hardware is impressive. It features Nvidia’s all-new GeForce RTX 50-Series GPU, the cutting edge of technology for laptop graphics cards, and the AMD Ryzen 9 AI HX 370 processor — the first time Razer opted for an AMD chip. 

Review: Is the Razer Blade 16 finally an everyday laptop? Its new slimmed-down design says ‘yes’

In my demo of the device, I asked my friends at Razer if they were confident in saying that this year’s Blade 16 is both thinner and more heat efficient, and they resoundingly said yes. That, to me, is a feat, since thinner laptops can definitely run hotter. But this is where Razer’s updated cooling tech comes into play. 

It also comes with a QHD+ 240Hz OLED display with a response time of 0.2Ms and an improved keyboard with better key travel distance. Hardware like this puts the Razer Blade 16 at the cutting edge of technology.

5. Acer Swift Go 16 AI

Rounding out the list is the Acer Swift Go 16 AI, our pick for best 16-inch laptop, and one of the most accessible AI PCs we saw at CES. 16-inch laptops offer a good balance between a large display and portability, and the Swift Go 16 AI manages to balance a solid feature set with good hardware and an accessible price. 

Also: Acer’s refreshed laptops may be the most versatile devices I’ve seen at CES 2025

Another AMD machine, the Acer Swift comes with the Ryzen AI 300 Series chipset (either the Ryzen 7 350 or the Ryzen 7 340) alongside a neural processing unit capable of outputting up to 50 TOPS. AMD’s new “Zen 5” chip architecture brings up to 8 high-performance cores and 16 threads and paired with the AI processing power means on-device AI applications and LLMs should run smoothly.

The Swift Go 16 AI is sleek and rather non-descript looking, but the display looks great, going up to a 3K resolution OLED with a 90Hz refresh rate. The GPU opens the machine to more creative workflows like photo and video editing, and the price is right; it launches this April starting at $949.