The Geekom A7 R9 lives up to the mini PC moniker, with a compact aluminum chassis that measures in at just 112 x 112 x 37 mm (4.4 x 4.4 x 1.5 inch), yet squeezes in a powerful AMD Ryzen R9 7940HS CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a comfy 2TB NVMe SSD with Windows 11 pre-installed. The system includes Radeon 780M graphics that can drive up to four displays at 4K resolution, or a single display at 8K. It’s also a competent casual gaming machine, and has loads of other features like Wi-Fi 6E, Gigabit Ethernet, an SD card reader and USB ports galore.

Want to know more? Check out the Geekom A7 mini PC review from our colleagues at TechRadar (spoiler: they loved it, awarding it a Highly Recommended badge), or take a deep dive into the hardware over at Anandtech.

The deals above are available until October 31, but Geekom is also getting in ahead of the Black Friday sales and has discounted a wide range of other mini PCs by up to 40%. Find out more at the official Geekom site for your region:

• Geekom US
• Geekom UK
• Geekom AU

Geekom is a PC Gamer preferred partner (What does this mean?)

Last quarter, Microsoft's financial results revealed yet another decline for its Surface division, which saw its seventh consecutive quarterly drop. There's no universe where those results can be spun into a positive, and honestly, it didn't have to be this way.

Surface has always fought with one arm behind its back, in essence. Surface worked hard not to step directly on the toes of Microsoft's powerful Windows OEM partners, like Dell and Lenovo, instead drilling into niches to find its audience. It felt like, at least for a time, that these restrictions helped Surface to find its differentiation, forcing it to innovate across every inch of the product to stand out in a bustling and competitive market. Surface reinvigorated the laptop market, forcing OEMs to re-evaluate their approach to design in a world where Apple has crowned itself the King of Hardware Style.

I would argue that every laptop OEM has become better and more interesting as a result of Surface, but it wasn't simply about hardware innovation, either. Surface co-creator and previous hardware chief Panos Panay had the charisma and showmanship to really sell the vision of the Surface brand.

Microsoft is spending more than ever on R&D, racing to commercialize AI tools like Copilot with the masses. But, I feel it's hardware, not software that will inspire the future of this paradigm. Perhaps Microsoft even agrees, which is why it shoveled out its uninspired Copilot+ PC range earlier this summer to a collective "meh" from consumers.

Unfortunately, Microsoft seems to have given up on innovating in consumer hardware endpoints, and its attitudinal shift couldn't have come at a worse time. This shift, from a focus on consumer hardware to other areas, is a cause for disappointment and regret, especially considering the potential that Surface once held.

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Surface was so good, even Apple had to copy it

It feels odd that I'm going to bat for Surface, especially considering I wrote an article a while back about why I stopped buying Surface. It that article, I essentially argued that the Surface devices were over-engineered and didn't prioritize the little things. You know, like not getting hot enough to fry an egg. However, I didn't argue that Microsoft should give up and stop trying.

Surface, for all its flaws (and extreme price tags), was an absolute singularity of excellence when it came to innovation. While unnecessarily complex for most consumers, the fulcrum hinge on the Surface Book required a mountain of engineering expertise to pull off — and it certainly wasn't innovation for the sake of it. The point of the hinge was to give the Surface Book the angled profile of a flat drawing tablet, which I used to love using. I reviewed apps like Sketchable on the Surface Book in all of its slightly angled glory, and it represented the niche Microsoft was ultimately gunning for here while avoiding stepping on its OEM partner's front lawn.

Indeed, Surface innovated in ways that no other company has been able to replicate since its inception. The elegant hinge mechanism on the Surface Studio remains a marvel to this day, with few other devices able to mirror what it is capable of. The absurd thinness of the Surface Duo folding phone, which I'm fairly certain hasn't been defeated even to this day, with its capability to fold all the way into reverse. Even when you go all the way back to the Surface RT, with its hinged 2-in-1 tablet-meets-laptop formula, it inspired even Apple to commit to its wholesale rip-off in subsequent versions of the iPad Pro.

The flaws in the Surface devices were well documented, of course. They were incredibly pricy for what they ultimately were. The elegance in their slim profiles often came at the cost of cooling, which then came at the cost of performance throttling. My Surface Book 2 became so unusable during the summer months that it made me swear off the brand for good since it became increasingly apparent they were designed with air-conditioned environs in mind. But thanks to advancements in energy efficiency and chips like those found in the most recent Surface Pro 11 devices, Surface's form is finally catching up to its potential function. But the problem is, nobody cares.

Surface sales have dropped quarter over quarter, in news which, to be fair, isn't exclusive to Surface. Apple Mac sales are down, too, and so are PC shipments in general, contracting by 2.4% year-over-year, according to the IDC. The IDC also says that AI integrations will be key to helping the traditional PC and laptop market recover, but Microsoft's hyped Copilot+ debut was mired in controversy that still dogs its AI efforts to this day. People don't trust Microsoft's AI features, and even the "potential" for privacy violations has become a fairly broad meme among tech enthusiasts that influences broader attitudes, at least to some degree.

There's still plenty of potential for these AI-first devices to make up the bulk of future business-oriented sales in the coming year, but I think Microsoft will continue to have issues inspiring interest from regular consumers. The lack of excitement around this year's Surface line-up is pretty plain to see and will most likely be readily reflected in Microsoft's quarterlies set for October 30, 2024.

(Credit where credit is due: Our Editor-in-Chief has said that Surface Pro 11 is everything that Surface Pro has been trying to achieve since its inception, making it easily one of the best Windows PCs of 2024. Much of that is chalked up to the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor, but it's also the culmination of excellent design and refinement over the last decade.)

Panos Panay and the Surface of old represented effortlessness in communicating with consumers. Of course, Surface operated under some extremely difficult circumstances—building aspirational devices for enthusiasts and in very niche creative spaces. Yet still, Panos Panay's Surface sparked the imagination. It made regular folk aspire to own Surface devices and ultimately grew Surface into a billion-dollar business that counts nation-states among its customers. The Surface brand elevated all Windows laptops with its efforts in presentation, hand-in-hand with innovation.

Surface had excellent customer service and great accessories and was frequently in the news trying new things, inspiring confidence that Microsoft was well and truly serious about hardware products and consumer services. The Surface Laptop and Surface Pro lines continue to be hallmarks of excellence for their respective categories, but there's nothing special about them anymore, with every manufacturer co-opting their features.

Perhaps that was ultimately the aim of Surface but with the rise of AI and Microsoft's efforts to actually sell it to people, giving up on hardware innovation couldn't have come at a worse time.

The modern Microsoft has sacrificed chasing product excellence to become a glorified bank

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he regrets shutting down Windows Phone, and it's plain to see why. Trying to mainstream services like Bing, Microsoft Copilot, or even Xbox Game Pass' cloud gaming relies on digging through Apple and Google's draconian stranglehold over their operating systems. Even if there's been some regulatory movement to break Apple and Google open to Microsoft's benefit, the damage has already been done well. Nobody will change their default browsers, tools, and services away from what is pre-installed on the device. Nobody is going to quit Google Chrome for the near-identical Microsoft Edge. Nobody is going to quit Google for Bing.

Merely offering a product that is 'near-identical' to the competition is not enough to change user behavior. To truly make an impact, innovation is key. Microsoft needs to offer something new, compelling, and above and beyond what Apple and Google provide.

It's perhaps understandable that Microsoft has given itself cold feet when it comes to hardware. Products like the Surface Duo are now dead, the Microsoft Band is a distant memory. There will be no HoloLens 3. Even the Xbox Series X|S is struggling, with year-over-year declines. It's perhaps all the more frustrating given how much AI assistive features would probably shine more on these types of devices, over Windows itself.

Xbox has been propped up by a massive $70 billion purchase in Activision-Blizzard-King, however. And Microsoft's stock price enjoyed a huge bounce over the past couple of years thanks to its savvy investments in OpenAI, which is leading the world when it comes to large language model AI hype. But it's difficult to ignore the pattern of Microsoft buying its way into the party here.

Microsoft's Activision acquisition is ultimately representative of a failure in Windows Phone since the purchase really revolves around having a foothold in mobile gaming. Microsoft's own AI division failed to produce anything worthy of note, forcing it into a strange deal with OpenAI that sees it directly competing with its own partner.

And sure, I'm not naïve. Microsoft's c-suite is responsible for boosting the company's share price above all else at the end of the day, and the investment strategy has paid off dividends (literally) for investors. Xbox is now bigger than Windows itself, despite having to give Apple and Google a massive cut of the Activision mobile revenue. The AI hype train continues for Microsoft's share price, too, despite the fact that the OpenAI connection is potentially problematic for various reasons. However, Microsoft increasingly looks more like a glorified bank than a products and services company.

The pace of real product innovation across Surface, Xbox, Windows, and other consumer-facing businesses is really quite apparent. The best feature Microsoft could conjure up for its Copilot+ PC range, Windows Recall, has not landed well. Xbox's big holiday hardware innovation is a white color scheme and an omitted disc drive, although we'll take the $50 saving. The Copilot app on Windows has actually lost features over time and is ultimately nothing more than yet another Bing wrapper. Copilot also has fewer OS hooks than Cortana did at her peak too, which is hilarious when you think about it. At least Cortana could check my calendar.

Many of Microsoft's competitors are forging ahead with real innovation in the AI space. Adobe just debuted generative expand for video clips just yesterday. I can't even get Microsoft's video editor Clipchamp to open half of the time. My Samsung Galaxy phone has more AI features baked into it than Windows does, all without an OpenAI partnership. It's absurd to me that Samsung Notes has more AI features than Microsoft OneNote.

Microsoft isn't building with the same sense of urgency it seemed to have during the height of Surface's notoriety, and I'm not sure why, given the stakes that AI presents. AI and LLMs are already spinning out into a variety of subscription-based services and systems for a variety of use cases, and Microsoft doesn't seem to be meeting any of them head-on.

Microsoft is spending more than ever on R&D, but where's the money going?

AI might be cloud-based, but you need a real-world hardware endpoint to interact with it. Putting a web wrapper on Bing, slapping a Copilot key on a subset of a subset of laptops, and calling it a day is a truly pathetic effort and not something the masses will ever care about.

Assuming Copilot is even the right product, it needs its Surface Pro moment. The pop of that kickstand, the glide of that pen, that Surface Book "detached display" moment. Copilot needs something tactile that people can reach out to and touch. Something that someone with a real passion, like Panos Panay, can get up on stage and demonstrate and showcase why it is actually a good thing. That undercurrent of infectious passion is sorely lacking in Microsoft's tedious modern presentations, and it precludes them from driving the hype that its consumer-facing products arguably need to succeed.

RELATED: Why Microsoft won't be the ones to mainstream consumer-facing AI

People at Microsoft are being paid far more than I am to figure this stuff out. I'm almost certain that the ideas are rattling around somewhere within Microsoft's labs too, whose only hurdles to becoming a massive success story are Microsoft's own corporate rigidity and structural apathy.

Panos Panay has now brought that spirit of innovation to Amazon's devices team, which just announced the first-ever full-color Kindle e-reader. And that's not to say that spirit of innovation was only the result of Panos, of course. Surface is more than any single person, representing a singularity of industry-leading engineering prowess that I believe remains world-class. The latest Surface devices are still excellent. But I think from the c-suite level down, Satya Nadella is at the top, and the hunger for product innovation clearly isn't there anymore. Surface is coasting now because that's all Satya Nadella wants out of it. That's most likely why Panos Panay fled for Amazon and Surface architect Ralf Groene left.

That Surface "spirit of innovation" most likely still exists within the company, too, of course. It's more likely that it's being suppressed by a C-suite culture that probably should've gone into banking rather than tech. As such, I wouldn't be surprised if Panos and Amazon mainstream generative AI subscription feature with dedicated hardware now over Microsoft itself.

For all of the more experimental Surface's flaws, the spirit of innovation Surface used to represent and used to inspire is something Microsoft is sorely lacking right now, if it ever wants consumers to care about things like Copilot, Recall, Bing, or perhaps even Windows itself.

But hey, shareholders certainly don't seem to care. So, consider this a rant into the ether — much like consumer feedback on Microsoft in general.

Intel will soon launch its "planned" Core Ultra 200H and 200HX range of high-performance Arrow Lake mobile processors, following brand-new Core Ultra 200V desktop chip variants under the same codename, so where does that place this early preview of Panther Lake, and what sets it apart from this influx of ultra-modern x86-64 processors?

Concrete information is slim right now, but there are rumors and unconventional confirmations on the separate tiles that make up Intel's upcoming Foveros-based System-on-Chip (SoC.) I'll tell you everything I know, including Intel's plans for a release window, and update this page once I hear more.

When does Intel plan to launch Panther Lake?

In its Q2 earnings report, Intel confirmed it's targeting a Panther Lake launch timeframe in the second half of 2025. This early mention of the chips' codename came alongside an update on Intel Foundry's "Five Nodes in Four Years" (5N4Y) strategy for its 18A manufacturing process, which will finalize designs of Panther Lake chips for client devices and Clearwater Forest chips for servers sometime in the first half of 2025.

What's new on the the Panther Lake SoC?

One glimpse into Panther Lake specifications came when technology enthusiast Jaykihn discovered a leak within a patch for Coreboot, an open-source BIOS project designed to create firmware that prioritizes efficiency and bolsters security (via Wccftech.) Presumably used in some form of testing environment for prototype processors, the patch listed at least three Thermal Design Power (TDP) values for Panther Lake chips running at 15W, 25W, and 45W.

Of course, these are all speculative and could change before the chips are finalized, but Jaykihn later shared apparent "final" SKUs of at least Panther Lake-H mobile processors. The most exciting part of this second batch lies in their CPU core architecture and an apparent move to Intel's next-generation Arc Xe3 discrete GPU tile codenamed Celestial, which follows Xe (DG1) and Xe2 (Battlemage) (via Tom's Hardware.)

These SKU leaks so far refer only to Panther Lake-H (high-performance) chips with up to 16 CPU cores but point to Intel adopting a brand new Performance core (P-Core) architecture codenamed Cougar Cove, while the same Skymont Efficient core (E-core) codename carries over from Lunar Lake. Whether or not that means the Skymont cores will remain untouched isn't clear, but it seems likely to be refined or optimized in the same way Meteor Lake's NPU 3 tile was for Arrow Lake.

Speaking of the Neural Processing Unit (NPU), recent Linux patch notes exposed that Panther Lake will adopt an all-new NPU 5 tile, following the NPU 4 seen in Lunar Lake (via Phoronix.) There haven't been any details on a TOPS performance rating for this new variant, but it's reasonable to assume it will be around 55 TOPS, matching AMD's latest NPU in its Ryzen AI PRO 300 chips.

Everything related to specifications and SKUs comes from extremely early hints and rumors, so anything could change without warning before Panther Lake's launch next year.

• Qualcomm announced an affordable Snapdragon X Elite developer kit at Build 2024 earlier this year.
• The device was supposed to ship in June, but faced major delays that only saw the first (small) batch of units ship to developers just days ago.
• Now, Qualcomm has announced that it is canceling the developer kit, and will issue refunds to all buyers, including the lucky few that received one.

In what can only be described as an embarrassing PR disaster for Qualcomm, the highly anticipated $900 Snapdragon X Elite developer kit that was first announced on stage at Microsoft's Build 2024 conference earlier this year has been canned, just days after the first units began shipping to those who ordered one.

Qualcomm let customers know in an email:

"The Developer Kit product comprehensively has not met our usual standards of excellence and so we are reaching out to let you know that unfortunately we have made the decision to pause this product and the support of it, indefinitely."

Those who have placed an order will be getting a full refund, including the lucky few who actually received the developer kit. Qualcomm says those who received one do not need to return it for the refund. Unfortunately, any outstanding orders will be canceled meaning if you don't have one yet, you'll never get it now.

Originally, Qualcomm intended to launch the Snapdragon X Elite developer kit in June, with orders opening on the same day that Copilot+ PCs became available. However, that date came and went and Qualcomm failed put the developer kit on sale. It wasn't until a month later when pre-orders would finally go live on Arrow, with a shipping estimate of just a couple of weeks.

Those who did place an order quickly found out that the developer kit wouldn't be shipping in the estimated time. In fact, it wasn't clear when the developer kit would ship. Those who placed an order when pre-orders first opened in July were left in the dark, with no accurate ETA from either Qualcomm or Arrow.

Many developers who placed an order documented their frustration with the process. Some developers that have received the device have already reviewed the hardware — Jeff Geerling called it a missed opportunity due to the hardware.

Over the summer, Qualcomm faced a number of issues around manufacturing the developer kit. The hardware was originally supposed to ship with a HDMI port, but this was removed at the very last minute. Additionally, it looks like Qualcomm failed to pass FCC regulation before units began shipping, and the few that did reach customers are labelled with a warning that says the device cannot be resold and is not FCC certified.

Ultimately, it appears building PC hardware isn't so easy, even for a chip maker like Qualcomm. Now, it will be up to OEMs to step in and fill the shoes of a developer kit, likely with mini PCs powered by Snapdragon X SoCs. Perhaps Microsoft will refresh its Windows Developer Kit 2023, which originally launched in 2022 with the Snapdragon 8cx Gen3.

The cancelation of the Snapdragon X Elite developer kit means the very top-end X Elite SoC (the X1E-00-1DE) with a higher 4.3GHz boost frequency is no longer available, as the developer kit was the only hardware on the market with that chip. That will likely make these highly sought after.

via xda-developers.com

• Elon Musk's xAI team reportedly set up a powerful supercomputer featuring 100,000 H200 Blackwell GPUs in 19 days.
• NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang claims the same process would ordinarily take up to 4 years to execute, prompting him to call Elon Musk "superhuman."
• Huang also indicated that NVIDIA played a significant role in the process, offering their networking expertise to xAI as NVIDIA gear is complicated compared to traditional data center servers.

Earlier this year, Tesla owner Elon Musk announced that xAI has begun training Grok AI with the world's most powerful AI cluster powered by 100,000 liquid-cooled NVIDIA H100 graphic processing units (GPUs) connected with a single RDMA. The cluster could make X's Grok AI chatbot "the world's most powerful AI by every metric" by the end of this year.

And now, the billionaire's vision has seemingly come to fruition. While recently speaking to Tesla Owners in Silicon Valley on X, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang lauded Elon Musk's efforts after setting up a supercluster featuring 100,000 H200 Blackwell GPUs in 19 days to power xAI's advances.

For context, Huang describes setting up xAI's supercomputer as a tedious and daunting task that requires well-versed professionals. He further indicated that transitioning the project from the concept phase to the final output could conventionally take up to 4 years — a feat that Elon Musk achieved in 19 days. The CEO breaks down the highlighted time into 3 years of planning and a year of shipping equipment, installation, and getting the entire project to work.

Related: Elon Musk's xAI developed Colossus in just 122 days

According to NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang:

"As far as I know, there's only one person in the world who could do that; Elon is singular in his understanding of engineering and construction and large systems and marshaling resources; it's just unbelievable."

The process included the construction of infrastructure for the supercomputer, which is fully equipped with liquid cooling and power to support the cutting-edge components, including 200,000 GPUs. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang also indicated that his team collaborated closely with xAI during the project across engineering, networking, infrastructure, and software. He admitted that NVIDIA's equipment is rather sophisticated, making the networking process a tad complicated compared to traditional data center servers.

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More Prime Day deals and anti-Prime Day deals

We at Windows Central are scouring the internet for the best Prime Day deals and anti-Prime Day deals, but there are plenty more discounts going on now. Here's where to find more savings:

• Xbox controller deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Xbox SSD storage deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Gaming headset deals: Walmart | Dell | Target | Best Buy | Amazon
• MicroSD storage deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Gaming handheld deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Laptop deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Copilot+ AI laptop deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Monitor deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Mini PC deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Gaming keyboard deals: Walmart | Best Buy | Amazon | Dell | Newegg
• Gaming mice deals: Walmart | Best Buy | Amazon | Dell | Newegg

• Lenovo Tech World 24 is going on right now, a multi-day conference where analysts, media members, and tech leaders come together to discuss the latest tech offerings.
• Yesterday morning, Intel and AMD announced a collaboration in which the two manufacturers formed the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group.
• As part of Lenovo's event, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger came on stage and explained that x86 architecture isn't just "alive and well" but also "thriving," despite what some might say.
• Of course, these sentiments are due to Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X ARM processors, which have proved to be powerful competitors in the chip manufacturing field.

Yesterday morning, I attended the first day of the Lenovo Tech World 24 conference in Bellevue, Washington. Early on, I sat in on the event's keynote, at which some very big tech leaders from around the world spoke to the analysts and media gathered. At one point, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing (affectionately known as "YY") invited longtime friend and business partner Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger onto the stage. After reminiscing about their friendship a bit, Gelsinger alluded to the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group press release that had been announced earlier that morning and explained to conference attendees that despite what some people may be saying, x86 is still doing very well. 

In case you haven't had time to keep up with the latest news, the reason some might think x86 is on its way out is because of Qualcomm and its AI-enabled Snapdragon X chips. This year's ARM-based processors (created by a group of former Apple employees) have proved to offer excellent performance and powerful AI capabilities within laptops and mobile devices. As you can imagine, this has made Qualcomm a powerful rival against the likes of traditional x86 chip makers AMD and Intel. So, it's no wonder the two have decided to join together to fortify their shared CPU focus against a common challenger.

While talking on the subject, Gelsinger stated, "Some have said, 'Well, is the x86 done?' Well, I'll tell you, rumors of my death are severely exaggerated. We are alive and well, and the x86 is thriving. We think of it as one of the most significant periods of innovation in front of us. And we see that the x86 architecture — this foundation of computing for decades — is about to go through a period of customization, expansion, scalability... Just this morning... Intel and AMD announced the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group, and for that, Lisa [AMD CEO Lisa Su] and Pat agreed on something. Who'd have thunk?"

In addition to Intel and AMD, the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group is comprised of several different founding members (companies), such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta. But what exactly is the purpose of the Advisory Group? Well, Gelsinger explained that it "brings together leaders from across the ecosystem to shape the future of the x86, to simplify software development, to ensure interoperability and interface consistency, to provide developers with standard architecture, tools, instruction sets, a clear view of the future." He further stated, "the value of the thriving ecosystem is greater than ever, and the advantage in this era of AI and 3D composition and chiplets, we think, ushers in a new category of innovation around systems..."

A while later, AMD CEO Lisa Su came on stage and expanded upon the purpose of the new x86 Advisory Group and its role with AI.

"So Pat was on stage," she said, "and he mentioned our x86 Advisory Group. That is something that tells you just how unique a time this is in technology. At the end of the day, what we're trying to do is accelerate compute and accelerate the adoption of compute. x86 has been, you know, the foremost leader in architecture over the last 40 years, and the idea is AMD and Intel bringing together all of these founding members, can really accelerate the pace of innovation going forward."

With such influential members, it's easy to assume the group will be able to meet its goals. 

So, does Qualcomm's ARM-based Snapdragon X or x86 have anything to fear? As I've previously written, the world has plenty of use for both x86 and ARM processors. They both offer excellent performance in specific areas but aren't perfect on their own. For instance, the ARM-based Snapdragon X chips aren't the most powerful, but using them allows OEMs to produce lightweight laptops with long battery life. Meanwhile, x86 is much more powerful but generally drains battery life faster than Snapdragon X. Due to these tradeoffs, I don't see one chip type overtaking the other any time soon.  

• A new Surface Laptop prototype with an Intel Lunar Lake processor has appeared for sale on Chinese website Goofish.
• The listing claims Microsoft will begin selling Intel versions of the Surface Laptop with the new design officially in 2025.
• The device has an Intel Core Ultra 7 268V and is rumored to cost around $2,600 for the high-end configuration.

Microsoft may be gearing up to ship an Intel Lunar Lake version of the new Surface Laptop in the coming months, if a recent leak is anything to go by. Spotted by Akaza_Durian on Reddit, a Surface Laptop prototype with an Intel Core Ultra 7 268v processor has appeared for sale on Chinese website Goofish, with the listing mentioning that the laptop won't officially go on sale until 2025.

Both the Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11 launched earlier this year exclusively with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X SoC, just a couple of months after the company launched Intel Core Ultra versions of the Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10. The listing appears to be authentic, and my sources can confirm that Microsoft is currently testing Intel Lunar Lake variants of the next Surface Laptop and Surface Pro internally.

My sources are unclear if the Intel Lunar Lake Surface Laptop is another Surface Laptop 7 variant or the Surface Laptop "8." Whichever it ends up being, the design of the next Surface Laptop is expected to remain identical to the current Surface Laptop 7. It's likely that Microsoft intends to offer both Intel and Qualcomm variants of the Surface Laptop with its updated design going into 2025.

The listing on Goofish states that the laptop is likely to cost around 19000 CNY ($2600 USD) in the Microsoft Store and has 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD storage, making it one of the top end configurations that's likely to be available. The Intel Core Ultra 268V would also be paired with an Intel Arc 140V GPU and Intel AI Boost NPU which will support over 40 TOPS of power. Now, whether Microsoft intends to offer Intel in both consumer and commercial flavors remains to be seen; the Surface PCs with Intel Core Ultra gen 1 were exclusive to Microsoft's "for business" line.

Here's what the Goofish listing says (translated to English:)

"Surface Laptop 7 Ultra 7 268V processor, latest, not yet on Microsoft Store! Latest, very narrow bezel, not the old Laptop 6, not the old Ultra 7 (Meteor Lake), it's the latest! It will hit Microsoft Store soon for a price at about 19000 CNY. 32 GB RAM + 1 TB SSD, Latest 2024 version to be released in 2025"

We gave the Surface Laptop 7 with the Snapdragon X Elite a 5/5 in our review thanks to its incredible battery life and performance gains over the prior Snapdragon generation. The new design is also a step up over the Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Laptop 5, making it an all-round excellent Windows clamshell. For those that have been waiting for this design with an Intel processor, the wait might soon be over.

• More people will purchase laptops as gifts this year than ever before, according to a report by Consumer Technology Association.
• 233 million adults in the United States plan to purchase tech gifts in 2024, which is an all-time high for the category.
• The advent of AI PCs and the fact that we are now several years removed from the peak of the global pandemic are likely contributing factors to why so many will buy laptops this holiday season.

Millions of Americans will receive laptops as gifts this holiday season, marking a high point for the category. A report by Consumer Technology Association (CTA) states that 51% of people surveyed will buy a laptop as a gift this year. Desktop gift buying is also expected to be at an all-time high, as 35% of survey respondents said they intend to buy a desktop PC for the 2024 holidays. Laptop and desktop gift purchasing are expected to be up 8 and 9 percent, respectively, when compared to last year.

The report was completed by surveying 1,205 adults in the United States between August 27, 2024 and September 4, 2024. You can preview the report on the CTA website. The complete report is available for free to CTA members or for $999 to those who aren't members.

Many of the tech gifts purchased will be for people under 18, while another sizeable percentage will be gifts for spouses. CTA's report states that 40% of gifts will be for children and 36% will be for spouses. 15% of those buying tech gifts will give that tech to a parent, and 28% will give a tech gift to an "other" adult.

29% percent of respondents said they would buy a tech gift for themselves. Those figures add up to more than 100%, but that's because many purchase multiple tech gifts for various people.

Even those who do not purchase a laptop or desktop for the holidays are likely to buy some type of tech. 78% of respondents said they will buy computer hardware and a whopping 89% said they intend to purchase tech gifts. That figure related to general tech gifts is 8% higher than CTA has ever seen, including data going back to 2007.

AI PCs

AI PCs appear to be a factor in the surge of interest in buying laptops before the end of 2024. "A lot of the buzz around AI PCs, maybe that’s a little bit behind that,” said Steve Koenig, CTA VP of Research, said to our colleagues at Tom's Hardware.

The list of the best AI PCs grew quite a bit this year. Interest in AI has skyrocketed over the past few years, and we now have hardware available to take advantage of the trend. Qualcomm released its Snapdragon X processors, which power the first wave of Copilot+ PCs. AMD and Intel also hopped on the AI PC hype train with Ryzen AI PRO 300 processors and Intel Core Ultra Series 2 chips, respectively.

How often do you buy a new laptop?

The fact that we're now a few years removed from the peak of the global pandemic also plays a part, according to Koenig. “It could also be part of the upgrade cycle. A lot of people got new laptops at the headwaters of the health crisis and here we are four years later and maybe people are thinking it’s time to upgrade.”

While tech companies often refresh laptops annually, few people purchase new PCs each year. But after a few years, PCs can start showing their age, at least in comparison to newer tech. Screens get better, chips get faster, and new features roll out regularly. Combine steady growth, even within a singular product line, and you can see a dramatic difference between a PC from 2020 compared to 2024. For example, look at the Dell XPS 15 from 2020 and the XPS 16 from 2024.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals

Retailers have taken strides to invent shopping events, such as Prime Day and Anti-Prime Day, and those efforts appear to have drawn in consumers. 41% of respondents stated that they will start their holiday shopping in October. That's the highest percentage ever seen by CTA.

While early shopping has grown, many will still look to Black Friday and Cyber Monday for holiday shopping. Of course, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are also made up, but they have been around for quite a while now, and it doesn't seem likely that other days will surpass them. Koenig noted that over half of holiday shoppers will shop during Black Friday week.

🎃The best early Black Friday deals🦃

• 💻Dell XPS 16 (RTX 4060) | $2,299.99 at Best Buy (Save $750!)
• 📺LG Curved OLED Monitor (32-inches) | $903.20 at Amazon (Save $597!)
• 🎮Amazon Fire TV Xbox Game Pass bundle | $74.99 at Amazon (Save $62!)
• 🔊2.1ch Soundbar for TVs & Monitors | $44.99 at Walmart (Save $55!)
• 💻Dell G16 Gaming Laptop (RTX 4070) | $1,299.99 at Dell (Save $450!)
• 🎧Sennheiser Momentum 4 ANC | $249.95 at Amazon (Save $150!)
• 📺LG C4 OLED 4K TV (42-inches) | $949.99 at Best Buy (Save $450!)
• 💻Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge (X Elite) | $799.99 at Best Buy (Save $550!)

Now is an excellent time to purchase a Samsun Galaxy Book4 Edge. The laptop is still new, but it is $550 off. That's an incredible savings on one of the best Copilot+ PCs. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge was already near the top of that list and held its own against premium PCs from Microsoft, Apple, and other manufacturers. But a $550 discount on the Galaxy Book4 Edge changes the laptop landscape, at least while the deal is live.

• Shop all October Amazon Prime Day deals

🎃The best early Black Friday deals🦃

• 💻Surface Pro 11 (X Elite, device only) | $1,199.99 at Best Buy (Save $500!)
• 📺LG Curved OLED Monitor (32-inches) | $899.99 at Amazon (Save $600!)
• 🎮Amazon Fire TV Xbox Game Pass bundle | $74.99 at Amazon (Save $62!)
• 🔊2.1ch Soundbar for TVs & Monitors | $44.99 at Walmart (Save $55!)
• 💻Dell G16 Gaming Laptop (RTX 4070) | $1,299.99 at Dell (Save $450!)
• 🎧Sennheiser Momentum 4 ANC | $249.95 at Amazon (Save $150!)
• 📺LG C4 OLED 4K TV (42-inches) | $949.99 at Best Buy (Save $450!)
• 💻Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge (X Elite) | $799.99 at Best Buy (Save $550!)

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge: MacBook Pro Killer?

Samsung's Galaxy Book4 Edge is a premium PC with an impressive specs sheet. Front and center stands a 2.8K AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz that can reach 500 nits of brightness. That screen supports Variable Refresh Rate and covers 120% DCI-P3. The screen is so pretty that you may want to reach out and touch it, which is fine since the display supports touch.

The Snapdragon X Elite powering the Galaxy Book4 Edge is powerful and efficient. It's a newer chip that's arguably the first great Arm processor for Windows PCs. Microsoft also improved the Windows 11 on Arm experience with its Prism emulation technology.

I always find it odd that port selection seems to go down when laptop prices go up, but that's not the case with the Galaxy Book4 Edge. The laptop has two USB-C ports, a USB-A port, an HDMI 2.1 port, a microSD slot, and a 3.5mm audio jack

On top of being one of the best Windows laptops, the Galaxy Book4 Edge competes with Apple's MacBook Pro. The Galaxy ecosystem connects your phone and PC at a level rarely seen when using a Windows computer. If you've ever been jealous of how close an iPhone and a MacBook are, Samsung's ecosystem is worth a look. That's especially true if you already have a flagship phone from Samsung, such as the Galaxy S24.

The Galaxy Book4 Edge is easy to recommend at $799.99. The laptop is usually a bit pricey, especially when there are other solid Copilot+ PCs available. But a $550 discount on the Galaxy Book4 Edge helps it compete with any laptop on the market.

More Prime Day deals and anti-Prime Day deals

We at Windows Central are scouring the internet for the best Prime Day deals and anti-Prime Day deals, but there are plenty more discounts going on now. Here's where to find more savings:

• Xbox controller deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Xbox SSD storage deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Gaming headset deals: Walmart | Dell | Target | Best Buy | Amazon
• MicroSD storage deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Gaming handheld deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Laptop deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Copilot+ AI laptop deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Monitor deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Mini PC deals: Walmart | Target | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg
• Gaming keyboard deals: Walmart | Best Buy | Amazon | Dell | Newegg
• Gaming mice deals: Walmart | Best Buy | Amazon | Dell | Newegg

HP is dubbing the EliteBook X as "the world's most powerful next-gen AI PC" thanks to its (for now) exclusive AMD Ryzen AI PRO 9 HX 375 chipset and the 55 TOPS NPU inside of it, but there's a lot more about this laptop that makes it worthy of attention. It's not just the performance, or the keyboard, or the Thunderbolt 4 ports (yes, you read that right) — it's also because HP has one of the most comprehensive visions for what an AI PC can be that I've seen so far, and I think the company may be winning me over with it.

I actually already had some hands-on time with the HP EliteBook X 14 (G1a) during HP Imagine 2024 in San Francisco, CA, but it was very limited. With the EliteBook X not planned to be fully released until December, I wasn't expecting to get another opportunity to use this laptop in the comfort of my own home, but here we are.

Impressive hardware with justified 'chonk'

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 takes design cues from the previous HP Spectre generation but is a fairly bland laptop aesthetically. Despite sharing many of the same features or components, the EliteBook X manages to dodge the curse of "boring-ness" with a design that feels modern while still retaining every drop of practicality you expect from an enterprise laptop.

For one, despite being noticeably thicker than its consumer compatriot (18.1 vs 16.5mm), the EliteBook X is actually smaller in every other dimension and is a fair bit lighter, too. Here, HP found the ideal blend: a beautiful and prominent display with thin bezels, compact dimensions, and yet still enough 'chonk' for the upgraded cooling system and legacy ports that you won't find in the OmniBook Ultra. That means improved performance and fewer dongles, and that's great for enterprise.

I didn't expect to appreciate this design as much as I do, but the added hands-on time I've had at home has really smoothed over any rough impressions I gathered during my limited preview during HP Imagine. The all-aluminum chassis continues HP's efforts to use as much sustainably sourced and post-consumer recycled metal and plastic materials as possible, the display is coated in durable glass, and the two-tone keyboard design carries over from past EliteBooks (and I quite like it).

While we're on it, this keyboard isn't quite my absolute favorite (something about its bounce-back behavior), but it's certainly among the best laptop keyboards I've personally tested. The layout is excellent, the keys are large and properly spaced out, the font is clear and easy to read, and each individual key has a consistent, responsive, and suitably tactile action. It's a great keyboard, and at this level improvements will largely come down to subjective opinion.

This touch-enabled display is also great in my limited testing. It's a familiar 2.8K, 16:10 OLED panel we've seen in many other 14-inch laptops, but I'm not complaining. This display has been reliably gorgeous, and HP actually takes advantage of the Windows Dynamic Refresh Rate with a 48-120Hz refresh rate, which should noticeably improve endurance over a laptop with a locked display refresh rate. It's a huge departure from the boring, flat IPS LCD panel in the OmniBook Ultra, and I love it.

Poly Studios returns to tune the webcam and quad-speaker system, too; even with early drivers, these speakers do sound loud and full, so I'll be interested in testing them more when the EliteBook X releases.

Unique features to help this AMD machine stand out

There is purpose behind the HP EliteBook X 14's chunkier design beyond giving HP more internal volume (and more room to play with curves in the design). For one, you get a full suite of ports here, including an HDMI display output, a USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 port, a USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a Kensington Nano Security Slot. Am I missing anything? Oh yeah, the two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, one on each side of the laptop.

To be clear, it's not impossible to see Thunderbolt 4 on non-Intel devices despite the globally recognized standard being owned and maintained by the semiconductor goliath, but it's absolutely uncommon. The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 (2024) and HP EliteBook X 14 (G1a) are the first AMD-powered laptops rocking Thunderbolt ports that we've seen in a while, and they're actually the first ever to boast two T4 ports, according to HP.

The newer USB4 standard can accomplish a lot of what Thunderbolt 4 can do, so most consumers don't need to worry about this, but the Thunderbolt standard comes with additional guarantees earned through strict, standardized testing that are a boon to enterprises and businesses. When you need to be confident the equipment you're purchasing will do exactly what you need it to do, standards like Thunderbolt are a huge value addition and will certainly make the EliteBook X stand out for AMD and HP.

Beyond the ports, that beefier chassis also makes room for HP's upgraded cooling system, which combines dual fans with a "hybrid hyperbaric cooling chamber" that will be able to squeeze more out of its internals than other similarly sized laptops. That matters, too, because the HP EliteBook X is actually rocking an exclusive (at least for now) version of the most powerful AMD Ryzen AI PRO chipset, the 9 HX 375, which features an even more capable Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for AI tasks.

Compared to the normal, non-PRO Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 in the OmniBook Ultra, the EliteBook X has an extra 5 TOPS of computational power, which should make this device a little more future-proofed. Now, this is an early pre-production sample with incomplete drivers and firmware, so I can't give you benchmark scores or make direct number comparisons to other devices. What I can say is that the EliteBook X runs exactly as smoothly and effortlessly as I'd expect from any modern flagship Windows laptop, and there's certainly a lot of headroom to do much more.

I can also tell you that, even this far ahead of release, the HP EliteBook X 14 seems to slightly outperform the HP OmniBook Ultra with its very similar non-PRO Ryzen AI chipset. The EliteBook X should also be more competent at handling a sustained workload, and seems a little more hesitant to spin up its fans in the first place. So far, I'm not inclined to refuse HP's claim that this is the "world's most powerful next-gen AI PC," as long as we're not talking about anything with an NVIDIA GPU inside it.

AI plays a huge role in squeezing more performance out of this PC and keeping it fast and secure into the future, too, playing into HP's cohesive vision for what an AI PC is.

A cohesive vision for an AI future that might actually make sense

When the HP EliteBook X 14 (G1a) releases, it'll be one among the new generation of Copilot+ PCs thanks to the improved capabilities of AMD's Ryzen AI and Intel's Core Ultra (Series 2), and that will include all the new AI features being added to Windows. HP isn't just relying on Copilot or third-party software to take advantage of the EliteBook X's class-leading NPU, however, nor is it throwing in the same half-baked features and promises we've seen in other laptops. HP is heavily investing in AI itself, and the EliteBook X is a showcase of those early efforts.

During HP Imagine 2024 and my time with the EliteBook X, I've been introduced to a lot of these investments, and it has actually convinced me of the potential of AI in tech products more than any other company to date. Let's get the small stuff the EliteBook X can do out of the way first, and then I'll move on to the bigger picture. For one, Poly Studios returns with an upgraded Poly Camera Pro app, which doesn't just tune the camera. This is basically a suped-up Windows Studio Effects program with a ton of options and customizations to finetune your camera experience with Auto Frame, background blur, filters, and more.

That's all boring stuff that we've seen a million times, though. What makes Poly Camera Pro interesting is that it includes all of these features in one place and does so at the camera processing level. That means it works with any camera you attach to the EliteBook X — not just the built-in webcam — and all of your settings are applied in any app that uses the camera — no official support or work from the developers needed. Because of this and the EliteBook X's NPU, Poly Camera Pro is also more efficient and performant than other similar solutions.

The HP EliteBook X also introduces a new version of HP's Smart Sense. On paper, this seems exactly like the AI-powered "optimized performance profile" we've seen every company do, but HP has now reduced your options to just Smart Sense or "Best performance," while also making Smart Sense smarter than ever. A dedicated, ultra-efficient hardware chip is constantly monitoring your laptop's thermals, resources, and even external factors like where the laptop is placed, whether it's moving, and more. Yes, there's an accelerometer inside the EliteBook X, so it knows when you're holding it and can tune itself to run cooler and quieter.

I haven't had enough time to really test Smart Sense and see if all of HP's marketing talk actually translates to real-world benefits, but the promise for Smart Sense is improved performance and efficiency that evolves around how you use your laptop.

Now on to the more important stuff, such as security. The EliteBook X, of course, includes HP's Wolf Pro Security suite, which combines layers of additional privacy and security features across hardware, firmware, and software. It's a valuable and trusted platform for enterprises (and is now coming to consumers in a slightly watered-down version with the OmniBook Ultra and Ultra Flip), but we've seen that Wolf Pro Security does decrease performance and efficiency compared to other laptops with identical internals.

With the EliteBook X, HP is moving more of what Wolf Pro does to the NPU, which is significantly more efficient and performant for AI-powered tasks than the CPU is, and promises that the performance gap has never been smaller. Seeing that the EliteBook X appears to be faster than the OmniBook Ultra gives me hope this is true. Wolf Pro is also getting smarter thanks to AI, becoming more able to dynamically respond to new threats that may impact your data. Combined with the enterprise-focused security and remote management features of AMD Ryzen AI PRO, the EliteBook X is a highly secure PC without compromise.

Most of HP's AI endeavors benefit enterprises and businesses more than consumers, but this honestly makes the most sense. Z by HP Boost allows companies to share unused GPU resources across all connected HP AI PCs — even when separated by thousands of miles. The HP Workforce Experience Platform is an all-in-one dashboard for IT departments that collects and consolidates telemetry data from across a company's fleet. The HP Remote Remediation Service is a valuable tool for HP's enterprise PCs (for Intel vPro at first, but I assume AMD Ryzen AI PRO is around the corner) that allows IT departments to offer advanced, in-depth, fully remote service like BIOS repairs and more (believe it or not, that's a first for the industry).

HP is also investing in the reliability, security, and trust of AI features with the HP Gen AI development platform, which provides valuable tools to AI developers and data scientists to reduce hallucinations in AI solutions. It's all important, it's all behind the scenes, and it's all improved by intelligent AI.

Again, though, none of that really matters to consumers. On that front, HP is developing its AI Companion and Print AI — two features that run better on the EliteBook X and actually have real-world use.

The HP AI Companion appears like any other AI large language model chatbot for queries, but it's also a secure and smart local file database. You can create libraries of files and documents and use HP AI Companion to analyze, organize, summarize, and posturize, and none of your data will ever leave your device.

HP AI Companion can also control basically every aspect of your HP device, including adjusting volume and display brightness levels, changing your performance profile, and much more. The majority of it is done locally with your device's NPU, and what needs to go to the cloud is encrypted, secure, and bereft of all your personal data. HP will progressively move more of HP AI Companion's features to your local NPU, too. It's already impressive in its beta state, and according to HP, it is meant to introduce everyday people to the benefits of natural language AIs without asking them to go and build one themselves.

The HP Print AI is similar but obviously focused on finally making printers less frustrating. With Print AI, users can configure printers and adjust settings, set up printing tasks, and even reformat and adjust files in real time before printing, all with natural language. I don't have a printer, personally, but HP's demos were fascinating, to say the least. None of this will be exclusive to the HP EliteBook X, but this laptop does serve as a flagship showcase for HP's vision, and I'm honestly interested to see more.

It'll be months before I get my hands on the finished product, though, so I'll have to make do with the (still very capable and powerful) OmniBook Ultra 14. Watch out for that review coming to Windows Central in the coming days.