In the world of tech, the event that kickstarts the year is often the one that defines it, and that honor annually falls to CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show) — an exhibition hailed as everything from the world's largest gadget show to the most powerful tech event in the world.
The Laptop Mag team reported directly from Las Vegas, Nevada for the duration of the show's January 7 to January 10 span. It's from here that we captured the computing reveals in consumer tech.
Welcome to Laptop Mag's CES 2025 special issue, offering you a recap of all of the highlights from Las Vegas, Nevada, and a showcase of our hand-picked Laptop Laurel winners across 25 categories.
CES 2025: Laptop Laurels
Throughout this year's showcase, we awarded products that truly stand out from the crowd with our Laptop Laurels — Laptop Mag's very own seal of approval for the best tech on show at CES 2025. Check out the winners below.
With up to 128GB of memory on package that can be allocated between the CPU, GPU, or NPU as needed, the Ryzen AI Max chipset is an absolute beast of a processor.
We watched the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 crush an intensive DaVinci Resolve task in seconds on the HP ZBook Ultra 14 g1a, and we even took the non-workstation Ryzen AI Max+ 395 for a few slick encounters in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart on the Asus ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet.
The performance capabilities we’ve seen from the Ryzen AI Max and its sheer boundless potential have us so incredibly excited we couldn’t even think of a laptop that would top “Strix Halo.”
An absolute gem of a powerhouse workstation that offers incredible AMD Ryzen AI Max power.
A high-end gaming desktop replacement with replaceable parts? Sign me up.
Lenovo's innovative 2-in-1 brings its Aura Edition to the high-end Yoga 9i.
Lenovo's thin-and-light creator laptop has some new tricks beneath its display.
As with so many winners, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Project Ava may be a concept right now, but it’s also a template for gaming’s AI future.
It’s a design wonder because it doesn’t demand your attention, it entices it.
A personal AI supercomputer in the hands of more people could make AI more equitable.
The world’s first Thunderbolt 5 eGPU won me over.
All about building your very own panopticon of productivity.
Connect to gaming handhelds, laptops, and phones to maximize your viewing experience with enormous virtual displays.
When a keyboard like the Keychron K2 HE comes along, there's really no other option.
HyperX's PulseFire Saga mouse was the one we singled out above its contemporaries.
Asus delivered gorgeous styling and a couple of unique extras to stand out from the crowd.
A creator-focused sister headset to Sony's impressive PS VR2, with a view to creating “spatial content.”
LG just leveled up its professional monitor game in a big way.
Lenovo's potential laptop replacing Yoga Tab Plus boasts on-device AI for 2025.
It’s arguably the best cloud gaming platform out there.
The first smart ring on the market to gain FDA approval for ECG readings.
Best Phone Accessory
Belkin’s Stage PowerGrip adds a twist to this useful category.
Audio-Technica claims the sun rises twice between charges of these earbuds.
This camera holds promise and Emeet says there's more to come in the months ahead.
Every so often, a router can feel like a much-wanted solution to a very real problem.
Stick it anywhere you'd like and not worry about the battery for two years.
CES 2025: News recap
The line of demarcation from unnoticeable to annoying is usually about three pounds for a laptop. Here are the best sub-three-pounders I saw at CES 2025.
Razer's Monitor Stand Chroma adds ergonomic support and gamer flair to smaller setups and pairs well with the company's Thunderbolt dock.
The right gaming monitor can work wonders, and the new HP Omen G2 gaming monitor lineup is here to impress.
Handheld gaming PCs have been all over CES 2025, however, there's one major manufacturer that has yet to enter the fray: Alienware.
Lenovo makes some of our favorite laptops, and at CES 2025, we got to check out the company's new Yoga lineup before it hits the shelves.
Razer's Project Arielle makes me think the company is unknowingly wandering into a 4D gaming wonderland.
The heads-up display is making the leap from games to real life, and we've highlighted three pair of smart glasses that showcase how.
CES 2025 showcases a new line-up of AI-powered laptops, including MSI's new Venture series with the latest chips from Intel and AMD.
MSI's gaming line-up expands, with new Raider, Vector, Stealth, and Crosshair gaming laptops featuring Nvidia's RTX 50 series GPUs.
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HP joins in the frenzy of new high-end gaming laptops being announced during CES 2025 with the HP Omen 16 Max.
Lenovo’s Legion series typically offers quality gaming experiences at an affordable price. Can the Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 keep its price point?
Asus updating the Zenbook 14 OLED with new Intel and AMD processors, and a new, slick Ceraluminum chassis already has us pretty psyched.
Is a unique feel and low weight enough for the Asus Zenbook A14 to hold the limelight? Let’s dive into what else Asus is packing.
Asus has unveiled its new line-up of AI-powered laptops at CES 2025, giving us a first look at the new Zenbook A14, Vivobook 14/16, and more.
Asus unveiled a fresh line-up of Vivobooks at CES 2025, powered by a mix of Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD processors.
Nvidia officially launched the GeForce RTX 5000 series graphics cards for both desktops and laptops at CES on Monday in Las Vegas.
Lenovo announced a new pair of ThinkPads at CES, sure to spark many an argument in 2025, here's why.
The Steam Deck is no longer the only handheld gaming PC running SteamOS after Lenovo the Legion Go S at CES.
Lenovo's productivity laptop comes with an extendable screen offering up to 16.7 inches of vertically aligned real estate.
Lenovo unveiled the Lenovo Legion Go 2 at CES 2025 alongside two Legion S models — and they look pretty exciting.
Sightful relaunches Spacetop as a software-only product this week at CES, ditching its display-less laptop in the process.
Nvidia's cloud-gaming platform will bring thousands of PC games to Steam Deck handhelds and Meta Quest headsets with RTX 4080-level graphics.
Razer unveils the thinnest, smallest Blade 16 gaming laptop ever. At just 0.59 inches thick, it's even thinner than the Apple MacBook Pro 16.
Asus has unveiled ROG gaming laptops at CES 2025, giving us a first look at the new ROG Strix and ROG Strix Scar series.
Handheld gaming PCs are all the rage, making Asus moving forward with its ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet is an interesting choice.
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is the first gaming laptop that got my heart to grow three sizes. Can Asus deliver again at CES 2025? I think so.
Alienware has announced a new series of A-51 desktops and laptops, a brand resurrection we can't help but be hyped for.
HP just announced a refresh of the budget-friendly HP Victus 15, one of HP's most popular gaming laptops — and for good season.
Plugable, an accessory company based out of Washington, introduced the "world's first" 10-port charger with smart power allocation.
Plugable is already known for its robust accessories, and its recently announced UD-7400PD docking station is continuing that ethos.
HP kicked off CES 2025 with a trio of updated business laptops in its EliteBook line-up, all featuring Intel's new Lunar Lake chips.
Acer kicked off CES 2025 this week by unveiling new and improved versions of the Swift Go 14, Swift Go 16, Swift Go 14 AI, and Swift Go 16 AI.
The Acer Nitro Blaze 11 boasts a massive 10.95-inch display, making it the largest major Windows gaming handheld we've seen.
Dell is completely rebranding its suite of laptops, doing away with its XPS, Inspiron, Latitude, or Precision lines and replacing them with a new line-up.
The ZBook line offers impressive performance, quality displays, and high levels of portability that meet professional needs at admittedly premium pricing.
Acer is expanding its handheld gaming options with the Nitro Blaze 8, delivering a larger size for those who prefer a more immersive display.
AMD has launched new processors for AI PCs, gaming PCs, gaming handhelds, and workstations at CES 2025 in Vegas.
Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon X chipset at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, finally entering the budget-friendly laptop space with Snapdragon X systems.
Intel's "Arrow Lake" architecture has returned for a redemption tour on laptops with the debut of Intel Core Ultra 200H and Intel Core Ultra 200HX chipsets.
Halliday smart glasses push the boundaries of wearable AI and smart glasses tech and look to release early this year
Laptop Mag's combined know-how covers a wide range of tech expertise, from laptops to mobile, processors, artificial intelligence, and more. Thanks to their reporting, our on-the-ground team was able to bring all of the breaking news, hands-on reviews, and consumer tech highlights from CES 2025 to our readers.
This year's outbound team included Laptop Mag Editor-in-Chief Nick Lucchesi, Managing Editor Sean Riley, Senior News Editor James Pero, Staff Writer Madeline Ricchiuto, and Contributing Writer Joanna Nelius.
Nick Lucchesi is a writer and editor who is editor-in-chief for Laptop Magazine. He's worked in content marketing for technology companies and served in various leadership roles, including Editor-in-Chief for Inverse. He started his career as a daily newspaper reporter before crisscrossing the country as a web editor for alternative weekly newspapers.
Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more. Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here.
James is Senior News Editor for Laptop Mag. He previously covered technology at Inverse and Input. He's written about everything from AI, to phones, and electric mobility and likes to make unlistenable rock music with GarageBand in his downtime. Outside of work, you can find him roving New York City on a never-ending quest to find the cheapest dive bar.
A former lab gremlin for Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, and Tech Radar; Madeline has escaped the labs to join Laptop Mag as a Staff Writer. With over a decade of experience writing about tech and gaming, she may actually know a thing or two. Sometimes. When she isn't writing about the latest laptops and AI software, Madeline likes to throw herself into the ocean as a PADI scuba diving instructor and underwater photography enthusiast.
Joanna Nelius is a contributing writer to Laptop Mag. She has reported on and reviewed laptops for The Verge, Gizmodo, PC Gamer, and USA Today.
Rael Hornby is Special Projects Editor for Laptop Mag and edited the CES 2025 issue.
