We’re incredibly excited to get all of these products through our lab at some point this year, but for now, here’s a little taste of what’s to come in 2019. Dell Latitude 14 7400 2-in-1 Dell is reshaping what it means to be a business laptop with the Latitude 14 7400 2-in-1. This premium aluminum convertible is accompanied by incredibly slim bezels, up to 24 hours of battery life and an adaptive Windows Hello feature that can detect when you’re approaching the laptop. This 14-inch beauty is just 0.34-0.59 inches thin and weighs 2.99 pounds. It can be configured with the latest 8th-Gen Core i5 Whiskey Lake processor, 16GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD (this summer). The Latitude 14 7400 2-in-1 is slated to launch in March and will start at $1,599. Asus ROG Mothership Landing sometime in Q2 and costing an unknown number of souls, the Asus ROG Mothership will reveal its utterly alien nature. It looks like a mash-up of a tablet, a detachable, a gaming notebook, a desktop replacement and… a tank. All of the components (up to a RTX 2080 GPU and Core i9 CPU) are packed behind the gorgeous 17.3-inch, 144Hz display. The Mothership has some neat features, such as a kickstand and a detachable, wireless keyboard. The most interesting performance feature was that Asus decided to connect two of the SSDs directly to the CPU, which will result in ridiculously fast file transfers and boot-up speeds. We already feel our file-transfer test trembling at the thought. HP Chromebook x360 14 If the HP Chromebook x360 14 is any indication, premium Chromebooks will be sticking around in 2019. This aluminum-bodied 2-in-1 is slim, sleek and packed with up to an 8th-Gen Core i7 processor. It can also handle some abuse, due to its MIL-STD-810G tested chassis. Some of the x360 14’s premium qualities lie in the inclusion of a 1080p panel, two Bang & Olufsen speakers and a 13-hour battery life. We’re expecting the HP Chromebook x360 14 to launch sometime in January in the mid-$500 range, so we won’t have to wait long to get our hands on it. Alienware m17 Oh yes – the Alienware m15 is getting a bigger brother and we won’t have to wait long at all. The Alienware m17 is launching Jan. 29 and starts at $1,649. Of course, the new m17 is getting equipped with the latest Core i9 CPU as well as the new RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU. However, the m17’s 17.3-inch panel is where it really shines. The size of the screen actually stretches the top bezel slightly when compared to the m15, which makes the bezels look more natural. Pair that with a 3840 x 2160, 60Hz panel that registers at 400 nits of brightness, and you’ve got the perfect gaming experience. Despite its large size, the Alienware m17 measures 0.7-inches thin on the front, similar to its predecessor. Acer Swift 7 The world’s thinnest laptop seemed kind of hard to top until Acer made the Swift 7 even thinner, lighter and more gorgeous with its practically bezel-less 14-inch, 1080p touchscreen display. The new Acer Swift 7 is just 0.4 inches thin and weighs only 1.96 pounds, giving it just enough room for an Intel Core i7-8500Y processor, up to 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Impressively, Acer managed to pull off 1.1 millimeter of key travel on a laptop this thin. Sure, that travel is not in our typical 1.5- to 2.0-mm range, but we’ve seen thicker laptops with shallower key travel. Acer’s new Swift 7 will start at $1,699 and be available to purchase sometime in May. Razer Blade 15 Advanced Razer is widening the gap even further between the Basic and Advanced Razer Blade 15, with the Advanced getting up to a RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU and the Basic staying behind at a GTX 1060. The Razer Blade 15 Advanced will launch Jan. 21 and start at $2,299, but there are a couple of cosmetic features to be excited about, especially post-launch. The Mercury White design will no longer be a Razer Store exclusive, and it will be debuting at Best Buy at launch. While its 15-inch, 144-Hz panel may seem like more than enough, Razer claims to be working on a 240-Hz screen, which will make 144-Hz look like you’re playing games in potato mode. And that’s not it, either. The Razer Blade 15 will be blessed with the coveted 4K OLED panel sometime in the future. When that day comes, our eyes will be ready. CES 2019 is far from over, so stay tuned for updates to this page to see some exciting innovations from your favorite brands.
Laptop Guide
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