Computex 2019 is clearly the biggest computing trade show of the year, focused almost exclusively on the latest in desktop PCs and the components that power them. However, it has increasingly become a show about laptops, too, and 2019 is the biggest year for them yet at the Taipei show.
We’ve sifted through a veritable ton of laptop news and hands-on reviews to bring you the absolute most exciting highlights from the show. You’ll find dual-screen wonders, incredible new redesigns and bold, fresh directions that will make 2019 a landmark year in mobile computing – all debuting at Computex 2019.
Check out all of TechRadar's Computex 2019 coverage. We're live in Taipei to bring you all the breaking computing news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from fresh laptops and desktops to powerful new components and wild overclocking demonstrations.
Asus has been experimenting with additional displays on its laptops for about a year or two, but the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo is on a whole new level. This notebook adds an entire “Screenpad Plus” display above the keyboard but below the 'main' screen. This secondary 4K screen can be used to present document editing controls, making editing video and image content at 100% 4K resolution on a primary laptop display a reality.
Of course, Asus plans to bring the goods to back up such endeavors with a larger 'main' display, allowing for Intel Core i9 and Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics configurations. This certainly isn’t a thin or light notebook, but really the point is to serve as a one-stop shop for content creators that also like a little bit of gaming on the side. While we don’t yet have a price, we can’t wait to see what this laptop can do with those two displays.
The new flagship Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 laptop from Dell heralds the firm’s new XPS design aesthetic that started earlier this year with the revamped Dell XPS 13 for its hybrid line. Sure, the webcam has moved to above the display, but we’re more excited by the laptop’s brand-new, quieter MagLev 2 keyboard – not to mention its cooling system that allows for full-fat, 10-nanometer Intel mobile processors.
This is a 2-in-1 laptop that can promise to deliver on power, much unlike so many that has come before it. It also delivers a larger display than before – bigger than even the straight-laced XPS 13 – with a new 16:10 aspect ratio. As you can see, just about everything regarding Dell’s leading 2-in-1 laptop has seen a revamp or upgrade, making us quite excited to give it a full review later this year.
The next phase for MSI’s desktop replacement gaming laptop obviously brings on the power by packing in the latest components from Intel and Nvidia, but that’s not the biggest story here. The real buzz behind the MSI GT76 Titan is the aesthetics. Everything about this laptop’s chassis has become more worthy of its astronomical price tag.
Gone are the plastic trappings of last year, replaced by an aluminum shell and RGB lighting strewn throughout the chassis – including per-key backlighting. This is a laptop that truly looks the part when you see the massive price tag. Throw in desktop-grade, overclock-ready parts, and you’re looking at a PC gaming desktop setup in a box … one that you can actually haul around.
While these laptops sadly weren’t available for hands-on review in Taipei, we have to commend HP’s interesting design direction with its upcoming HP Envy Wood series of Ultrabooks and 2-in-1 laptops. All of HP’s 2019 Envy laptops will feature real wood aesthetics on their palm rests.
Across the three available colors for these laptops, there is a unique type of wood that comes as a placard in the palm rest, trackpad and even fingerprint reader, including walnut, pale birch and ceramic white birch. Naturally, HP promises that this wood will be sustainably sourced. We don’t know how much these laptops will cost when they launch later this year, but we’re a lot of intrigued folks will be willing to pay up.
We are ecstatic to see Dell and Alienware bring that rad Area-51m design to the Alienware m15 and m17 laptops. The design translates to the thin and light trappings of the product line perfectly, making laptops that look less like the mothership that is Area-51m and more like light, nimble fighters in the fleet.
This new design also brings plenty of previously absent practicality to Dell’s thin-and-light Alienware laptops, vastly improving their cooling design as well as visual aesthetics. Now, we are a bit miffed by the entry-level pricing. But Dell certainly adds a lot of value to the more expensive options, particularly Tobii eye tracking, which is used by Alienware’s very own competitive gaming tutors (via Alienware Academy) to train your reflexes.
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