The Best Laptops and Desktops of Computex 2023

To get right in front of it: Despite fresh components from AMD, Intel, and Nvidia this year, Computex 2023 was admittedly light on new machines. However, we still managed to uncover the most exciting of the bunch announced at the show. From vendors like Acer, Cooler Master, MSI, and Zotac, these are the laptops and desktops from Computex we're most looking forward to getting our hands on.

Best Laptop for Cutting-Edge Tech: Acer Swift Edge 16

(Credit: John Burek)

Wi-Fi 7 is barely available as a wireless connectivity standard yet, but Acer is leading the charge with a new version of its recent Swift Edge 16 laptop. Thanks to the newly upgraded connectivity, when paired with a Wi-Fi 7 router, the new Swift Edge 16 will be able to hit online speeds of 5.8Gbps at first. This is well short of the 40Gbps promised by the standard, but Wi-Fi 7 is not even fully standardized yet, and this is merely a preview of its power. For those looking to be on the cutting edge of Wi-Fi speeds this summer, Acer has the express pass. The Swift Edge 16 is slated to go on sale in North America in July starting at $1,299.

Best Laptop for IT Fleets: MSI Commercial 14 

(Credit: John Burek)

Business laptops aren’t the flashiest systems around, but where function is needed, the MSI Commercial 14 looks to deliver. The traditionally gaming-centric company has expanded its business portfolio in recent years, and the Commercial 14 is purpose-built as a fleet laptop for large employee groups and government agencies. The build is sturdy, spill-resistant, and strictly professionally focused—its low fan noise, smart array of ports, and deep commitment to security all demonstrate that well. The MSI Commercial 14 features Near-Field Communication (NFC), an optional smart card reader, facial recognition and fingerprint reader via Windows Hello, Intel vPro, and support for TPM 2.0. It achieves this while maintaining a chic, portable package, making it our top professional pick. The MSI Commercial 14 is slated to start selling this fall, but pricing hasn't been announced yet.

Best Laptop for Innovation: MSI Raider GE78 HX Smart Touchpad

(Credit: John Burek)

It’s rare to say this about a laptop—particularly a gaming machine—but this one is all about the touchpad. We’ve seen the MSI Raider GE78 HX before, but as the name states, the marquee feature here is the Smart Touchpad. A column of LED touch buttons on the right edge allows you to significantly expand the size of the touchpad in order to make it larger than any others we see. Alternatively, you can shrink it down to a more standard size and instead toggle on a grid of useful hotkeys where the additional space once was. These include commands like camera and Bluetooth toggling as well as customizable macro buttons. The MSI Raider GE78 HX Smart Touchpad’s Intel Core i9-13980HX CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU are nothing to sneeze at, either, but it’s the innovative (and seemingly genuinely useful) Smart Touchpad we’re rewarding here. The MSI Raider GE78 HX Smart Touchpad will launch online in June, and you can pre-order a top-end model with the above-listed specs now for $2,699.

Best Laptop for Portable Gaming: Acer Predator Triton 16

(Credit: John Burek)

Slim, stylish, and powerful, the Acer Predator Triton 16 combines powerful hardware with a superb all-metal chassis and a trio of cooling technologies for excellent gaming performance, even on the go. Powered by a 13th-Gen Intel Core i9 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, it's a beast of a machine, complete with 32GB of memory and up to 2TB of SSD storage. A big, beautiful, high-refresh-rate IPS display with Nvidia G-Sync makes it sweet to look at, with an RGB keyboard that lets you show off your gamer sensibilities. Packed into an aluminum-alloy chassis that's just 19.9mm thick, it's one of the most stunning laptops we saw at Computex 2023. The Acer Predator Triton 16 is set to launch in North America in September with prices starting at $1,799.99.

Best Laptop for Creatives: Asus ExpertBook B5 Flip OLED

(Credit: John Burek)

Just about every computer manufacturer makes business laptops, but the Asus ExpertBook B5 Flip OLED stands out as the lightest 16-inch business laptop to date. However, instead of cutting features or build quality to achieve this featherweight designation, Asus delivers a ruggedized 2-in-1 laptop with a 4K OLED display. Powered by Intel 13th Gen processors and an optional Intel Arc GPU—and secured with features like TPM 2.0 and Intel vPro—the ExpertBook B5 Flip OLED is a business-ready powerhouse that will let you get things done instead of weighing you down. Unfortunately, Asus hasn't yet issued a price or release date for its new business-grade 2-in-1, but we'll be keen to review one once it's available—hopefully later this year.

Best Desktop for Innovation: Zotac Zbox PI430AJ Pico with AirJet

(Credit: John Burek)

The pocket-sized Zotac Zbox PI430AJ Pico is cool, but at first glance, it's not so different from other tiny PCs from Zotac. However, what's inside is genuinely innovative, with new solid-state cooling chips from Frore Systems, which use ultrasonic membrane technology to move air—no fans needed. That extra cooling lets the Pico replace the older Celeron chips with an Intel Core i3 N-Series processor, making it potentially the most powerful system of its kind. We expect to see this same cooling tech show up in everything from laptops to phones, so remember that you saw it here first. Zotac plans to start selling the Zbox PI430AJ Pico with AirJet starting in Q4 of 2023, at a price of $499.

Best Desktop for Gamers: Cooler Master Sneaker X

(Credit: John Burek)

Finally, the cross niche between sneakerheads and PC gamers is served by Cooler Master with a seriously sick-looking gaming desktop dubbed the Cooler Master Sneaker X(Opens in a new window). What started as a modding project by Thailand-based custom PC building group JMDF two years ago is now a fully-fledged product (thanks to Cooler Master) available for sale this summer for an eye-watering sum. While it doesn’t necessarily break any new ground, we appreciate Cooler Master and JMDF’s deeply cool and—with support for the latest CPUs and three-slot desktop GPUs—deeply powerful build. Again, the Sneaker X won’t be cheap: This super-cool rig will set you back $5,999 when it launches in early July.

Computers Continue to Get a Good Rap at Computex

(Credit: Rene Ramos; John Burek)

In a world dominated by smartphones and increasingly AI, it's reassuring to see computing so broadly and deeply represented at Computex 2023. While it was lighter than years prior in terms of showing off new systems, vendors managed to bring a variety of impressive and (minorly) groundbreaking products. Be sure to check out our overall picks for the Best of Computex 2023.