The Best of Computex 2025: AI Dominates, But PC Hardware Still Shines
TAIPEI—Spending a week in Taiwan running up and down the halls of the gigantic Computex trade show, our editors are seeing a significant transformation in progress. To an extent, Computex is turning into an AI show, in the same way so many other tech companies and venues are pivoting to AI. And the show is more vibrant and successful than ever, expanding into more halls and covering more floor space than in previous years. Plus, there’s a promise of even further growth next year.
The PC industry, though, is the traditional focus of Computex, and it isn’t letting up. The industry’s beating heart lies so clearly here in Taiwan, and the PC crowd is showing its creativity, adaptability, and vibrancy as strong as ever. That much is clear in our picks for the 15 best products on the show floors and in the suites of Computex. Let’s check them out.
The Best of Computex 2025
Best Consumer Laptop
Acer Swift Edge 14 AI
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
One of the best ways to stand out in the laptop world? Go light, and go glare-free. The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI manages that with a featherweight design weighing just 2.18 pounds. This 14-inch laptop doesn’t scrimp on the features or performance, either. Acer outfitted it with a 14-inch 3K OLED touch screen, up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 Series 2 CPU, a Wi-Fi 7 radio, Thunderbolt 4 ports, and AI chops that would still be impressive on a chunkier machine. That’s topped off with up to 32GB of memory (the laptop’s base model starts at 16GB) and a 1TB SSD.
Built with magnesium alloy and certified to MIL-STD 810H, the Swift Edge 14 AI is tough enough to carry and use all over, but it’s light enough to slip into a bag for a commute that feels unburdened. The biggest appeal to it, though, to our eyes? The OLED touch screen is enhanced with an exceptional Gorilla Matte Pro finish that cuts down on reflections by as much as 95%. It does that without losing the OLED screen’s vivid color and crisp clarity. Acer says the battery should last up to 21 hours, too. All that adds up to the best general-use laptop we’ve seen at Computex. —Brian Westover, Lead Analyst
Best Business or Content Creator Laptop
Asus ProArt 16 (2025)
(Credit: Matthew Buzzi)
We reviewed the original ProArt 16 late last year, and it wowed us, earning a 4.5-star score. Asus brought an updated version to Computex, and it looks like another winner. This is a content-creation powerhouse, combining top-tier AI capabilities with impressive professional chops, now updated to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 50 series. The new ProArt uses an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU that can deliver 50 TOPS of AI power from its integrated neural coprocessor, and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 for 3D modeling, video editing, and graphic design. The RTX GPU will run on optimized Nvidia Studio drivers. And as for the NPU, that local AI support will drive enhanced workflows in tools like Adobe Creative Suite. Also, it powers AI features in CapCut and Asus’ own Muse Tree image-generation and style-extraction tool.
The screen is also great: a 16-inch 3.8K OLED touch panel complete with Pantone-validated color and rated for 500 nits of brightness. It gives you all the color accuracy, sharpness, and contrast a professional creator needs for art, photos, and videos. The laptop’s port selection is top-notch, with USB4, USB 3.2, HDMI, an SD card slot, and Wi-Fi 7 for various connectivity options.
All those features push the already great Asus ProArt 16 to the top of the stack, and added touches, like the Asus DialPad control on the touch pad, put this professional creator laptop over the top. —BW
Best Gaming Laptop
Acer Predator Triton 14 AI
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
What we appreciate most about Acer’s new 14-inch gaming notebook is that it’s just as prepared to crunch PC-game frames, with its Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics, as it is to crush personal-use local AI work with its Intel “Lunar Lake” Core Ultra 200V processor. For content-creation pros, Acer outfitted the Triton 14 AI with a gorgeous, 1800p OLED screen with Calman color verification and a slick-looking, professional build. The system is also quite portable for what it contains, measuring just 0.68 inch thick and weighing only 3.5 pounds. Those are dimensions that rival the 14-inch MacBook Pro—and that Mac is nowhere near the gamer that this machine should be.
Worth noting: This gaming laptop is one of the first to use Intel’s AI-first Core Ultra 200V mobile processors. These are traditionally for lightweight, power-efficient systems and therefore lower in power draw (and, likely, raw performance) than the Core Ultra H-series chips that usually accompany laptop GPUs to avoid bottlenecking. We’re excited to see how Acer’s improved thermal solutions can help optimize gaming and AI performance. For creating a laptop that should be strong for both serious work and serious play, the Triton 14 AI earns its spot on our list. Indeed, it could have won for the category above this one, too. —Joe Osborne, Deputy Managing Editor
Best Gaming Desktop
Asus TUF Gaming T500
(Credit: John Burek)
When looking for a good-value gaming rig, it’s tough to find compact systems with potent graphics for less than about $1,500. To address this, Asus has taken a unique approach with the TUF Gaming T500 desktop: Try a mobile CPU instead of a full-fat desktop one. That’s right, this gaming rig uses processors designed for laptops, up to an Intel Core i7-13620H. You get to pair it with a full-size graphics card.
Using a laptop processor lowers costs in several ways. First, a laptop CPU can enable a lower cost of entry. Also, the smaller chip enables space savings, requiring less cooling hardware than traditional desktops do. Asus says it is exploring even more affordable options than its $1,299 RTX 5060 Ti model we’ve seen at the show (say, with RTX 30- and RTX 40-series Nvidia graphics), but this current-gen model is the most exciting. The Asus TUF Gaming T500 earns its spot for its clever effort to get midrange performance into the hands of budget-strapped gaming-PC buyers. —JO
Best Mini Desktop
MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 2M
(Credit: John Burek)
MSI built this compact PC with ease of use and AI features in mind. The system uses Intel’s Lunar Lake processors with built-in neural processing units to drive AI performance using Microsoft’s Copilot+ software and other applications. The system also has built-in microphones for detecting voice commands, and its nifty power button doubles as a fingerprint reader to increase system security.
This system is one of the first mini PCs we’ve seen adopt Intel’s Lunar Lake mobile chips to bring the Copilot+ AI suite to desktops. Because AMD’s and Intel’s desktop-grade processors aren’t yet capable of this level of AI processing, this puts mini PCs in the pole position for AI desktop PCs. As one of the first x86-based Copilot+ desktop PCs, the Cubi NUC AI+ 2M is our mini-PC pick. —Michael Justin Allen Sexton, Senior Analyst
Best Display
Acer PD243Y E
(Credit: John Burek)
The Acer PD243Y E had us and other Computex attendees seeing double—literally. Acer bills this twin-screen display as a portable monitor, and it’s a behemoth. It stacks two 23.5-inch 1080p panels, one atop the other, with the upper panel held in position by four hinges and the whole works propped up with a sturdy foldout stand. This arrangement seemed surprisingly stable in our brief interaction with it, with no trace of wobble.
The PD243Y E’s 1080p resolution is modest by today’s standards, but on 23.5-inch screens, it’s more than adequate for business and light entertainment use, even basic photo editing. For connectivity, it offers both USB-C and HDMI inputs. The PD243Y E may lack the easy portability of sub-16-inch panels, but the kickstand can double as a handle, so you can lug it along on trips or move it around at home. These two extra screens are easy to set up and break down, and you can even VESA-mount the whole works. —Tony Hoffman, Senior Analyst
Best Input Device
Corsair Makr 75
(Credit: John Burek)
Corsair wants to bridge the gap between buying a pre-built keyboard and building your own from a barebones kit with the Makr 75, a premium keyboard backed by a robust online configurator. You select parts of your keyboard piece by piece in a web interface. You can choose different components, such as the color/material of the frame, your key-switch preference, and the keycap designs. Want an LCD screen in the corner? You got it—or you can get a volume dial there instead. Prefer a barebones build? That’s an option too; you get just the frame and an internal circuit board.
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The keyboard supports 8K polling rates for reduced lag, has an all-aluminum frame, and contains eight layers of sound dampening to reduce rattle and echo for a near-silent typing experience. It’ll cost a premium, with potential high-end builds approaching $400, but a barebones model will go for a little more than $200 and should be on the radar of anyone contemplating the keyboard hobby. —Francisco Lahoz, Junior Analyst
Best Storage Product
TeamGroup T-Create Expert P35S
(Credit: John Burek)
This portable SSD provides a novel twist on data security to earn its spot on our list: a self-destruct slider. The SSD is about the size of a car key fob and weighs only 1.5 ounces, so it’s super portable. However, the SSD’s dedicated “kill switch” lets you wipe the drive’s contents in a fast two-step process that minimizes the chances of accidental activation.
You need to swipe the slider on the surface of the SSD twice to destroy it. Doing this wrecks the NAND chips beyond repair or recovery. Say you’re an envoy transporting government-critical info, and a gunman demands the SSD that you’re carrying. With a couple of swipes of the slider, you can purge the drive of its secrets and hand it over with a smile. As a USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive with a Type-C port, the P35S can transfer data at up to 1,000MBps—typical for a modern external SSD—and it holds 2TB. —TH
Best Processor
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9000
(Credit: Matthew Buzzi)
AMD’s consumer Ryzen Threadripper processors are robust workhorses that enable near-server-grade performance. The new Threadripper 9000 chips comprise AMD’s latest Zen 5 microarchitecture, which increases speed and efficiency over the preceding generation. These chips target home users who work on intense projects as hobbyists or independent entrepreneurs. For instance, content creators would find this amount of throughput dreamy.
AMD’s new top model, the Ryzen Threadripper 9980X, has 64 CPU cores supporting up to 128 threads and can hit speeds of up to 5.4GHz. This level of performance provides an abundance of processing power for a single PC. These chips all run at 350 watts, so you’ll need a beefy power supply to keep them fed. For bringing Threadripper back into enthusiasts’ hands, AMD’s flagship high-end chips earn this year’s spot. —MJAS
Best Graphics Card
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT
(Credit: Matthew Buzzi)
On paper, the Radeon RX 9060 XT is an enticing mainstream graphics card, priced at $299 for an 8GB model or $349 for a 16GB model. AMD’s 16GB card substantially undercuts Nvidia’s comparable GeForce RTX 5060 Ti by $80 in MSRP.
Recommended by Our Editors
According to AMD, the Radeon RX 9060 XT should be a bit faster than the RTX 5060 Ti, making this value proposition even more compelling. When it launched the RX 9060 XT, AMD showed off upgrades to its FSR screen-optimization techniques that should bring it closer to parity with Nvidia’s DLSS suite, another feather in its cap. We can’t wait to test one of these to find out for sure, come June 5, but the RX 9060 XT earns its place on this list for heating up the competition in mainstream graphics cards. —MJAS
Best PC Case
InWin DLite
(Credit: John Burek)
We are huge fans of a PC case from case maker InWin called the Dubili, which is a pun on “do believe.” Well, we do believe that this is our favorite case from Computex 2025. And that is saying something, because it had a lot of competition. The Dubili Lite, or DLite, is a less expensive, boiled-down version of the Dubili that keeps a lot of the charm of the original case and puts its own spin on the design. This polished-aluminum and glass tower reminds us of a high-end speaker—complete with RGB fans peeking through the grille. Plus, with massive airflow potential, this case is built to house the best components. It’s elegant, practical, and clearly engineered by people who understand system builders—and have great design taste. —John Burek, Executive Editor and Lab Director
Best PC Power Product
Lian Li RS Series 1000W/1200W With USB Hub
(Credit: John Burek)
Power supplies don’t usually make headlines, but Lian Li’s RS Series pretty much blows up the PSU rulebook. This power supply is a total rebel—it does almost everything different. First, by relocating the modular connectors to the sides of the PSU, Lian Li has made cable management dramatically easier—especially in reverse-connector PC builds, or builds with the PSU rotated 90 degrees.
Plus, the RS has a rotatable power socket at the corner of the PSU, as well as an optional snap-on USB hub for extra USB header connections. Add that all up, and you’ve got a PSU that’s like no other. —JB
Best PC Cooling Product
Thermaltake Minecube 360 Ultra ARGB
(Credit: John Burek)
Over the last couple of years at Computex, makers of PC components have been fighting over who can make the craziest, most over-the-top desktop CPU cooler by adding LCD screens, lighting, and more. Well, Thermaltake just won this round with the Minecube 360 Ultra ARGB.
The Minecube isn’t just a 360mm all-in-one liquid cooler—it’s total display overkill. It has four LCDs that play custom animations, and using Thermaltake’s new software, you can even show videos that have elements running from one screen to the other. You can even pop off the cube and rotate it to whatever orientation works best in your PC. —JB
Best Motherboard
Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Tachyon Ice CAMM2
(Credit: John Burek)
When you are overclocking your PC memory, every little bit of physics counts. (It even comes down to the actual circuits running from your memory to the rest of your PC, and the length of their wires.) Gigabyte’s Z890 Aorus Tachyon Ice CAMM2 is a motherboard that caters to the very discriminating overclocking crowd. It spells out its marquee feature in the name: It uses a new, cutting-edge type of main system RAM, replacing the bulky vertical DIMM modules that everyone knows with a sleek CAMM2 module, which mounts parallel to the motherboard, like a CPU. This lowers physical obstructions, boosts stability, and even opens the door to higher memory capacities.
Companies like Kingston make CAMM. It’s a win both for extreme performance and for practicality. For one, CAMM2 modules can sit directly next to the CPU on the motherboard, and the shorter traces between the two can increase frequency and reduce latency. As CAMM2 adoption grows, this board may well be remembered as one of the pioneers. —JB
Best Prototype
MSI ‘Panther Lake’ Next-Gen Laptop Prototypes
(Credit: PCMag)
The biggest Intel news from the show was the big chip maker’s demonstration of working silicon for its next-generation processors, which are code-named “Panther Lake.” We saw two reference desktops and a more polished-looking mini PC running demos of several content creation programs and even some local AI processing. Panther Lake is still a bit far off; production of the chips is set to get into full swing later this year, and the first market-ready designs are expected to show up in early 2026.
Intel showed off a few potential Panther Lake laptop designs at Computex, but only MSI was bold enough to unveil off its work-in-progress models. The company doesn’t have a name yet for these upcoming productivity and business laptops, but it showed off a bunch of prototypes, and they are a big departure from MSI machines of the past. The keyboards have been completely redesigned, and some of the models are the thinnest the company has ever produced. Also, a new MSI logo graces the lid, which has a slick design and flowing lines that match the rest of the machine. We’re looking forward to seeing these next year. —JB
About John Burek
Executive Editor and PC Labs Director
Read the latest from John Burek
About Matthew Buzzi
Lead Analyst, Hardware
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