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AI is still the big thing in the tech world, but it's no longer the big new thing. It's been around long enough that simply integrating it into your product isn't enough to make it stand out anymore, especially at the biggest tech show in the world. While I attended this year's CES, the trend I noticed over and over again on the show floor was that AI is getting weird now. From personal hologram sidekicks to a gaming monitor that basically cheats for you, here are the five weirdest AI inventions I saw at CES 2026.

Razer is giving you your own personal anime girl

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

At last year's CES, gaming lifestyle company Razer introduced Project AVA, an AI esports coach concept that was just a disembodied voice that lives in your laptop. Yawn. This year, the company's expanding on that by bringing AVA into the real world.

In Razer's suite this year, I held a conversation with "Kira," an anime girl "hologram" that lives in a little USB tube you can plug into your laptop. She noticed my orange sweater thanks to a camera installed in the tube, before asking me about the show and prompting me to start up a round of Battlefield 6, where she gave me some generic loadout advice. I spoke with her using microphones also built into her tube, and she responded using her own speaker rather than the laptop's. Razer said this demo was more directed, hence why she brought up gaming right away, but that the end goal is to let the new AVA work as a convincing all-purpose AI companion, so you don't have to use it for only play.

To that end, the company says it's "AI agnostic," so you can plug your own model into it. The demo I ran through was clearly using Grok, and generally felt a lot like talking to the AI companions built into that app, right down to the cringeworthy jokes. But Razer said you could theoretically use ChatGPT or Gemini instead.

While we were chatting, Kira played animations courtesy of Animation Inc., which powers similar but more app-driven AI companions. In other words, the chatbot and the animations aren't really new here, so what you'd be buying would be the USB tube and the characters.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Kira isn't your only option for an AI companion here—she's a typical anime gamer girl, but I also got to briefly look at Zane, a tattooed muscle man in the deepest V-neck I've ever seen. You can kind of see the target audience for both of these characters right away, but if you want something more tame, you can also have your tube display Razer's logo surrounded by an audio waveform, which simply goes by AVA (even though the project as a whole is still called AVA). And the company's also working on celebrity likenesses, with esports star Faker and influencer Sao having already given their approval.

Razer said it's still working on figuring out how it'll distribute these characters, and I was told you'd get a bundle of them with your purchase, but would probably be able to buy more down the line.

As for pricing and availability, no word on that. This is technically still a concept, so it might go back to the drawing board again. But Razer's website does say it's hoping for a release in the second half of 2026, and that you can put $20 down now to reserve your unit.

In short, if you strip away the functionality that's already baked into apps you can download now, the new Project Ava is basically a talking hologram toy for your desk. That's still not a bad pitch, but unfortunately, I'm not sure if hologram is the right word for this. Kira looked pretty flat to me, less like that one Princess Leia projection and more like she was displaying on a normal transparent screen that just happened to be stuck inside of a cylinder. I don't think the novelty quite matches the pitch yet.

The gaming headset that uses AI to read your mind

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Whenever I play a competitive game, instead of hopping right into a match, I instead load up into a few practice sessions to warm up. It's helpful, but time consuming. The new Neurable x HyperX concept headset is hoping to change that by helping you lock in within just a few minutes.

Essentially, it looks like a normal gaming headset, but built into the earcups are various sensors that can supposedly read your focus levels. These are similar to the brain-computer interfaces you might have seen in sci-fi shows, the ones with a bunch of wires and discs attached to them, but shrunken down for the consumer market, with no creepy wires in sight.

That's where the AI comes in. Shrinking down the sensors so much does mean this headset gets fewer readings than the bigger ones in labs, but Neurable claims its models are still able to pick up on trends in those readings and translate them into useful data, while also throwing out junk data.

For gamers, that means it can run you through a quick focus exercise called "Prime," where you concentrate while noticing a cloud of dots shrink into a solid orb. Once this is done, which took about 90 seconds for me, you're supposedly focused up and ready to play.

Unfortunately, I actually did worse in a practice shooting game after focusing than beforehand, but that doesn't mean the data was useless. I ran through the exercise with a colleague whose score improved by maybe about a third after focusing, and with such a small sample size, there could be any number of reasons I choked after focusing up. The company said that it could even be helpful to practice choking in this way.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

And at any rate, numbers are fun. That's why I'm most excited about the headset's plug-in for streamers, which allows them to show their focus levels on screen for their chat to see. I could easily imagine a community looking at that data and teasing their favorite streamer to try to distract them.

That said, it'll be a while until you can actually buy this. It's still a concept for now, with no pricing or promise of release. However, Neurable does already have a similar, non-gaming headset made with Master & Dynamic that will be shipping out soon, just without this software. For more, read my full article here.

Lenovo's laptop can nod when you ask it a question

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

This one is more of a hardware innovation, but it's a clever touch. This CES, Lenovo introduced a laptop with a motorized hinge that can automatically close, open, and even rotate from side-to-side. It'll be coming out later this summer, but while the company was demonstrating the unit to me, it also showed off a prototype chatbot app it's making for it. This uses ChatGPT for now, and is still just a concept and will not ship with the laptop. But it was cute.

Essentially, while I talked with the app, the laptop displayed a big pair of animated eyes on screen, and used its hinge to nod or shake its head no when I asked it questions. It also displayed small animations in response to certain questions, like showing an umbrella when I asked about the rainy weather.

It's still very early days, but I was impressed that the hardware was able to recognize what an affirmative answer was and trigger the laptop to respond accordingly. A lot of AI feels pretty disconnected from the real world, so anything that can give it a physical presence is probably a good idea if you want people to take it seriously.

The Lenovo AI gaming monitor that's basically cheating

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Also shown off at CES this year, Lenovo's AI Frame gaming monitor is probably the most practically useful item on this list, almost to the point where it feels like cheating. Essentially, this fills up most of the 21:9 screen with a regular 16:9 view of whatever's on your computer, and uses AI to show a zoomed-in look at critical game information on the rest.

For instance, in a demo showing a MOBA game (think League of Legends), the monitor zoomed in on the map. In a demo showing Counter-Strike 2, it zoomed in on the reticle. Personally, I didn't think getting a blown-up look at the map was all that helpful, but being able to constantly see what was essentially a sniper scope around my reticle was a game changer, since it worked with any gun and made targets much easier to see.

I could see Counter-Strike 2 developer Valve go as far as banning this if it ever makes its way to market, since it's taken similar actions before. But this is still just an idea for now. Still, it shows that companies are starting to figure out concrete ways AI can help you in your games, beyond just feeding you advice you probably already know.

XREAL's new AR glasses can automatically convert any 2D content into 3D

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Finally, probably my favorite AI invention at CES this year was XREAL's new REAL 3D technology. Built into its newest AR glasses and already added to an existing pair via a firmware update, this uses AI to automatically find depth in any 2D video source and convert it into 3D. And trying it out for myself, it practically looked official.

When I used it to play Mario Kart World, I would have believed you if you told me Nintendo had added this mode itself. It also worked great with James Cameron's Avatar, and there was no loading time to set it up or turn it off. There also wasn't any fuzziness, like there might be with glasses-free 3D screens like the 3DS.

It's a great option for people who like watching 3D games and movies, but might have trouble finding them now that 3D TVs and the Nintendo 3DS are mostly in the past. Now, you can just watch your existing 2D library, but in 3D.

The only issue you might come across is in content that doesn't have depth. For instance, XREAL's Ralph Jodice told me the software didn't quite know what to do when he tried playing the original 8-bit Super Mario Bros. with it, and would randomly emphasize only certain game assets without any rhyme or reason. An illusion of depth does seem to work, though. Super Mario Bros. is entirely flat, but when I tried watching the pen-and-paper animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with this technology, it correctly separated characters in the foreground from scenery in the background, even though everything on screen was entirely hand-drawn.

Robot vacuums are a convenient way to keep your house clean without actually putting in much work, but they've all got one major problem—what if your house has multiple stories? At CES this year, I saw two attempts to fix this problem, but one of them was much more fabulous than the other.

Roborock has a robot vacuum with legs

This is the more unique of your stair climbing robot vacuums, and the one that's new for this year. At CES 2026, robot vacuum company Roborock introduced the Roborock Saros Rover, which has two fold-out and individually articulated legs built into it, with wheels on either one.

This lets it act like a standard robot vacuum when it's on flat terrain, but when it hits a pair of stairs, it will use its legs to slowly pull itself up and over them. And because those legs are individually articulated, unlike other solutions, it can clean those stairs while it climbs.

Plus, it can also run through fun programmable routines, like dancing and even hopping. Honestly, it looks a lot more cute than the other bipedal robots I've seen littering this year's CES. Maybe that's because it still serves a concrete purpose.

The problem? You'll need to get the new model to benefit from the stair climbing, whereas competitors are introducing solutions that work with existing vacuums.

The Roborock Saros Rover also doesn't have hard pricing or a release date yet, but Roborock assured me it isn't a concept, and will make its way to market eventually. I was told the goal is this year, but the company couldn't confirm that.

Dreame's stair climbing robot vacuum dock

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Next to Roborock's booth, I also saw another approach to a stair climbing robot vacuum from competitor Dreame. This actually showed up at German tech conference IFA last year, but it's still worth bringing up, if only to highlight how different the Roborock is. Essentially, instead of building a single robot vacuum model with individual legs, Dreame instead built a dock that your existing robot vacuum can drive into, and then the dock will take it up the stairs like a taxi.

The catch is that, because the dock needs to be able to drive to the stairs, it does not use individually articulated legs to climb, and instead uses treads that move in sync with each other. This gets it up and down stairs with no problem, but unlike Roborock's solution, it's not able to clean while doing so.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

However, I'll note that I did personally see Dreame's dock go down a flight of stairs, something Roborock's unit didn't do in the demo I watched. Maybe this is a more stable approach.

Unfortunately, while Roborock said it's definitely planning on bringing the Saros Rover to market, Dreame's dock, called the Cyber X, is still just a concept, and may not actually ever make it to consumers.

Gaming controllers are just one of those things that I love to collect, but living in a small New York apartment, eventually enough is enough. At CES this year, I saw three new controllers that are all trying to be the last ones I'll ever need to buy (for specific systems, at least). It seems like modularity is in, and all three of these devices want to meet all of your needs. However, they're not settled on what the best approach is.

GameSir x Hyperkin X5 Alteron

The GameSir x Hyperkin X5 Alteron is probably the cutest controller on this list, especially if you grew up playing GameCube or Nintendo 64. Essentially, it's a telescopic mobile controller that stretches to fit around your phone or small tablet, but the gimmick is that all of the face buttons and sticks come in hot swappable modules, and can be freely mixed-and-matched for multiple configurations.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

You could do a standard Xbox style layout. You could opt for a layout with symmetrical, PlayStation style thumbsticks instead. You could use GameCube or Nintendo 64 style face button configurations, which is a unique touch. There are even options for a six-button arcade style layout or a Steam Deck style trackpad.

Essentially, play your cards right, and this thing could fit any need you might possibly have, so long as you're playing on mobile. You could even get weird and slot in a GameCube layout for your left hand and a Nintendo 64 layout for your right hand.

The different configurations all pop in and out easily, but don't feel loose when you're using the controller. And there are also bells and whistles like back paddles and trigger stops, for extra buttons and quicker reaction times. The sticks are also capacitive, which essentially means they shouldn't drift, but also won't cause magnetic interference like Hall Effect or TMR sticks (other popular anti-drift technology) can.

The catch? While this isn't a concept, pricing and availability aren't set in stone yet. GameSir also told me it's still figuring out distribution, so it's unclear how many control modules will come with the controller, if you'll be able to buy them separately, and how much they'll cost if you do. The company did say it's targeting a $100 release, but that could change, and it's still figuring out how to make that a reality.

The other issue, of course, is that this is mobile only, although GameSir said it might make a more traditional version in the future. This isn't the first controller with hot swappable modules, but others are usually pro-level and don't have nearly as many options as the X5 Alteron does.

8BitDo Ultimate 3e

8BitDo is one of my favorite controller companies, especially for retro style controllers. Last year, it already dipped its toes into modularity with the 8BitDo Pro 3. That was a PlayStation-style controller that allowed you to individually swap out any of the main four face buttons to place them in whatever order you wanted, which made it easier to swap between Xbox (ABXY) and Nintendo (BAYX) style layouts. Now, the 8BitDo Ultimate 3e is taking that concept and really running with it.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Officially licensed by Xbox but also compatible with PC and mobile devices, the 8BitDo Ultimate 3e looks like a standard Xbox controller at first, but has a removable face plate that gives you access to a bunch of options. Take it off, and you can lift out the sticks, D-Pad, or face buttons to swap them for ones with a different feel.

Credit: 8BitDo

Your overall control layout will still be the same—there's no mimicking the GameCube, swapping the order of the ABXY buttons, or changing your stick position here. But you could opt for either a four-way or circular D-Pad or sticks with different lengths or grips, for instance. The ABXY button modules also come in both quiet silicone versions or clicky, micro-switch versions.

That's a lot of control, and it comes on top of 8BitDo's standard Ultimate controller features, like the included charging dock, extra macro buttons, trigger stops, a gyroscope, and 1,000hz polling.

8BitDo says the Ultimate 3e controller will cost $150 and will come with all your control options. It's set to ship later this year.

New models for the MCON

When I reviewed the MCON magnetic gaming controller late last year, I wanted to love it. It was my favorite product from last CES, but when it came to market, I had a few issues with it that made me feel like it wasn't quite complete. Well, they're still in the prototype phase, but MCON makers OhSnap are now working on two new MCON models that are looking to fix pretty much all of my problems with the original device.

MCON Slim (left) and MCON Lite (right) attached to Galaxy phones Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Called the MCON Slim and the MCON Lite, these versions of the device are much smaller and should be much cheaper than the version that's on the market now, but retain almost all of its features. There are a few compromises to make that happen, but ultimately, they look like moves in the right direction.

First, both the MCON Slim and the MCON Lite have manual sliding mechanisms for their controls. That means the controls normally slip tucked away behind your phone, but can be pulled out by hand like an old-school Android keyboard. I actually prefer this. The original MCON instead uses a spring-loaded sliding mechanism, and it's pretty violent, and can send your phone flying if you're not careful.

Second, when I say these are smaller, I mean it. If the original MCON felt like attaching a MagSafe battery bank to your phone, these feel a lot more like using a MagSafe wallet. I didn't mind the size of the original too much, but it really is impressive how much the new models have slimmed down. It seems like you could practically keep them attached at all times without much of an issue.

Finally, while pricing isn't finalized yet, MCON told me to expect the new models to be somewhere between 1/3rd to half the price of the current one. That's a huge markdown on the pricey $150 original, even as these fix some of my problems with it.

To be fair, you do lose out on a little bit here, but not much. The MCON Slim and MCON Lite both still have a kickstand mode, and still feature a full set of buttons, but they handle their shoulder buttons and thumbsticks differently. Both the Slim and Lite have "inline" shoulder buttons, which means the L1/R1 and L2/R2 buttons are next to each other horizontally rather than stacked. Not a big deal for me, but some people may prefer a console-like layout. The bigger differences come in the thumbsticks.

MCON Slim Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

The MCON Lite uses 3DS-style circle pads instead of Switch-style thumbsticks, which is how it's able to save so much space. They aren't my favorite, but I've never had any problems making them work. The MCON Slim, then, uses dual-trackpads instead of thumbsticks. That makes it even smaller than the Lite, but I've never had great luck using trackpads for analog style inputs. It could be useful for games that need a mouse, though.

MCON Lite Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

So, what makes these modular? Well, aside from giving you more model options and carrying forward the removable kickstand mode from the original MCON, part of what allows these models to be so thin is that they use custom backplates designed for certain phones, whereas the original model used a bulkier solution that fits all phones.

The MCON Slim and MCON Lite are the most conceptual of the devices on this list, but OhSnap assured me that at least one will make its way to market, hopefully this year. Apparently, there are still internal debates about whether the model with trackpads is worth releasing or not.

Unless you run an AI data center, Nvidia's announcements this CES have been more on the quiet end. There were updates to GeForce Now cloud streaming and its DLSS upscaling tech, but no new graphic cards. That's fine—it's normal for Nvidia to have a quiet year on consumer tech every now and then, and the RTX 50-series GPUs just came out last year. Unfortunately, it turns out those DLSS updates are actually making games run worse on older GPUs.

The new version of DLSS, called DLSS 4.5, is pretty great when it works. It already makes lighting appear far more realistic even when ray tracing or HDR isn't being used, and in the spring, it will introduce dynamic frame generation, which can adjust how many AI frames are inserted into your game on the fly, so that it doesn't waste compute producing more frames than necessary, or than your monitor can produce. I saw examples of both of these use cases in person at CES, and as someone who mostly plays without upscaling when I can, I was impressed enough that I might want to get a new GPU and make the swap.

And I stress that "new GPU" part. Unfortunately, DLSS 4.5 only seems to work best on Nvidia's newest cards. It released in beta for all Nvidia GeForce RTX cards yesterday, but gamers on older RTX 3000-series cards are already reporting issues. According to a report from X user Mostly Positive Reviews (via Tom's Hardware), users on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU could see up to a 24% dip in performance in Cyberpunk 2077, and a 14% drop in The Last of Us Part 2. Those are just a few examples, but others in the comments posted their own headaches, as did users on Reddit.

That's not a small issue. The RTX 3080 Ti might be a few generations behind, but it was near the top of the line when it was current. More importantly, according to Steam's own data, the RTX 3060 is currently the most common graphics card on Steam, and it's weaker than the RTX 3080 Ti. And technically, DLSS 4.5 is available for the even weaker RTX 2000-series, which are bound to run into even more severe problems.

So where's this massive performance loss coming from, and what can you do about it? Likely, it has to do with the new AI transformer model powering DLSS, which Nvidia said was built with RTX 40-series and RTX 50-series cards in mind. While you can use DLSS 4.5 with an older GPU, it doesn't seem like it's intended.

Thankfully, if you decided to try out DLSS 4.5 on an older card and you don't like what you're seeing, you're not stuck with it. Currently, public DLSS 4.5 implementation is in beta, and needs to be applied to games by choosing either the "Model M" or "Model L" preset in the Nvidia app (under "Latest" and "Custom," respectively). Choosing another model, like Model K, should get you back to normal. When DLSS 4.5 gets a full release on January 13, I assume this will get even simpler.

Still, it's not a great look that most Nvidia gamers can't use its exciting new feature. Because it can be reversed, it doesn't break anything, but it also shows that Nvidia is starting to leave all but its most loyal GPU customers behind. And as someone who mostly only uses upscaling while on weaker hardware like the Steam Deck, what I find especially weird is that upscaling is already all about using software to improve performance when you're lacking raw power. That should theoretically make gamers with weaker cards the target audience.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

But it's not all doom and gloom for my fellow cheap gamers. Alongside DLSS 4.5, Nvidia also announced a native Linux client for Nvidia GeForce Now, alongside a native Amazon Fire TV app. That extends the cloud gaming platform to even more users, and because GeForce Now has a free tier, it's a pretty sweet deal. Play it right, say by getting a Fire TV on sale and loading up a free game, and you could game using Nvidia's latest GPUs on the big screen while spending less than $20. Sure, you might have to deal with some latency and video compression while doing it—as is the tradeoff with cloud gaming—but as DLSS 4.5 shows, even using local hardware comes with its own problems.

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Choosing a gaming monitor is a tough choice. Do you want a standard, 16:9 monitor that takes up a small amount of desk space, or a larger 21:9 or even 32:9 ultrawide monitor that takes up more space, but will also show you more of your game? This goes double for laptops, where ultrawide models are few-and-far between, and are absolutely gigantic. Lenovo's new concept for CES, the Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable, aims to give you the best of both worlds.

When the laptop is closed, or when you first open it up, the Legion Pro Rollable looks like any other gaming laptop. It's a little thick, with RGB keys and a full numpad, but otherwise isn't notable. It's also got a bog standard, 16:9 aspect ratio. But with the press of a button, it can extend to a 21:9 ultrawide screen. And while it's not quite as fancy as the 32:9 screens the most spoiled gamers use, you can actually extend it further to a 24:9 screen if you want.

That trick is possible thanks to a rollable OLED panel, something Lenovo's shown off and even released before, but for laptops that extend vertically, and aren't meant for gamers. The transformation is quick and quiet, and Windows doesn't even need time to adjust to match your new aspect ratio. It kind of feels like you're unfurling a scroll.

In total, the screen space can extend from 16-inches in 16:9 (or "Focus") mode to 21-inches in 21:9 (or "Tactical") mode to 24-inches in 24:9 (or "Arena" mode). Aspect ratio numbers don't always match screen space measurements that neatly, but hey, they're easy to keep track of here.

Having up to 24 inches of screen space on-the-go could be a life changer, and not just for gamers. Currently, I'm writing this article while traveling, which means I'm stuck with just my laptop screen. I'm sorely missing the second monitor I have at home, and being able to swap my screen into an ultrawide mode could easily fix that issue. Plus, I could just shrink it back down to a more standard form factor when it comes time to pack it away.

The only real catches would be weight and price. I don't have specific numbers for how heavy this is, but it didn't feel too different from any other gaming laptop in my hands. Beefy, but not back-breaking.

As for price, here's the kicker. Because this is just a concept, there's no pricing or availability info, since it's not guaranteed to come out. Lenovo does say the unit I saw is based on a top-specced Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, though, which currently goes for around $3,000.

That would be a lot to pay, especially because the extending screen would probably add a couple hundred dollars to the price tag. I wouldn't put too much stock into the demo unit right now, though—if this does make it to market, you'll probably be able to configure it to better match your needs.

Personally, though, I might be willing to pay that $3,000. Not only is this truly unique in the space, but it also conveniently solves one of my biggest pain points when I have to use my laptop, which is the lack of a two-screen setup. It could even be useful for desktop gamers looking to make the transition to portable gaming—no more having to choose which type of monitor you want.

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2025 was a great year for handheld gaming, with the Nintendo Switch finally getting a sequel and older handhelds like the Nintendo DS getting unofficial successors from companies like AYN and Ayaneo. Steam Deck fans did take a bit of a hit towards the end of the year, when Valve announced it was discontinuing the $400 Steam Deck LCD, but for gamers on the other side of the price spectrum, Lenovo just announced the most powerful SteamOS handheld yet.

It's technically not a new device, but instead, a reissue of a handheld from last year. Called the Lenovo Legion Go 2, it packs up to an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of storage. It's also got detachable controllers like the Nintendo Switch, and uniquely, an 8.8-inch OLED display. And now, you can buy it with SteamOS officially installed out of the box (last year's release only came with Windows).

If it's anything like the Legion Go S with SteamOS preinstalled, that means booting it up and navigating through your games will feel just like using a Steam Deck, which is great news for anyone who's a fan of Valve's lightweight and simple-to-use operating system, but is starting to feel like it might be showing its age. Not only should it prove easier to use than last year's Legion Go 2 with Windows installed on it, but the more powerful chip means the handheld will be able to play games much more smoothly and at higher resolutions than any other official SteamOS device yet. The hardware isn't made by Valve, but effectively, this is now a new, ultra-powerful Steam Deck sequel, and should be able to bump up your fps by up to dozens of frames in the right circumstances. For a measure of how transformative this can be, when the Legion Go S got SteamOS, it went from one of my least favorite handheld gaming PCs to my best pick for most people.

Even those who already have the Windows version could see a performance increase, since SteamOS typically takes fewer resources to run than Windows, which can translate to smoother gameplay. You can see my review of the Legion Go 2 with Windows for more there, where I compare it to SteamOS devices. With this hardware combined with this operating system, this might be the most powerful handheld gaming PC you can buy right now, period.

The only catch? This is still a bulky device, and while the SteamOS version of the Legion Go S saw a price cut over the Windows version (likely due to Valve not charging a licensing fee like Microsoft), the SteamOS version of the Legion Go 2 actually starts off more expensive than the Windows version, at $1,199 rather than $1,099. That could be due to shortages on key components like RAM, but it is disappointing to see an already high price tag get higher when the precedent for SteamOS versions of these devices is for prices to come down.

Still, the cheapest Windows model for the Legion Go 2 is actually a bit hard to find anywhere other than Lenovo's official store right now anyway, so it's possible that model could face its own price bumps in the near future as supply dwindles. And above four figures, one could argue that quality matters more than an extra $100 on the price tag.

Granted, you could get a Windows version and install SteamOS on it yourself, but doing so is a bit arduous, and can result in some unintuitive button mapping. The version with SteamOS installed out of the box, meanwhile, has a dedicated Steam button set-up from the get go. You'll have fewer headaches and a more intuitive setup by going for it.

Aside from that button and the operating system, everything else about the device is the same as the Windows version, but that's not a bad thing. I called it "overkill" in my review, but that large OLED screen is gorgeous, and perfect for gamers who want the best looking graphics possible on the go. The original Legion Go 2 was my favorite premium gaming handheld of last year, and the model with SteamOS installed on it is only set to make it better.

Valve gamers who think the Steam Deck OLED or Legion Go S aren't quite ritzy enough for them should stay tuned for the official release date, currently expected for June. This could be the premium handheld gaming PC they've been waiting for, marrying SteamOS convenience with modern specs that even the similarly priced Xbox handheld can't match. Finally, there's a "Steam Deck" for the 1%.

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Usually, you can open a laptop screen, you can close it, and that's it. But Lenovo's newest laptop, debuting at CES 2026, can also rotate from side-to-side, open and close itself, turn into a tablet, and talk to you while doing it.

That's all thanks to a small motorized hinge in between the screen and the keyboard, giving the laptop full, self-powered 360-degree movement. It's an evolution of a previous concept laptop, but now it's finally coming to market as the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist.

The idea is obviously there for a bit of a cool factor—you can knock twice on the laptop lid to open it—but there's practical use, too. If you're on a video call, you could walk around in front of the laptop, and the screen will track your movement, ensuring you stay centered in the webcam's frame. And yes, you can set the screen to only follow you, or you can have it follow anyone who gets in front of it.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

There's also a generic ChatGPT chatbot that Lenovo is working on for it, but it won't quite be ready for launch. It'll pop up a big pair of cutesy eyes on screen, and the laptop will know to nod the screen up and down if the chatbot says something positive, or shake it from side to side if it says something negative.

The catch to all this is that the motor's a bit on the loud side, so I maybe wouldn't use it too much in a crowded office—but it's nice to see one of these concepts actually make it to market.

This is actually the second time Lenovo's made good on one of these flashy new designs, after it turned the rollable laptop it showed off at last year's CES into reality with the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable. It's also clear the company's not done iterating—I saw a new version of a rollable laptop alongside the Auto Twist, and while it's still just a concept, it's more compact than the one Lenovo released, and can show some key performance information on the laptop's lid.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

As a computer, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist should also be pretty powerful, too. It'll come equipped with the latest Intel Core Ultra processors, up to 32GB of RAM, up to 2TB of storage, and a 14-inch OLED screen. Gimmicks aside, this is a workstation, through and through.

And while specs like that will cost you a pretty penny, it looks like the auto twist feature won't add too much to the cost. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist is set to launch in June 2026 starting at $1,649. That's actually a significant savings against other, non-twisting Lenovo laptops announced during this CES, like the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which has similar specs but is slightly more AI-oriented and has a more premium chassis. That laptop will start at $1,999 when it hits the market in March.

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Mini PCs are great for people who want minimal desk setups, but aside from the Mac Mini, they're not really something that appeals to the average user. Most are boring and still-slightly-chunky boxes, come from lesser-known companies like Geekom, and are built either for enterprise or thrifty gamers. What's a Windows user who doesn't want to swap to Apple to do? This year, Lenovo's launching a new Mini PC with some of that Apple sleekness, to try to fill that niche.

Unveiled at CES, the Lenovo Yoga Mini i is a cute little circle that fits in the palm of your hand and weighs just about 1.3 pounds (with small variations depending on how you configure it). A slightly textured, silvery-gray paint job covers the entirety of the device, and ports are generous but stay in dedicated areas on either the rear or side of the device. The rear's got slots for an ethernet port, a USB-A cable, an HDMI cable, and three USB-C cables, with one set aside for power, one for Thunderbolt 4 accessories, and one for all the rest. The side has a 3.5mm headphone jack (thank goodness) and another Thunderbolt 4 port.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

It's an overall attractive appearance, which is important when you're selling something based on form factor, but the kicker is that the power button is actually on the side of the device. It sounds simple, but that's bound to drive people who bought the latest Mac Mini, which has its power button underneath the computer, crazy with envy. Better yet? That power button also doubles as a fingerprint reader for easy sign-ins.

Lenovo Yoga Mini rear view (left) and power button view (right) Credit: Lenovo

Specs wise, it comes decked out with the latest Intel Core Ultra X series AI chips, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of storage. It also features a WiFi 7 adapter, two speakers, and even a microphone built-in, for zippy internet connectivity and easy audio calls. That's more than enough performance for the average person, and probably even outclasses my years-old full-size desktop. Don't expect to play the latest games at max settings on it, but this should be roughly equivalent to a high-end productivity laptop if you go for its most powerful configuration options.

To push it over the edge, the Yoga Mini i also has its own "one more thing." There's actually an accelerometer with a touch sensor inside this thing, so it can work with Lenovo's Smart Connect ecosystem. The company says you can use this to take calls by tapping on the PC, use certain touch gestures to adjust the Yoga Mini's performance mode, or use a customizable double tap to do other actions, like calling up an AI chatbot.

Taken all together, the smooth appearance, user-friendly design tweaks, and tiny size make for probably the closest thing I've seen to a Windows version of the Mac Mini yet—and that goes for the pricing, too. The Yoga Mini i will start at $700, which is $100 more than the base Mac Mini, but is still pretty affordable for those kind of specs in the middle of a memory shortage. Lenovo hasn't said how expensive it could get if you go for extra storage or RAM, too, and it's possible its mid-range configurations could come in at less expensive or around the same price as the Mac Mini's.

Personally, I was seriously considering downsizing to a Mac Mini for my next computer, but with the Lenovo Yoga Mini i, maybe I'll stick to Windows for at least a little bit longer. If you're in the same boat, Lenovo expects to release the Yoga Mini i sometime this June.

It's easy to take this for granted, but not everyone is able to immediately look at a shooting or strategy game and find the reticle or map. Gaming UIs can get complicated, and for less-seasoned gamers, they can be pretty intimidating, too. Lenovo's new concept "AI Frame" monitor, shown off at CES 2026, aims to make some games a bit more approachable, although experts might consider it cheating.

Hardware-wise, this is a normal 21:9 ultrawide gaming monitor, but it's not actually meant to be used like that. Instead, you play your game in a left-justified 16:9 rectangle that takes up most of the screen, and in the remaining space, the AI will automatically zoom in on part of your gameplay and show a blown-up version of it. For instance, it might show you a zoomed-in map in a MOBA, so you don't have to look at the tiny mini-map in your main gameplay to know where you or your team are. Or, it might zoom in on your reticle in a shooter, letting you better see your targets. There's even enough space left over for you to pull up an internet browser and look up some help.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

It worked pretty well for me in-person. Again, it doesn't actually generate any visuals, but instead just blows up the most important parts of your game screen so you can more easily glance at them or see them in more detail. That does mean resolution can suffer a little, but that's what your main gameplay screen is for. For getting across information, it's a good option.

Plus, while some games will automatically know what to zoom in on, there's also a generic zoom mode that will just blow up whatever your mouse is hovering over, so it can work with any content. The AI Frame is being pitched for games, but you could also use it like a digital magnifying glass on an article in your browser, for instance.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

The catch? It's maybe not exactly "fair" to play this way. While a bigger map in a MOBA might just save you some eyestrain, an AI-assisted zoom on a shooting reticle basically lets anyone act like a sniper, regardless of what character you're playing or gun you have equipped. For me, characters in the distance that were basically ants became immediately visible on the AI Frame, which made gunfights much easier to handle.

I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The AI Frame is just a proof-of-concept for now, so there's no hard specs sheet or pricing or release date as of yet. But if this does ever actually make it to market, Lenovo might have to contend with companies like Valve. The developer has banned similar "this is arguably cheating" peripherals from its games before, and the AI Frame could be the next battlefront in an ongoing war between peripheral makers (who want to sell you on the idea that buying their products can make you a better player) and developers (who, at least theoretically, want all of their players to be on an even playing field).

I've been a fan of XREAL for a while, but outside of people who are really into AR, it's still a lesser-known company. Lifehacker has given XREAL's glasses stellar reviews before, but in the company's new collaboration with Asus, it's aiming to expand its market. The new ROG XREAL R1 AR glasses are the first XREAL glasses aimed specifically at gaming (though its other models aren't exactly bad for gaming), and they basically put the best gaming monitor you could ever want right in front of your face.

You wear these like a normal pair of sunglasses, and you get a massive 171-inch virtual TV floating in a black void right in front of you. It's an OLED, so there are crisp colors and high contrast, and the resolution is a respectable 1080p. Most importantly, the glasses max out at a 240Hz refresh rate, meaning they can display up to 240 frames per second.

Taken all together, that's better than pretty much all of the full-size desktop monitors I have at home, but these are portable. They're barely heavier than my reading glasses, too, and you can set your virtual screen to either be anchored in one spot (meaning it won't follow your head) or stay in front of your eyes at all times. I prefer the former, since it shakes around less.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

I also didn't get any of the usual problems I have with AR or VR, like light bleed or fuzzy graphics. Aside from the black void, this really did feel like looking at a real-life screen. And you don't even have to use the full 171 inches, if you prefer something smaller.

Aside from the glasses, Asus is also shipping these with a dock, to help you better use them with your various devices. It has two HDMI ports and one DisplayPort connection, so you can have up to three devices ready to go at one time. It's probably the most realistic way to simulate gaming on a movie theater screen, and it's only set to improve down the line. Asus told me these glasses will eventually support XREAL's 2D-to-3D conversion tech, which just came out on the new XREAL 1S glasses and automatically converts any image to 3D. The effect uses AI to determine how to split the image between your eyes, but it was so convincing to me when I tried it with Mario Kart World that it felt like it was officially developed by Nintendo.

And on that end, I have confirmation from XREAL that the ROG XREAL R1 glasses are compatible with the XREAL Neo mobile dock and battery pack. This is much more compact than the dock that comes with the headset, and, if you plug the glasses and the Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 into it at the same time, it will allow you to play your Nintendo console in AR. Even Asus' dock can't do that without another Switch dock acting as an intermediary first. Plus, this will charge whatever device you're playing at the same time.

The ROG XREAL R1 AR glasses will release later this year, although pricing isn't available quite yet. They're expected to release in the first half of this year.

Before this CES, I thought gaming headsets had gotten about as complex as they ever would. How many improvements can you possibly make on speakers and microphones? Well, forget all that. Apparently, the future of gaming headsets is mind reading.

In a private demo with a colleague from IGN, I tested out a collaboration between HP's HyperX gaming brand and brain-computer interface company Neurable. Neurable's been at CES before, but most of its work has been in the defense and enterprise sectors. The brand is specifically aimed at helping you nail down your focus, and now, Neurable thinks it can use that to help gamers.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Before trying on the Neurable x HyperX headset, I did a quick run-through in a target shooting game, where I shot down 30 targets with a 547ms response time. Then, I was guided through a focus program called Prime. This showed a cloud of dots on the screen, and I was told to do whatever I needed to do to focus up. I decided to stare into the distance and count, and in about 90 seconds, the dots had shrunken down into a small orb and I was "primed." Neurable also suggested focusing techniques like repeating a word in your head over and over, or following one of the dots as it moved about the screen, but these didn't work for me.

Then, I did the shooting test again. Theoretically, I should have been better, but I actually scored slightly worse this time—a 559ms response time. Still, that response time isn't terrible, and your mileage may vary. I might have already been locked in before priming. In contrast, my colleague actually reduced her response time by about 40ms after priming. If all of that optimization sounds really nitty-gritty, it is. This is aimed at esports players and streamers, where every millisecond counts.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

That's probably where the headset's coolest feature comes in for me. Alongside Prime, Neurable and HyperX are also working on an overlay plugin for streamers that can show their focus levels on screen. You can display this as a speedometer, or as that cloud of dots, or even as a progress bar that shows whether you're "on tilt" or not. It should make for some pretty fun interactions with viewers, and play well with existing plug-ins, like eye trackers that show where a streamer is looking.

Plus, my slightly worse response time after priming wasn't totally useless. Neurable said the headset could be used to help you "practice choking," where you psych yourself up shortly after locking in and end up worse off. I thought that sounded like marketing spin, but my colleague, a high-level raider in World of Warcraft, said it would have real use for her.

It's still just a concept for now, but it's exciting to see this kind of tech getting ready to hit the mass market. What also sets Neurable apart is how portable it is. Unlike other brain-computer interfaces, this just looks like a normal headset, and all the contacts are just stored in the ear cups. There's no need for a giant helmet with discs and wires attached to it, thanks to Neurable's expertise in AI. The company says that using such a compact form factor does result in getting a small amount of data (and a lot of junk data, at that), but thanks to an on-device AI model, it's easily able to detect trends in your focus and translate them into something usable.

That seemed to be true in my demo, which at the end of the day, kind of felt like a guided meditation with real-time feedback. You could use this for more than gaming, but it's a clever use case for digital mind-reading, and the streaming plugins really take the cake, helping solidify the concept into a clear product with a concrete goal and target audience.

It'll take a while for the gaming version of Neurable's tech to be ready, although the company said it hopes to get it out this year. In the meantime, you can buy an ultra-luxury headset with Neurable's mind-reading built in, although it's currently on pre-order and will set you back $500. It also won't come with Prime or that streaming plugin, although because those are based in software, that could change in the future.

Every year at CES, Intel and AMD announce their newest processors. This year, Intel debuted its first line of chips made with its 18a process, which stands for 18 angstroms, or under 2nm. To make that a little less nerdy, that means these chips can fit a lot of tech into a small area, which means big gains in performance.

Colloquially called Panther Lake, the new Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chips are focused on laptops and mini-PCs. But that doesn't mean they don't put out impressive numbers. During its keynote, Intel promised "77% faster gaming performance," and for everyone actually using their PCs to do work, "60% better multithread performance." Impressively, it also said its new chips would also enable "up to 27 hours of battery life," rivaling Apple's M-series chips and other ARM chips from manufacturers like Qualcomm. Battery life has been a sore spot for both Intel and AMD for a while, and I'm excited to get my hands on machines that use Panther Lake processors.

Credit: Intel

And then there's the AI. Intel says its top Intel Core Ultra Series 3 models have 50 NPU TOPs and 180 TOPS in total when you combine the NPU and GPU numbers. To translate, that basically means faster AI performance for developers who don't want to bother with the cloud, and would prefer the speed and privacy of a locally downloaded AI model.

Speaking of that GPU, Intel's upgraded its integrated graphics this generation to the Intel Arc B390, which has twice the cache of its prior GPU and 50% more cores. I already mentioned that 77% increase in gaming performance, but AI developers will also see a 53% increase in performance over Intel Core Ultra Series 2, and a two times performance increase over Intel Core Ultra Series 1.

So, better computers. That's pretty par for the course for CES, but there is a "one more thing" here. Intel is coming for AMD's dominance in handheld gaming PCs.

Credit: Intel

Until now, most handheld gaming PCs have used AMD chips, with those that have opted for Intel getting hit in reviews for buggy or poorly optimized performance. The Steam Deck uses an AMD chip, and so does the Xbox handheld. Intel says it's going to change that.

After announcing the new integrated GPU and walking through features like frame generation and ray tracing, the company said it "will be launching an entire handheld gaming platform with Panther Lake."

That means big moves, and soon—Panther Lake won't last long before getting replaced. The company didn't say much more, but it did show a slide with partners set to use Intel chips in their handhelds, including Acer, MSI, and hey, Microsoft. I guess we'll see another Xbox handheld model soon.

And that's about it for Intel this year. The new chips are smaller, stronger, and more efficient, but smartly, the company is also planning to use them to shore up its weaknesses, specifically in gaming and battery life. That makes sense. With developers like Apple having famously ditched Intel throughout the decade, the company has been on the back foot.

According to Intel, the earliest machines powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 will start accepting pre-orders on January 6, with availability beginning on January 27.

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If you're anything like me, you spend 90% of your time using your laptop with it docked and plugged into a monitor (or two). And if you're at that point, you might be wondering why you even bother having a screen attached to your computer at all. If so, HP's got your back. Announced at this year's CES, the HP Eliteboard G1a looks like a normal keyboard on the outside, but on the inside, it's got a whole Windows PC.

That's not exactly a new concept, but with the experimental days of Windows XP long behind us, it's mostly been reserved for less powerful, Linux-based single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi. That's great if you're a hacker or tinkerer, but not if you're just looking for a screenless, keyboard-equipped Mini PC to get you through the workday.

The Eliteboard G1a, instead, comes equipped with the latest AMD Ryzen AI chips, up to 64GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of storage, so while you shouldn't expect to play the latest and greatest games on it, for internet browsers and lightweight productivity programs, it should really be able to hustle.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

It's also a bit of a sleeper build. I've been able to go hands-on with it, and to all outside eyes, it really does look like a regular office keyboard, complete with black, low-profile chiclet keys, a function row, and a numpad. Ranging from 1.5 to 1.7 pounds based on how you spec it out, it's also pretty lightweight, and the right person might believe you if you said it was just a keyboard, with no computer inside whatsoever.

The catch? This baby is aimed at enterprise customers, rather than your typical consumer. That does come with a few bonuses, like a Kensington lock slot, some extra security software, and an optional fingerprint reader. But it also means you're not going to find it up for sale anywhere other than the HP store, and while pricing hasn't been announced yet, it'll probably be a bit more expensive if bought individually rather than as part of an office fleet. It can also only connect to monitors using DisplayPort, which is fine if you're an office manager that knows to buy displays that will work with it, but may not fit into everyone's home set-up.

That's a shame, because I love unusual form factors, and this keyboard PC could make for a really clean desk in my home office. It's strong enough, uses a familiar operating system with wide app compatibility, and can even output to two 4K monitors at once. There are also two versions, one that always needs to be plugged in, and one with a battery and a detachable USB power cable for quickly moving between different workstations. That's great flexibility, since the battery version is a bit more portable, but is also heavier.

Here's hoping this is just an early experiment for HP, because I'd love to buy a consumer version of this laptop at some point in the future. If you're willing to take the plunge on the enterprise model, though, HP says it's expected to launch on HP.com sometime in March.

At last year's CES, Sony's press conference showed off products from all over its portfolio, including a first look at The Last of Us season 2. This year, it was all about the Afeela, an electric car Sony is making in collaboration with Honda. It's has been teasing this for years, but is now, it seems the auto is finally ready to hit the road.

Sony has big plans for Afeela. Previews have been less about hard specs like mileage or top speed and more about the company's plans to change how we look at cars. Previously, that's included demo-ing integrations with other Sony services like Crunchyroll and themes for the car's interior based on Sony brands. Just last month, the company confirmed it would support PlayStation Remote Play in the Afeela, after teasing it at CES 2024. And the first time I saw the Afeela at CES, it was driven onto stage using a PS5 controller.

Fully self-driving...eventually

Now, Sony's ready to talk more than aesthetics and cute integrations, but that unique viewpoint remains. Headlining the show this year was the promise that the company's currently working on something called Afeela Intelligent Drive. Currently, it's sitting at level 2+ driver assistance, which means it can handle tasks like merging or lane changes, but Sony's planning to take it to level 4+ "in the future," meaning full self-driving within certain areas. It probably won't be ready for launch, but it does show the company's getting serious about usability.

On that note, it also showed concepts for a future where Afeela users will basically just chill while the car drives itself. Those kind of promises aren't rare at CES, but Sony specifically called out its brand of entertainment products as what riders would occupy themselves with on their rides. Combined with the Intelligent Drive news, apparently that's what all those ecosystem cross-promotions were leading towards.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Unquestionably a Sony car

Until that future arrives, Sony still isn't afraid to use Afeela to push its products. The company brought PlayStation on stage to quickly reaffirm Remote Play will be baked into the Afeela (while also dropping the surprising stat that apparently half of all PlayStation Remote Play sessions now happen on the PlayStation Portal streaming handheld). It also said that the Afeela will have themes for its touchscreens based on Sony properties like Astro Bot and Gran Turismo. None of that is too far off from what the company's shown before, but the idea of turning your car into a media ecosystem doesn't stop there: Sony also announced the Afeela co-creation program, which will let developers and content creators make their own custom apps or media for the car.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

These include things like themes and even special Android apps, but apparently, drivers can even customize the Afeela's "motor" sound, and put visuals on a small "media bar" on the front of the car. As an example, Sony brought out Japanese music producer Tomoko Ida, who demonstrated a motor sound she created that sounded more like a THX commercial than anything else.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

It's honestly a pretty clever move for a car that's been all about the ecosystem as opposed to the hard specs so far. But it does have one oddity that maybe speaks to how long this thing's been teased: Apparently, developers for the Co-Creation program will be able to get paid in crypto, which Sony says will "accelerate open co-creation," although it also says the Co-Creation program will be "open to other automakers and service providers." I'm not sure Toyota will want to get paid on the blockchain, but whatever.

Drivers will be able to access utilities and apps made for their Afeela using an app, but that raises the question: When will you finally be able to drive this thing?

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Hitting the road soon—in California, anyway

The Afeela has been teased since CES 2023, but Sony finally says the car is in production and will begin delivering to customers in California sometime this year. In fact, all the photos you've seen of the Afeela throughout this article have been of an actual pre-production model for the initial Afeela car, now called Afeela 1.

That's huge for Afeela, but there is a catch. Those deliveries might take a while to reach the rest of the country. Sony says Arizona is next on its radar, but that sales won't make it there until 2027. Japanese deliveries are also slated for 2027, but living in New York, I'll just have to keep pretending this thing doesn't exist.

That's a bit of a blow for a car that started off this press conference promising a new future for how we drive, since even once it gets on the streets, it'll probably take even longer for that to come true. Still, Sony says it will allow people who have already registered to buy a car to start doing test drives of the car sometime before deliveries begin.

I'll be honest, I don't cover cars much, and that this year's Sony press conference was all about one maybe points to a quiet year across the rest of the brand. That said, for people who are into driving, I can see the Afeela's appeal. It definitely feels more like a gadget than a gas guzzler, and I'm wondering if this is what the Apple Car might have looked like if it ever came out.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Probably not—despite the fancy mock-ups, I did sit inside an Afeela last year, and it was fancy but still familiar as a car. But that's not where Sony is stopping: The company ended its keynote by driving the "Afeela Prototype 2026" onto the stage. It didn't look that different from the outside, but the company says it will offer "greater spatial flexibility and accessibility." To me, that implies a step closer towards that future where the car is essentially a hangout zone that moves you while you play PlayStation, but only time will tell.

CES is the time of year for weird computers, and Asus is bringing back an old fan favorite to help fill its unusual form factor quota. Gamers who miss the days of dual screens, get excited: the ROG Zephyrus Duo is returning for 2026, and it's bigger than ever.

Looking a bit like a gigantic Nintendo DS, the new ROG Zephyrus Duo stacks two full-sized 3K OLED screens on top of each other, with a standard laptop hinge in between. It's a lot like the company's existing Zenbook Duo, but that one's geared more for productivity users—the Zephyrus Duo is fully specced out for gamers, with a 120Hz refresh rate on both screens, the latest Intel Core Ultra chips, up to an RTX 5090 laptop GPU, up to 64GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of storage. Plus, it supports 250W fast charging and can play games using up to 125W of power.

New ROG Zephyrus Duo (left) vs. ROG Zephyrus Duo 2023 (right). Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

That's plenty for even the most demanding games, although its price is still an unknown for now. What we do know is how different this is from the last Zephyrus Duo, which came out in 2023. That laptop's lower screen was a simple small angled panel above the keyboard, instead of a full-sized display matching the upper one. It was great for displaying stats at a glance while playing, but not much else.

Instead, the new Zephyrus Duo can display the same game across both screens, mirror them, or pull up reference material on one screen while you play on the other. It's also got a bunch of new ways you can use it: It comes with a detachable wireless keyboard, and you can either use it like a normal laptop with that keyboard covering one of the screens, or get creative.

Credit: Asus

An example photo from Asus show the laptop with one screen above the other, both screens in a side-to-side portrait mode, the whole laptop laid flat on a table (perhaps for head-to-head play), and tent mode. Tent mode is especially interesting—an Asus representative told journalists that gamers could play the same game against each other while sitting across from each other in tent mode, with each display acting as a private screen. He did acknowledge that this might impact performance and compatibility might differ based on game, but I could see it being an especially great option for, say, fighting games.

Again, this format has been used for non-gaming laptops before, but it's seemingly got a lot of potential for gamers, too. There's a reason one of Nintendo's most popular handhelds opted for a dual-screen setup. And hey, maybe you could even play some DS games made on this, too.

The new ROG Zephyrus Duo is expected to launch sometime in Q2 of this year.

During last year's CES, Dell killed the brand behind the very first laptop I ever owned, ditching its beloved XPS branding alongside other classic names like Inspiron and Precision. In its place, the company said all of its future (non-gaming) computers would now be known simply as "Dell," either being Dell, Dell Pro, or Dell Pro Max devices. In addition to these, other monikers like Dell Plus and Dell Premium were also tossed into the mix—and with all those similar-sounding adjectives floating around, it was just a mess to know what you were actually buying. If you can tell me the difference between a Dell 14 Plus, a Dell 14 Premium, and a Dell 14 Pro Premium without looking at spec sheets, then all respect to you.

Now, it seems, the company's realized its mistake. At CES 2026, Dell revealed that it's bringing the XPS brand back and massively simplifying everything else. Laptops simply branded as "Dell" won't be going away, but from now on, consumers will only have to make three choices when buying a Dell laptop.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

How Dell's new laptop categories will work

More lightweight laptops for everyday consumers will continue to be called simply Dell, but all premium options will now be renamed to XPS, while all gaming computers will now fall under the Alienware brand that was previously limited to more powerful models. The Dell Pro name will technically continue to exist, but only for enterprise customers, and Dell made no mention of Dell Pro Max, Dell Plus, or Dell Premium at this CES.

"We've been a bit off course," Dell Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke said in a meeting with journalists. "I owe you an apology. We didn't listen to you. You were right...we can be humble, and we can correct decisions that we've made in the past."

All of this should come as a relief to confused buyers who might have been thrown off not just by the naming scheme, but by how many configuration options each of those Premium, Plus, and Pro models had on the Dell website at checkout. As someone who had to review and recommend these things, even I had trouble knowing whether a high-end Dell Plus was better than a low-end Dell Pro. But aside from naming, Dell also promised to bring back some favorite XPS design features alongside the brand next year.

Old Dell XPS design Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Shortly before it got rid of the XPS name, Dell made a couple of design overhauls to XPS that I was vocally opposed to, and these persisted into some of its post-XPS computers. They included using a touch bar for the function row rather than physical keys, much like Apple tried on some MacBook Pros between 2016 and 2020, and a touchpad that was flush with the computer, meaning you couldn't easily see where it began and ended. It was flashy, but as my colleague Alan Bradley pointed out in a review, it was more "form over function."

New Dell XPS design Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Now, the new XPS laptops for this year are back to using physical keys for the function row and have subtle etching on the sides of the touchpad so you know where it begins and ends. There are even a few new, but purely cosmetic premium touches, like a CNC-machined aluminum body. The new XPS machines are also a bit thinner and lighter, and the company promises "the XPS 14 is now more compact than the MacBook Air 13, taking up less desk space while giving you more screen space."

Overall, the theme for next year seems to be "return to form," and Dell's even going so far as to replace the Dell logo on the lid of its new XPS laptops with the XPS logo for the first time. 2025 was the first year where I didn't put a non-gaming Dell laptop on my best laptops of the year list, so I'm excited to see what the company's reinvestment in its history looks like when it comes out.

New Dell XPS 14 (left) and Dell XPS 16 (right) Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Dell's new XPS 14 and XPS 16 will launch with limited configurations starting Jan. 6, while an XPS 13 that's thinner than 13mm is set for sometime later this year. Launch configurations will have options for both LCD and OLED screens, although there are no builds with discrete graphics cards included at the moment.

Pricing for the XPS 14 will begin at $1,650, while the XPS 16 will start at $1,850.

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With the rise of streaming culture, a lot of gamers have started investing in computers that don't just play games well, but that look good while doing it. Asus's newest pre-built gaming desktop, the ROG G1000, is pretty by-the-book when it comes to high-end performance, but it's got one major selling point when it comes to those all-important gamer aesthetics: holograms.

Built into this computer's front panel and one of its side panels, safely tucked into inaccessible glass windows, are rapidly rotating LED strips that, when in motion, create convincing full-color images that appear to have depth. The "frame rate" can be a little low, but it's a known technology that's all over the show floor at every CES now, and you can actually buy generic standalone hologram fans on Amazon for around $60-$100. It's just rare to see it integrated into something like a PC.

This hologram tech, called AniMe Holo, should make for a great way to show off on camera (or to your buddies in a college dorm) and Asus is promising some pretty expansive customizability. You can put still images and gifs on it, sure, but Asus also told journalists it can support full videos or mp4 files, without any limit on length. I think I'd try to use it to watch Shrek.

The effect comes across a bit better in-person, but it's still unusual enough to look enticing over video, even if you lose some of the depth. Unfortunately, still photos aren't really a great way to show this thing off, since they can't depict the rotating motion.

Aesthetics aside, the G1000 is also at the top of the power game, coming with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 3D CPU, an RTX 5090 GPU, up to 128GB of RAM, and a 2TB storage. It's got bite to back up its bark, and will be able to play the latest games at max settings with no issue.

Of course, specs like that are likely to cost you a pretty penny, especially with the hologram gimmick tossed on top of them. Asus hasn't tipped its hand on pricing yet, but the ROG G1000 is expected to launch sometime in Q2 of this year.

At CES 2026, I was able to play the Nintendo Switch 2 in AR. That's something I hadn't done before—until now, only one company had an AR dock that worked with Nintendo's latest console, which doesn't like to play nice with AR glasses plugged directly into it. Viture's solution is fine, if a bit bulky, but Lifehacker has long praised the AR glasses from competitor XREAL, and finally, you can use XREAL glasses with the Nintendo Switch 2.

Previously, XREAL did have an accessory that allowed for gameplay on the original Nintendo Switch, but it's since been discontinued, and even if you buy it secondhand, it won't work with the Switch 2. Now, the XREAL NEO changes that.

Coming in smaller than Viture's dock, the NEO is basically a combination portable battery bank and AR adapter that allows you to use your XREAL glasses while powering them and charging/converting whatever device you're displaying at the same time. It's got a 10,000 mAh capacity and a 20W output on its own—enough for fast charging—but you can also plug it into a wall while using it, which will allow your devices to charge at 65W+. That should be especially handy if you're primarily using the Neo as an adapter—and yes, it will allow your glasses to display the original Switch as well, not just the Switch 2. XREAL also notes that you can use the Neo on other handhelds like the Steam Deck, although it's a bit less necessary there, as the Steam Deck can output video to XREAL glasses directly.

Credit: XREAL

In a confusing move, the Neo also has a magnetic ring to attach directly to your device, but it can't charge wirelessly. It seems the magnet is more there for easy storage, and so you can use a flip-out kickstand on the back of the Neo to prop your device up.

Using the Neo with the Switch 2, it worked like a dream. The console immediately swapped over to docked mode and started playing on a connected pair of XREAL glasses like it was on a television, which gave me a virtual 171-inch screen and graphics outputting at 1200p. Oh, and those graphics? They were in 3D.

The XREAL 1S converts 2D video to 3D

That's because, alongside the Neo, I got to test out the new XREAL 1S AR glasses. These bump the resolution up to 1200p, and increase the FOV from the base XREAL One's 50 degrees to 52 degrees. Refresh rate is still 120Hz, but the glasses are brighter (at 700 nits) and the aspect ratio is larger, at 16:10. Most importantly, these come with the ability to add 3D depth to 2D imagery out of the box.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

I tried it out with Mario Kart World, and if you told me the game was designed with this 3D natively, I would have believed you. It was flawless, just the right amount of subtle, and I never saw any telltale blur around the characters. According to XREAL, though, the 2D-to-3D conversion is happening entirely within the glasses using the onboard spatial chip and AI.

This has the benefit of working with any content you plug into the XREAL 1S, although XREAL did warn me the effect might not come across as well for flat content as opposed to content using CGI. For instance, the AI just didn't know what to do with the original Super Mario Bros. for NES, leading to some elements getting depth and others being ignored.

Still, you can turn the effect off in those cases, and I could see it being really handy if you're a big fan of 3D movies, since it can be kind of hard to find them on streaming. Now, you can turn any movie 3D, even if your mileage may vary from one movie to the next.

The best part of the XREAL 1S, though? Despite the upgrades, they're actually cheaper than the base XREAL ONE, at $449 vs. $499. And they're available now, with estimated delivery windows sitting around this weekend. Plus, if you don't want to get a new pair of AR glasses, the 2D-to-3D conversion tech, called Real 3D, is also now out for the XREAL ONE Pro, and can be downloaded in an update.

The XREAL NEO, meanwhile, is currently only up for pre-order, with shipments scheduled to start in February. The Neo is available for $99 until February 4, by the way, but the price will jump up to $119 after that.

Even with the cheaper NEO pricing, the total package for both the dock and the glasses will cost you $548. But if you really miss the 3DS, this is another easy way to play your Nintendo games in 3D, without sacrificing portability, but while keeping a big screen at the same time.

When it comes to digital note taking, you usually have two choices: Do you want E Ink, or do you want speed? Devices like the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft and the Remarkable Paper Pro have shown there's definitely an appetite for E Ink note taking, even if it can be a bit laggy. But for the most responsive digital notebook possible, you usually have to settle for something like an iPad with a stylus. Now, TCL wants to change that.

The budget-friendly tablet and TV company has finally announced its first full-fledged digital notebook: the TCL Note A1 NXTPAPER. Launching on Kickstarter soon and releasing sometime in February, the trick here is a clever one: Notes taken on this device should look like they're written on paper, but the screen is as fast as a gaming monitor.

That's thanks to the company's NXTPAPER technology, which isn't exactly new, but has been positioned in the past more for media consumption than creation. Unlike E Ink, which uses physical ink capsules embedded in the display, NXTPAPER uses a standard LCD screen with a matte, glare-free coating and various levels of blue light and reflection-fighting software to simulate paper.

The result—which I can speak to, having gone hands-on with it over multiple CES showcases—isn't exactly as easy on the eyes as E Ink, but it is convincing, and is far more usable for just about everything that isn't just reading plain text. Considering how slow E Ink updates and how limited it is in displaying colors, that's not a bad compromise. Plus, the matte layer also acts a bit like one of those special screen protectors artists will buy to make drawing on a tablet feel more like drawing on paper. It works well enough for my chicken scratch.

The Note A1 NXTPAPER runs Android, has an 11.5-inch screen that's been TUV-certified for eye comfort, and can display 16.7 million colors and refresh at 120Hz (or up to 120 frames per second). Given that the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft can only display around 4,100 colors and has a 12-14 ms response time between inputs and updating the display, that's not bad.

And since there's Android here, you get a few other bonuses as well, like the ability to cast your notes or Powerpoints to a digital whiteboard. TCL hasn't said if the Note A1 will be certified for the Play Store yet, but if so, it'll also be easy to download any note taking apps you want, as well as additional goodies like comic book apps. With the high refresh rate, you could even use this notebook to watch videos.

As for what sets this apart from TCL's other NXTPAPER tablets, there's a stylus included, native support for file formats ranging from Word to PDF to Excel to EPUB, and connectivity for cloud storage services like Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive. Plus, if you haven't guessed from the name, there are a bunch of AI features.

Credit: TCL

Much like the Viwoods AIPaper, the Note A1 has AI transcription, translation, summarization, rewriting, and handwriting-to-text features built-in. TCL hasn't said how these will work yet, but a brief video of the device in action shows small glimpses. Personally, I'm most interested in the "handwriting beautification" feature, and I could see people who like doing math longhand appreciating the "handwritten formula recognition."

The downside to all of this is that traditional screens don't tend to last nearly as long in between charges as E Ink ones, but with an 8,000mAh battery, TCL is hoping it can avoid that, even if it has yet to reveal official battery life numbers.

When it launches, the TCL NXTPAPER will start at $549, as compared to the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft's and Remarkable Paper Pro's $630. That's a pretty significant savings, and seems worth considering, especially if you can't decide between E Ink and LCD. It won't be quite as easy on the eyes as a Kindle, but it could be far less frustrating for fast writers, while still feeling less computer-y than something like an iPad.