Intel’s new Core Ultra chips have been announced, along with a slew of new supporting laptops. Here are the best of them.
Intel just announced its new generation of chips, code-named Meteor Lake. But it’s the Core Ultra name that you’ll see plastered all over product pages, as it’s the new brand that Intel is using. Either way, it feels like a little CES 2024 preview, with many laptop manufacturers announcing updates and refreshes to laptops that are coming soon.
While there’s not much here in the way of flashy new designs or high-powered machines that can flaunt what Meteor Lake can really do, there’s a good variety to show some of the diversity of the new designs that use the chips.Acer Swift Go 14
I got to test the new Acer Swift Go 14 out myself ahead of launch, and even though this isn’t the flashiest laptop on this list, there’s one very important reason it makes the cut. The price. There’s a configuration that sells for $850 and comes with an OLED 2880 x 1800 screen, which is pretty killer.
I wish it had a smoother trackpad and a less plastic-feeling chassis, but the screen and updated Arc graphics of Intel’s new Core Ultra chips make it one to check out for the price.
Various configurations of the Acer Swift Go 14 are available now for purchase, starting at $850.Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen12)
Ah, the old faithful. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon, now in its 12th generation, has been among the first to adopt the new Core Ultra chips, and that’s no surprise. Lenovo has kept this premium business laptop consistently up to date every year since its launch, and while the design hasn’t changed much, small tweaks and improvements are constantly being made.
Aside from using one of the new Core Ultra chips, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen12 has two exciting new features that are absent on last year’s model: an upgrade to a 120Hz OLED panel as a display option and new tactile markings across the keyboard to help with accessibility.
