Best laptops for fall 2026: 49 notebooks tried and tested

[Redaktion]

What laptop tested in summer 2026 performed the best with its swiftness, features, and endurance? We thoroughly tested 49 newly-released notebooks and can now present the winners, that is, the most exciting models, in this article.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Best-laptops-for-fall-2026-49-notebooks-tried-and-tested.1398522.0.html

[AI ->normal gaming laptop]

With a future-proof base configuration of 32 GB of RAM

Not if it comes to AI: It's already not future-proof when it comes to running SoTA Qwen 35B MoE AI LLM model:

Running AI locally (and privately) on a 32 GB RAM/unified memory iGPU-only laptop/device vs a normal gaming laptop:

On a 32 GB RAM / unified memory, iGPU-only, laptop / device, you get about this many context tokens:

.. I've come to the conclusion that (1) 32768 is the biggest context I can get away with in an adequately smart model, and (2) it just ain't enough.

The additional 8 to 12 GB (VRAM) memory of gaming laptops make all the difference in being able to fit a SoTA AI model[1] huggingface.co/unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-MTP-GGUF 4-bit UD-Q4_K_XL quant at decent context:
Calculating available context: 16,384 [KV cache context tokens per GB]*(32 [GB total memory] - 6 to 8 [GB for the OS] - [quant filesize])[2]:
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-MTP-GGUF -> UD-Q4_K_XL.gguf (22.9 GB):

• On a 32 GB RAM / unified memory, iGPU-only, laptop/device:
  Approx. 34,400 context tokens = 16,384*(32-7-22.9) (confirms the quote).
• On a 32 GB RAM + 8 GB VRAM GPU laptop/PC:
  Approx. 165,500 context tokens = 16,384*(32+8-7-22.9).
• On a 32 GB RAM + 12 GB VRAM GPU laptop/PC:
  Approx. 231,000 context tokens = 16,384*(32+12-7-22.9).

(1 token = 0.75 words)

(The biggest "innovation" I see, when it comes to AI, is the switch from 2 GB to 3 GB GDDR7 memory density: Compact and light 8 GB VRAM gaming laptops become 12 GB VRAM ones. (And 12 GB VRAM become 18 GB VRAM ones (no mention of them so far).)

Let's compare the AI scores of the fastest 32 GB RAM at 9600 MT/s iGPU-only laptops vs normal gaming laptops (32 GB at 5600 MT/s + a 8 and 12 GB VRAM, RTX 40 and 50, GPUs; and these normal gaming laptops also have upgradable RAM:

• AI score of 32 GB RAM iGPU-only devices: 4915 = 32 GB RAM  * 153.6 GB/s (=128-bit * 9600MT/s / 1000 / 8).
• AI score of a RTX 4060 Laptop, 8 GB VRAM, GPU + 32 GB RAM at 5600 MT/s: 4915 (same as iGPU-only) = 32 GB RAM * 89.6 GB/s + 8 GB VRAM * 256 GB/s.
• AI score of a RTX 5070 Laptop, 8 GB VRAM, GPU + 32 GB RAM at 5600 MT/s: 5939 = 32 GB RAM * 89.6 GB/s + 8 GB VRAM * 384 GB/s.
• AI score of a RTX 5070 Laptop, 12 GB VRAM, GPU + 32 GB RAM at 5600 MT/s: 7475 = 32 GB RAM * 89.6 GB/s + 12 GB VRAM * 384 GB/s.
• AI score of a 64 GB Strix Halo (not in the article) (4060 Laptop type of performance, see 3dmark.com/search (Radeon 8060S)): 16384 = 64 GB RAM/unified memory * 256 GB/s. But mind that only on Linux you may be able to allocate most of the memory (search for 'strix halo linux gtt') (this is why you maybe should not get a Strix Halo-based laptop/device, unless you are fine with using Linux).

This is to sd  on a normal/typical/classical gaming laptop, than on the iGPU-only laptops.

So, if you care about running AI locally (and privately(, because some companies may demand that (for certain tasks))), simply choose a normal gaming laptop, as the prompt processing (input) and token generation (output) speeds will be faster than on mentioned iGPU-only laptops.
(And generally, a desktop PC build is going to offer 2-3 more AI score / performance per buck than a laptop.)

More about running AI models locally: notebookchat.com/index.php?topic=315954.0 ("Your own ChatGPT, offline: AI without the cloud on your laptop") and comments.

[1] artificialanalysis.ai/?models=muse-glimmer%2Cqwen3-6-35b-a3b%2Cqwen3-8-27b%2Cg9v3-39a5b%2Cgemma-4-31b%2Cgemma-4-26b-a4b%2Cqwen3-8-27b-non-reasoning&intelligence=artificial-analysis-intelligence-index#artificial-analysis-intelligence-index
(Qwen3.8-27B scores much higher, but due to being a dense model, will run many times slower)
[2] reddit.com/r/Qwen_AI/comments/1vo8pjz/qwen3827b_kv_cache_works_out_to_64_kibtoken_so/

[Vlado]

I saw: Editors' Choice Award summer 2026
And I immediately knew it will be any Lenovo laptop.