As you can see, gaming laptops have become a major emphasis for AMD, because it’s the one area where AMD has managed to win designs from Intel. One great example is the Razer Blade 16 2025, which switched to the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 rather than using one of Intel’s HX chips.
Like Intel and Qualcomm, AMD is also rumored to launch its next-gen chips at CES 2026, which will reportedly use Zen 6 architecture.
Apple makes several chips these days, used in MacBooks, Macs, iPads, and iPhones. The M-series chips have been a huge hit since 2020, dramatically increasing performance and battery life. Fortunately, the designations are a bit simpler to parse through. Each generation of chip is designated by a number, while add-ons like Pro and Max scale up the processing and graphics performance.
The M5 family of chips for MacBooks is the latest release, although the rollout has been limited so far. It’s only available in the 14-inch MacBook Pro right now, meaning Apple is still selling the M4 MacBook Air and M4 Pro/Max MacBook Pro.
The older chips are important to know about, too, especially since you can still buy the M1 MacBook Air. You can also buy “renewed” or refurbished versions of older models, such as the M3 Pro or M2 Max MacBook Pro. While the generational bumps (from M3 to M4, for example) have provided consistent increases in CPU performance, it requires getting into very specific comparisons to know the difference between the M2 Max and M3 Pro, for example. For more information, check out our Best MacBooks guide.
The M5 MacBook Air, M5 Pro MacBook Pro, and M5 Max MacBook Pro are all rumored to launch sometime in early 2026.
How Much Processing Power Do You Need?
If you’re a typical user who runs a web browser, Microsoft’s Office Suite, and perhaps even some photo editing software, we recommend a laptop with one of Intel’s Core Ultra V-series chips, such as the Core Ultra 7 258V. These perform well enough and get great battery life.
There are a few good reasons to go for Qualcomm, however. While battery life on these devices is similar to Intel’s latest chips (and Apple’s, for that matter), performance doesn’t drop as much as Intel’s. The prices are also lower, especially on Snapdragon X and X Plus configurations. Laptops are selling for as low as $799 that use the Snapdragon X. While these don’t perform as well as the X Plus or X Elite models, they still get great battery life, which is impressive for a laptop of this price.
