I, like many PC gamers, went into this year disheartened. Skyrocketing GPU prices and the evaporation of affordable RAM have made even thinking about a PC upgrade feel masochistic. But after spending time with the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra, I’ve had a reframe.
PC gaming isn’t dead. It’s just moved to Panther Lake.
For gamers, CES 2026 was a letdown. The showfloor was a blur of AI-powered suckers and waifu lamps, with precious little for people who actually care about performance. The lone bright spot was Intel’s Panther Lake reveal and the accompanying Copilot+ devices. The most eye-catching of which was the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra.
The ExpertBook Ultra has plenty in common with high-end offerings from Lenovo and Dell, but it stood out as the only true flagship.
It can’t be understated how game-changing Panther Lake is. The chips are powerful, efficient, and thermally impressive, and what they can do with integrated Arc B390 graphics is genuinely surprising. While other manufacturers dropped the chips into refreshed designs, ASUS went back to the drawing board, building systems around Panther Lake rather than just slotting it in.
“PC gaming isn’t dead. It’s just moved to Panther Lake.”
The apex of that effort is the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra. While ProArt and Zenbook are leaning into Snapdragon Elite and Ryzen, the ExpertBook focuses entirely on Intel’s Core Ultra X7 and X9 processors.
For this review, ASUS provided an X7 model in Morning Gray. The X7 is a 16-core, 16-thread processor boosting up to 4.7 GHz, with a 50 TOPS NPU. It’s also available in matte charcoal (Jet Fog), with both configurations offering 32GB of LPDDR5x at 8533 MT/s and 1TB of storage.
The upper-end option is the 5.1 GHz, 16-core X9 vPro, paired with 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. As with all mobile platforms, the ExpertBook Ultra’s RAM is non-upgradable.
Design
I’ve always been a fan of the way ASUS designs its laptops. They manage to look high-quality without being pretentious, adding personality without overindulgence. I even keep an old Zenbook around for the faux paper texture on the lid. The ExpertBook Ultra takes the ASUS design philosophy to a new level.
This laptop isn’t just striking because it’s razor thin, measuring under 2cm when closed. It leaves an impression because it looks sturdy, and that’s because it is.
“…I’d like to nominate the ExpertBook Ultra as laptop of the year.”
The lightweight (2.40 lbs) unibody frame is made from a magnesium alloy coated with Nano-Ceramics, a scratch-resistant finish I can’t stop running my hand over. I can’t help it, it feels futuristic. After a week of gentle rubbing, it still hasn’t picked up a single fingerprint. For that reason alone, I’d like to nominate the ExpertBook Ultra as laptop of the year.
The lid opens easily with one finger, but it could use a stiffer hinge. Using the touchscreen caused more jiggle than was practical, and it also wiggles a fair bit while travelling. For typing or light gaming, it stays put well enough, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Despite its thin profile, the frame offers a decent port selection: two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, a Thunderbolt 4 Type-C on each side, a combo audio jack, and an HDMI 2.1 output that’s almost as tall as the bottom of the case.
Display
Another reason for that laptop-of-the-year nomination is the display. Every ExpertBook Ultra model features a 14-inch OLED touchscreen that, through some kind of magic, also resists fingerprints. It’s stunningly detailed, with 100% DCI-P3 coverage and a peak brightness of 1400 nits.
In terms of raw image quality, my dream display is still the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i, but the gap here comes down to nitpicking in the blacks. In build quality, the ASUS takes it, and it’s not even close. The matte coating does an exceptional job of reducing glare. Even under three photography lights at full power, I had no trouble seeing the screen. The antiglare is so effective that I didn’t need to angle it to avoid hotspots. For working outside or near a sunny window, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better solution.
Keyboard
The keyboard, like most laptops, is usable but not ideal. As a 14-inch laptop, though, it’s perfectly fine. It’s too cramped for prolonged use, but key travel is light and snappy, and the alloy frame has next to no flex, making it better than most in its size class.
The backlighting is especially nice. The white LEDs have three brightness levels and are well contained within the legends. You have to lean back quite a bit before you notice any light bleed.
One area I was initially concerned about was the buttonless haptic trackpad. It looks classy, stretching rimless from the keyboard to the edge of the frame, like an infinity pool for your fingies, but I hate touchpads. I love me a good button…or at least I did. This is one of the nicest trackpads I’ve used, with haptic feedback that responds consistently no matter where you click.
Not having physical buttons did cause my hands to wander at first, leading to a few mis-clicks. With some getting used to it, though, I could see myself finally becoming a trackpad man.
Performance
Performance is exceptional, though I expect that will be true of most Panther Lake machines. Where ASUS may pull ahead is thermals.
During benchmarking and gaming, temperatures never exceeded 65 degrees, even under sustained load. After heavy use, the remarkably quiet fans quickly dispersed heat. During general productivity, the chassis stayed at ambient temperature, remaining cold to the touch everywhere except over the processor.
For the curious, Geekbench results were:
Single Core: 2814
Multi Core: 15079
GPU: 49,545
CPU performance is solid. It’s not quite Apple silicon, but it’s more than capable of professional creative work like video and photo editing. The GPU score is more modest but far more interesting. In raw terms, it brushes up against entry-level dedicated GPUs like the RTX 4050. The difference is that Arc B390 is integrated.
“The ExpertBook Ultra isn’t a gaming laptop—but it also isn’t not a gaming laptop.”
That matters, especially in the middle of a RAM availability crisis. Traditional GPUs rely on dedicated VRAM, which is becoming a luxury now that the AI barons are sucking up all the high-speed memory. Improving integrated graphics on unified memory is one of the smartest ways to mitigate the coming gamerpocalypse.
So, how did the integrated graphics do?
At 1080p with settings maxed, ARC Raiders ran at a consistent 60 FPS, with fans at roughly half power. At 3K, the frame rate dropped to around 45 FPS.
Cyberpunk 2077 was even more interesting. At 1080p with ray tracing, a mix of high and ultra settings, and XeSS, the game held a steady 60–70 FPS. At 3K with similar settings and no XeSS, performance dropped to 28 FPS—until frame generation was enabled.
I’ve always hated the ghost-ridden jank of frame generation, but here I couldn’t tell the difference between native 60+ FPS and whatever voodoo the AI was pulling. Turn off ray tracing and perceived performance jumps closer to 100 FPS than 60.
The ExpertBook Ultra isn’t a gaming laptop—but it also isn’t not a gaming laptop. It’s an Arc Raiders sleeper rig that accounting will happily sign off on. The perfect crime.
Audio
Another area where ASUS excels is audio. The laptop houses six speakers, projecting from both the top and bottom of the chassis, all powered by Dolby Atmos. While they aren’t the loudest or most immersive laptop speakers I’ve encountered—I still lean toward the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge—they deliver crystal-clear sound and avoid the tinny rattling that plagues many systems.
Battery
The battery is a high-efficiency 70WH unit that comes with a 90W wall charger. The stated battery life is 24 hours, which is generous but in the realm of possibility. With light use, earbuds, and reduced lighting, I was easily able to work for 20 hours before needing a charge.
Unsurprisingly, gaming changes the equation. Under load, the battery drains quickly, and you’ll want to stay plugged in. The upside is fast charging: a full charge takes a little over an hour with the lid closed.
Verdict
The PC landscape is changing fast, and users will have to adjust their expectations. That doesn’t mean lowering them. The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra proves that. We’ve reached a point where an ultra-lightweight business machine can go toe-to-toe with mid-range gaming rigs.
The ExpertBook Ultra won’t be cheap, but even at a premium, it will still be a compelling business solution and likely a more affordable, durable alternative to a dedicated gaming laptop.
The ExpertBook Ultra is only 14 inches, but it’s going to be huge. ASUS has put together something special and done the unthinkable: made a Copilot+ Device that can finally compete with a MacBook.
