This boring-looking gaming laptop is actually the one I'm most excited about so far at CES

With the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) currently underway in Las Vegas, hundreds of the biggest tech companies in the world are busy showcasing their latest gear, from massive TVs, to the latest CPUs and GPUs, and, of course, some seriously lavish laptops. However, the one gaming laptop that I'm most excited about so far is perhaps the most boring. Meet the new Asus TUF Gaming A14.

What makes this potentially one of the best gaming laptop options of this year isn't its styling or an incredible new type of screen. It's not a new top-tier gaming GPU or its ability to last a week on one battery charge. No, what makes this Asus laptop stand out is that it uses AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ Strix Halo processors.

Strix Halo is the codename for AMD's range of Ryzen AI Max processors that house a hugely powerful GPU inside the CPU. They've been around for a year or so, but have tended to be used only in some niche devices.

From the slightly peculiar gaming tablet format of the Asus ROG Flow Z13 2025 to the ludicrously powerful GPD Win 5 gaming handheld, and even several AI-centric mini PCs, there's certainly been some variation, but what we've not yet seen is just a sensible gaming laptop using these chips, until now.

The Asus TUF Gaming A14, then, isn't a new range, but this latest revision of the 14-inch, 1080p machine is now set to include the just-announced new Strix Halo variants, the Ryzen AI Max+ 388 and 392. These new models crucially offer the most powerful integrated GPU configuration available from Strix Halo, but cut down on the CPU core count, making for chips that are far more suited to gaming than the 16 CPU core behemoth that was the only previous option to include the flagship GPU.

So, not only does this mean we'll finally see a sensible, conventional gaming laptop sporting Strix Halo, but that hopefully it will be priced reasonably too, all while offering solid gaming performance.

Meanwhile, as I explain in the article above, what makes the idea of a really powerful integrated GPU so exciting is the fact that you don't have to switch between an integrated GPU and a second GPU, as you do in most gaming laptops. That means no long pauses - and potential app crashes - while your system switches GPUs and no annoyances such as certain apps refusing to use the GPU you want. Based on our experience of the Asus ROG Flow Z13, the Strix Halo lineup also offers excellent power consumption and thus long battery life, too.

For designing the laptops, it also means you don't have to deal with multiple chips, making it somewhat easier to design circuit boards, and you only need the cooler to pull heat from one spot in the device. You can see the large 'single' chip (it's actually multiple silicon chips in one package) in the center of the laptop's motherboard above.

Details on the price and availability of the new laptop are still incoming, but it should be arriving later this year.