Antonio G. Di Benedetto

Reviewer, Laptops

Antonio is a laptop reviewer at The Verge. Before starting here in 2021 as a deals writer, he worked in the photography industry — and still photographs weddings on the side from time to time. He also plays lots of video / tabletop games, collects vinyl records, buys too many mechanical keyboards, and endlessly professes his love for the great state of New Jersey.

Antonio G. Di BenedettoSep 4

HP announces new OmniBook laptops and a desktop with Nvidia RTX Spark.

HP is adding to the impending deluge of RTX Spark computers due in October with the OmniBook X 14, OmniBook Ultra 16, and the small form factor OmniDesk. My colleague Dom saw the Ultra among other Nvidia-powered laptops at IFA, but we still don’t know any prices.

Considering HP’s specs show both OmniBooks will start with 32GB of unified memory and 1TB of storage, signs point to them being expensive.

<em>The HP OmniBook Ultra 16, seen at IFA.</em>

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The HP OmniBook Ultra 16, seen at IFA.

Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

This 14-inch laptop has a screen that unrolls to 17 inches

Antonio G. Di BenedettoSep 3

Nvidia launches free tool that links idle computers into a personal AI data center

Antonio G. Di BenedettoSep 3

This ultra-thin Lenovo laptop concept uses solid-state cooling

Antonio G. Di BenedettoSep 3

Lenovo’s new MacBook Neo competitor comes in two sizes and seven colors

Antonio G. Di BenedettoSep 3

Antonio G. Di BenedettoSep 2

Samsung is getting in on the MacBook Neo competition.

Samsung announced a new Galaxy Book6 laptop at IFA. It’s a 14-inch notebook with Intel Wildcat Lake processors, starting with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. And it’ll start at $799.

Sound a little familiar?

It’s got more ports than the Neo and a much higher watt-hour battery. But, oddly, Samsung omitted the keyboard’s backlight just as Apple did. Not my top choice of things to copy, but okay.

<em>No extra fun colors here, just gray and violet silver — which I can’t help accidentally reading as “violent silver.”</em>

<em>Perfection apparently doesn’t require typing in the dark.</em>

<em>Solid ports, but <a href="https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-expands-the-galaxy-book6-lineup-making-galaxy-book-more-accessible" target="_blank">Samsung’s specs</a> don’t mention USB speeds. The video port is HDMI 1.4.</em>

<em>Wildcat Lake is a pretty power efficient chip, and the Galaxy Book6 has a sizable 61.2Wh battery with support for 45W charging.</em>

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No extra fun colors here, just gray and violet silver — which I can’t help accidentally reading as “violent silver.”

Image: Samsung

Acer’s new MacBook Air rival is nearly a pound lighter than Apple’s laptop

Antonio G. Di BenedettoSep 2

This Acer laptop offers easy repairs and two generations of processor upgrades.

Acer is announcing the Vero 16: a 16-inch laptop with tool-free internal access. The battery and SSD are user-replaceable, and the hinge and ports are also removable. Acer also says the processor can be upgraded for “at least two generations.”

An Acer service center will conduct the upgrades — not the user. And for now all pricing is TBD. The Vero 16 is launching outside North America in Q1 2027.

<em>The Vero 16’s innards are accessible without the need for tools.</em>

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The Vero 16’s innards are accessible without the need for tools.

Image: Acer

Antonio G. Di BenedettoSep 2

Alienware’s next OLED monitors are a 32-inch RGB stripe model and a 25-inch QD-OLED with 560Hz refresh.

Alienware has been on a tear with its recent OLEDs. Now, its next big monitor is the AW3226Q, a 4K 32-inch tandem OLED with 165Hz refresh and RGB stripe subpixels for clearer text — expected this fall for $699.99.

Alienware is also teasing the AW2527HX, a 25-inch QD-OLED with 560Hz refresh, co-created with Team Liquid and designed for esports. Pricing is TBD until its Q1 2027 launch.

The golden age of OLEDs continues.