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.

I customized a MacBook Neo with colorful spare parts

And I only broke it a little.

Antonio G. Di BenedettoJun 5

Antonio G. Di BenedettoJun 4

Afraid the Steam Machine will be too expensive? Imagine the price of this NUC with a mobile RTX 5090.

At Computex, Asus announced the ROG NUC 16 Edition 20 — a mini-PC with Intel’s highest-end mobile chip and a flagship RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. It’s even decked out in gold accents for the Republic of Gamers’ 20th anniversary.

Like other Asus Computex announcements, there’s no pricing. But as Liliputing points out, the standard model with an RTX 5080 costs $3,799.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

1/4Image: Asus

Antonio G. Di BenedettoJun 2

The Snapdragon X2 Elite chip is making its way to a mini-PC.

Announced at Computex, Asus’s new Ascent QN10 is the first mini-PC to use a Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite. It has quite the port selection, including three USB4 and four USB-A. And it’s under 0.7L in volume, which is about 0.1L smaller than the tiny M4 Mac Mini. But did I mention its power button is not on the bottom?

Of course, like all of Asus’s Computex announcements, price is TBD.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

<em>This is how Qualcomm presents this mini-PC in its press release.</em>

<em>And this is how Asus presents it. 🤣 I don’t know what’s going on here, but I do hope Asus is paying its model extra for this enthusiasm.</em>

1/4

The Asus Ascent QN10.

Image: Asus

Antonio G. Di BenedettoJun 2

Asus’ new Zenbook 14 might be another MacBook Neo competitor — if the price is right.

Asus is launching various Vivobooks and ExperBooks at Computex, but I’m most interested in the Zenbook 14 with a base-level Snapdragon X1-26-100. It’ll come in AMD and Intel configs too, but the Qualcomm version will start with a lowly 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD.

Sounds like another Neo wannabe, but we don’t know for certain since pricing is TBD.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

<em>The new Zenbook 14 will have Asus’ “Ceraluminum” finish and come in a pleasant looking coral color, as well as beige and blue.</em>

<em>All versions will have OLED screens standard.</em>

<em>Coral looks nice, at least in these renders.</em>

1/3

The new Zenbook 14 will have Asus’ “Ceraluminum” finish and come in a pleasant looking coral color, as well as beige and blue.

Image: Asus

This could be Windows’ M1 moment — but expect it to cost a ton

Nvidia’s RTX Spark ‘superchip’ shows promise for Windows laptops. But it also comes at the worst time.

Antonio G. Di BenedettoJun 1

MSI put Vincent van Gogh paintings on two limited edition laptops.

MSI is making limited edition versions of the Prestige 14 Flip AI Plus with two different van Gogh paintings on the lid: Starry Night and Starry Night Over the Rhône. I think I prefer last year’s Great Wave edition, but these are also lovely.

I called the Prestige one of the sleekest MSI laptops I’ve seen, but it didn’t look like this.

1/2Image: MSI

Antonio G. Di BenedettoJun 1

Only MSI could put this much dragon on a laptop.

MSI has made ridiculous dragon-themed laptops before, but this one takes the cake. Announced at Computex, the Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Draco Epic takes the standard 18-inch Titan gaming laptop but adds the new flagship Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus CPU, a 240Hz 4K screen, and a massive dragon design that’s etched and anodized right into the lid.

Never change, MSI.

<em>MSI didn’t share pricing, availability, or info about just how limited this limited edition will be.</em>

<em>It’ll come in a bundle that includes a matching mouse, desk mat, and collectible gold coin. Because dragons love gold, I suppose?</em>

1/3

MSI didn’t share pricing, availability, or info about just how limited this limited edition will be.

Image: MSI

Antonio G. Di BenedettoJun 1

The MSI Katana and Venture laptops are getting a fresh redesign, but details are sparse.

MSI is announcing new versions of its Venture business laptops and Katana gaming laptops for Computex. Both have new designs, but MSI shared few details — not even availability or pricing. The key facts we know so far is that the Venture will get Intel Panther Lake chips and the Katana will have older Intel Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs and up to an RTX 5070 GPU.