Business PCs are often treated as the ugly duckling of the PC world. This is because they seem dull, slow, and lacking in features compared to consumer PCs. However, at this year’s CES, PC companies launched a variety of business PCs along with consumer products to capitalize on the popularity of generative AI. Many PC companies are focusing on AI PCs or Co-Pilot+ PCs, but analysts point out that PC companies are slightly ahead of the market.
Tom Butler, director of portfolio and product management for Lenovo’s worldwide enterprise laptop division, compares it to the dot-com era: “When the dot-com era started, companies immediately said, ‘We need a dot-com instance.’ The current situation is very similar. As we enter the AI PC era, companies say, ‘We need AI PCs,’” he explained.
Let’s take a look at the notable business PCs announced at CES 2025 and see what efforts each PC company is making.
asus
In addition to Zenbook and ROG products, ASUS unveiled the Enterprise-focused ExpertBook B5, ExpertBook B3, ExpertCenter P400 AiO, and ExpertCenter P500. Although it is not a Co-Pilot+ PC (the NPU is not powerful enough), it can be classified as an AI PC, and both the B5 and B3 laptops include Intel vPro for manageability. It also passed the MIL-STD 810H durability test. Both products are very light, weighing about 1.3 kg.
B5 supports up to 64GB RAM and up to 2TB SSD with RAID support, and has an all-metal design, 16-inch screen, and security features such as fingerprint recognition, facial recognition, and smart card reader. B3 is equipped with a 14-inch or 16-inch display and supports up to 64GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage with dual SSDs. It also provides various ports, including USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, and Ethernet ports. Please note, the B5 does not have an Ethernet port.
For desktops, Expert Center AiO (All-in-One) is available in two models: a 27-inch display and a 24-inch screen. The P500 is a mini tower, supporting up to 64GB of RAM and up to 4TB of storage on one SSD and one hard drive.
dell
Dell’s rebranding plans announced at CES may be a bit disconcerting, but the company has introduced several new Dell Pro models “designed for professional-grade productivity.” These models are divided into base, plus, and premium, and all provide specifications corresponding to Copilot+ PC. Base products include the Dell Pro 14 and Dell Pro 16, which are designed to “deliver essential performance for everyday productivity.” It features an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor, 16GB RAM and 256GB storage, and a screen resolution of 1920×1200 pixels.
The company also announced the Dell Pro desktop based on Intel or AMD processors, available in micro, slim, and tower form factors, and is Dell’s first commercial desktop with an NPU.
The upgraded Dell Pro 13/14/16 Plus offers up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Available in laptop or 2-in-1 form factors, they use the same system BIOS, making ordering and management easier for IT departments. Dell said that the battery life of the Pro 14 Plus is up to 18.2 hours, and the Pro 16 Plus is 12.6 hours.
The top range includes the Dell Pro 13/14 premium model. These products weigh 1kg, making them the thinnest and lightest in the Dell Pro product line. The Dell Pro 13 Premium provides up to 20.8 hours of battery use, and the Pro 14 Premium provides up to 21.2 hours of battery use. Each product can be equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of storage.
HP
HP expanded its EliteBook product line by announcing three types of Co-Pilot+ PCs. The HP Elitebook Ultra G1i Next Gen AI PC is designed for executives, and is an Intel-based model equipped with a 14-inch UWVA OLED screen. For reference, the Qualcomm model uses a WLED display. The Intel version can use up to 32GB RAM and up to 2TB storage, and the Qualcomm version can use up to 1TB storage. HP said it is equipped with a “studio quality” microphone and a 9-megapixel camera for high-quality video calls.
The HP EliteBook Like the Ultra G1i, it is equipped with a 14-inch screen, but touch functionality is provided as standard (optional for the G1i) and it uses a WLED display rather than OLED.
The HP EliteBook The Intel model can be equipped with up to 32GB of RAM, while the AMD version offers up to 64GB. Both models are available with up to 2TB of storage.
HP said that the EliteBook
lenovo
Lenovo announced a variety of products, but both models aimed at enterprises were particularly surprising.
The ThinkPad X9 14-inch and 15-inch Aura Editions are sleek, thin and light laptops that meet the MIL-SPEC 810H standards I tested. Lenovo boasts all-day battery life and says it has designed the battery and SSD to be easily serviced. It provides up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
Another thing to note is that the X9 is the first ThinkPad to give up the trackstick. Lenovo says this change only applies to the X9, and other ThinkPads will retain the trademark trackstick in the center of the keyboard.
Two years ago, Lenovo introduced a laptop concept with a rollable screen, and this year the concept became a reality. The ThinkBook Plus Zen 6 Rollable’s 14-inch screen expands upwards with a single button, growing to 16.7 inches and providing 50% more screen space. Like the other new models, it offers up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. However, it is not a cheap device, with prices starting at $3,500.
Is AI a trick?
As for whether such a system would meet enterprise needs, analysts were somewhat negative about the AI hype, weighing the current state of the PC market.
“Currently, AI capabilities are either overhyped and barely noticeable, or are seen as ‘nice-to-haves’ for businesses unless users actively seek out more detailed capabilities,” said Ranjit Atwal, senior director analyst at Gartner. “In the end, companies will not pay more than 5% higher than the regular price for AI PCs.”
“I think AI laptops are mostly just a gimmick,” said Jeremy Roberts, senior research director at Infotech Research Group. “It’s just an effort for PC companies to keep up with the market and stand out where possible,” he said. “None of our enterprise customers have yet declared that they have high expectations or are changing anything, including their replacement cycles, to integrate AI features at the PC level.” “I never said anything,” he pointed out.
Ryan Reese, vice president of IDC’s Worldwide Device Tracker Group, said there was some interest in AI PCs as early as 2024, but interest has waned since then. “Over the past year, we have seen that large enterprises and most developed markets around the world are allocating budget to generative AI PCs,” Rees said. However, this enthusiasm faded into the second half of 2024 due to concerns that Microsoft and its partners were not meeting user expectations.
What’s important to your company
According to Roberts, generative AI capabilities have not caught the attention of enterprises. “The things that are of interest to companies are autopilot compatibility for smooth deployment, TPM chips for encryption, special screens to limit viewing angles, fairly powerful CPUs/GPUs depending on the use case, and repairability,” Roberts said.
“I don’t think AI capabilities would even be in the top 10,” Roberts said, adding, “Most companies aren’t going to use AI capabilities locally anyway, they’re going to use cloud services like Co-Pilot or Gemini.”
Rees cited feedback from enterprise sales leaders at large PC companies who said companies were shifting spending toward mid-range PCs as budgets tightened and what they could achieve from generative AI PCs became uncertain. A mid-range PC is not a Co-Pilot+ PC, but it is still a very good PC. “If a company is purchasing between 50 premium PCs and 200 mainstream PCs, more companies will choose the 200 mainstream PCs,” Rees explained.
“Modern laptops are generally more than capable of handling the day-to-day tasks of the average knowledge worker,” says Roberts. “A Dell Pro 5000 or 7000 series or an ordinary Lenovo Thinkpad will have no problem using Slack, Teams, and PowerPoint,” he said.
Size and weight are often key to what enterprise users want, Reese said. And now companies are listening to the opinions of their employees. Atwal said, “Thin and light PCs are the trend,” and added, “Companies basically want future-proof PCs, so they just want them to be equipped with NPUs.”
Lenovo’s Butler said the configuration sweet spot has now shifted to 32GB of memory and at least 512GB of storage. And the screen size has also grown. “Most business laptops are between 14 and 16 inches,” Butler said. Anything smaller than that would be quite cramped. “Bigger ones can be cumbersome to carry, not to mention more expensive,” he explained.
AI PC direction
Opinions among analysts were divided regarding the fate of AI PC/Copilot+ PC.
“AI PCs are a solution to a problem,” says Roberts. “End-user computing managers will not be swayed by this branding and additional feature set. AI will continue to be delivered through the cloud. We expect Co-Pilot+ PC to follow the path of ultrabooks. “In other words, computers will have a brand attached to them that is only slightly relevant to the people who buy and use them.”
But Reese thinks it’s a matter of time. The analysis is that on-device AI is a necessary technology, and the market is only growing not as quickly as expected. It is also important to note that not all PC companies are backing down from AI PC development. “The scale of AI PCs in 2025 will be lower than expected, but will increase by the end of this year and certainly by 2026,” Rees predicted.
dl-itworldkorea@foundryco.com
Source: www.itworld.co.kr
