The 'everyday' laptop most people will want might not be a MacBook after all

The best laptops have improved dramatically in recent years. The landscape has also become more confusing – with chipsets from Intel, AMD, Apple and Qualcomm posing the 'what's right for me?' question from many consumers.

Now we're into 2026, Qualcomm is the first of those 'big four' out of the gates, with yet another new announcement. It's the Snapdragon X2 Plus, which is designed for 'everyday' laptop form factors – and might mean a MacBook isn't what most people want after all.

(As a side note, now that the world's largest consumer tech show, CES 2026, is underway, you can anticipate both Intel and AMD to weigh in on this – with new chips expected from both – while Apple will stick to its own game, with new M-series silicon likely later in the year).

But anyway: what's special about Snapdragon X2 Plus? It's the update to the chip-maker's first-gen Snapdragon X Plus, which was released in the middle of 2024, and brings with it a 35% power boost, while delivering great longevity thanks to enhanced power efficiency.

I visited Qualcomm's headquarters last year to get a closer look at Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme. X2 Plus sits below both of those, but it's still part of the same family. And Qualcomm has handled that well, as all X2 chips deliver the same AI-enabled performance (with 80 TOPS – or 'tokens per second' – the standard rate for all).

But the key part in the above equation is that Snapdragon X2 Plus is designed for 'everyday' laptops. Which you can read into as meaning 'more affordable'. And I think that's critical for a lot of many people right now – especially when the best MacBooks will set you back a grand minimum.

Having wider options from Windows is needed for competition. That Qualcomm has been able to enhance its baseline offering, while improving any compatibility issues that it once had, now makes for a fully viable option. It has improved generation to generation at an immense pace already, which means the brand will likely accelerate beyond its competitors in coming years.

Precisely which laptops at what kind of price points will feature Snapdragon X2 Plus we're yet to see, but with CES 2026 in full swing, there will no doubt be an abundance of new and affordable entries. Which can only be a good thing for all.