I didn't expect a 16-inch Windows laptop to crack my top five - but this is a gem
Geekom produces some high-quality products at not-so-high-quality prices, and the Geekbook X16 is no exception.
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ZDNET's key takeaways
- The X16 Pro is available on the Geekom site for just over $1,300
- This lightweight, 16-inch laptop has all the power you need for everyday tasks
- Even local AI performs well on the X16 Pro.
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When I go for a laptop, I typically prefer those in the 13- to 14-inch range. Every once in a while, however, I test a 16-inch laptop that makes me rethink my stance on size.
Such was the case with the Geekom Geekbook X16 Pro. Although it might look a bit on the generic side, it's actually far nicer than its appearance would imply. And powered by an Intel Core U9-185H or U5-125H with Arc graphics and an integrated NPU, the X16 Pro delivers impressive power for the price. Let's discuss this piece of tech.
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Windows 11
I've grown accustomed to being impressed by Geekom products. You might not know the name, but it has produced some pretty impressive small form factor desktops, many of which I've reviewed.
Also: I converted this Windows 11 mini PC into a Linux workstation - and didn't regret it
Now, the company has hopped into the laptop market, and I'm glad it did.
When I first unboxed the laptop, I was surprised by the weight. This 16-inch device weighs less than my MacBook Pro M1. The X16 Pro weighs in at 2.87 pounds, while the MacBook comes in at 3.0 pounds. With the laptop on my lap, I barely notice the weight.
The X16 Pro is considerably bigger than my 13" MacBook Pro, but is also a bit lighter.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Once the laptop was unleashed from its packaging, I plugged it in and fired it up. Then Windows 11 reminded me why I loathe Microsoft's operating system. First off, it took over an hour to finally get to the login prompt. An hour. Come on, Microsoft.
Also: 9 things I always do after setting up Windows 11 - and why you should too
On top of that, I had to dismiss so many purchase options that my head wound up spinning in revolt. I was so tempted to shut it down, insert a bootable Linux USB drive, and install my distro of choice. Instead, I suffered through the Windows 11 setup just to see how it fared on the laptop. As expected, Windows 11 brought me no end of frustration, but that's not on Geekom.
Hardware
So, let's talk about the hardware.
First off, the screen is quite nice. No, it's not a 4K Retina display, but it is a 16:10 IPS display with 2.5K resolution, 100% sRGB, a 120Hz refresh rate, and up to 400 nits of brightness. I found it to be more than serviceable. Now, if I were editing or coloring a video, I might not be so fond of what I was seeing, but for everyday usage, it's quite nice.
As a writer, one of the most important aspects of a laptop is the keyboard, and I've experienced some pretty bad ones (yeah, Apple, I'm talking to you).
Also: The best laptops of 2026: I've tested dozens of laptops and these are the best ones
The action on the X16 Pro keyboard offers good feedback and a solid feel. The only nit I can pick with this keyboard is that my right pinky had to get used to the spacing of the Shift and arrow keys. I can't tell you how many times I went to hit the right Shift key and accidentally pressed the left-pointing arrow. Once that pinky got used to the placement, all was good.
As for the touchpad, it's huge and has a nice, slick surface. Again, it's not on par with that of the MacBook Pro, but it's better than a lot of hardware I've used.
Performance
Of course, this is where the metaphorical rubber meets the road.
As per my usual test process, I downloaded and installed Ollama to see how well the laptop would handle local AI. The first thing I did was download qwen-coder:3b, which is roughly 16GB in size. I was really surprised at how fast that LLM downloaded. It took less than 5 minutes, and I've seen that take considerably longer on other machines.
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I asked Qwen-coder:30b the following:
Write a Python GUI application that accepts user input for name, age, email address, phone number, and gender (including non-binary) and appends it to a file named input.txt.
Although I've seen Ollama write this app much faster on Linux- and macOS-based machines, this time around was on par for the Windows desktops I've tested. Within about 2 minutes, the app was written. Instead of going through the process of installing Python and tkinter on Windows, I copied the app to my Linux desktop and ran it.
Also: How I feed my files to a local AI for better, more relevant responses
Perfection.
- My local AI test on the X16 Pro was a success.
- Other things I tested were as follows:
- YouTube videos looked and sounded great.
- GIMP was a bit slow to open, but I'm comparing that to a much more powerful machine. On average, GIMP worked very well.
- Browsing: I opted to install Opera (because I'm not a fan of Edge) and found it to perform much better than the default. The app opened quickly, pages rendered well, and there were no complaints.
- LibreOffice: The first run of LibreOffice is always a bit slow. After that, it opened very quickly and had zero problems.
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I did decide to install one game, Eternium. I've played this quite a bit on Android, so I was interested to see how well it would fare on the Geekom X16 Pro. To my surprise, it played very well, with zero lag. Of course, this is a fairly lightweight game, so it should come as no surprise. Even so, it was nice to see the game play better on the laptop than on an Android tablet or phone.
ZDNET buying advice
Given that the Geekom X16 Pro currently sells for around $1,300, this is a tough call. Yes, you can get cheaper devices, but when you price laptops with the same CPU (Intel Core Ultra 9), 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage, all of a sudden, the price of the X16 Pro makes perfect sense.
Of all the laptops I've reviewed over the past few years, I'd have to say that the Geekom X16 Pro is easily in my top five. It's not perfect, but for typical use cases, this baby is a gem.