Pioneer DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090 Review

After months of writing about a forthcoming new generation of gaming laptops, they’re finally here. And, once again, it’s a laptop from Australia’s Pioneer that’s the first to land in our labs. The Pioneer DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090 is a high-end gaming laptop with a new Intel Arrow Lake processor and new Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics. It’s not a super-premium machine with a massive power supply and integrated overclocking, but we’re fascinated to see how it compares to the last-gen monsters – especially as the new processor opens the door to Ai-based applications with its integrated NPU. Let’s go…

Pioneer DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090

Features, Ergonomics and Design

As before, Pioneer uses a Clevo chassis as the foundation for the 16-inch DreamBook Power X56. This means it’s highly configurable and easy to access for any future upgrades and there’s plenty of potential for that.

Its ‘neutral’ black-grey design will be familiar to those with experience of Clevo over the past 20 years. It’s not the most in-your-face livery, but it’s also discreet, which many purchasers will appreciate.

That’s not to say it’s totally boring though, the four-zone RGB keyboard and an RGB strip at the rear can be easily tailored into your own colour scheme and pattern (without scrolling through a bunch of unintuitive menus, as we’ve see elsewhere). Just note that the DreamBook moniker on the lid is stuck on and subsequently shouldn’t be rubbed too hard.

Opening it up reveals the bright, 16-inch, matte, IPS display which has a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution. Its shows a sharp and clear Windows Desktop and colours are vibrant. When engaging with multimedia, the colour performance carried across and the non-HDR panel showed that its contrast performance was also generally good: details remain present in dark areas, to stop enemies hiding in shadows but they could get lost in highlights, that were a little too eager to blow-out. It’s no deal breaker, though.

It’s true-black performance naturally can’t match OLED and mini-LED displays, but it’s not too far off, either. Colour gradients exhibited minor stepping and monochromatic equivalents could get a little noisy and blocky but it’s not too distracting.

Where the screen takes off is with its 240Hz refresh rate which combines with a quick pixel response time to render fast-moving objects very sharp indeed. FPS players will like it.

The Dreambook has stereo speakers, but the specifications aren’t stated. I wasn’t too fussed, though, because they get loud, offer well-rounded fidelity and there’s also some decent, punchy bass.

Below the screen, there’s an impressive keyboard. It doesn’t have the largest keys but I felt it was better for it – I’ve been stretching my fingers too much on some laptops recently. The smaller buttons also mean there’s room for a number pad and non-squished arrow keys. There are plenty of useful shortcuts spread across them all, too. Some may find the pressure and actuation difference a little firm for activities like extended typing, but I found it worked particularly well for gaming where key strokes felt more accurate owing to a reduced risk of brushing neighbouring keys. These things come down to personal preference, though.

However, the trackpad beneath it felt very old school and not in a good way. It’s smooth and accurate enough to use but the button actuation is stiffer and more-clunky than I expect nowadays. The target audience will be using a separate mouse, though.

Above the screen is an impressive 1,620p (1,620 x 2,880) webcam. That’s the highest resolution I can remember seeing on any laptop. It does a good job of capturing a clear image in low light too and it’s partnered by a respectable microphone array that captures clear vocals. The latter isn’t the best at automatically reducing background noise but third-party web-conferencing and streaming apps can work with the NPU to help with that nowadays.

Indeed, one of the features of Intel’s new Arrow Lake processors is the integration of an Neural Processor for enhanced Ai functionality. This is a big deal as before this laptop appeared, you either had to choose between an AiPC that was poor at gaming or a gaming laptop that couldn’t perform many ‘casual’ processor-based Ai tasks. As such, the CoPilot button launches Microsoft’s full CoPilot+ suite of Ai applications which, I suspect will become increasingly useful, despite their slow take-up so far.

It’s worth noting that there’s no Windows Hello integration on this laptop, so you’ll have to sign-in with a password, like a caveman.

Connectivity and Ports

Inside, there’s Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. You won’t find a better connectivity complement on the laptop market.

All in all, Pioneer’s DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090 provides almost everything we hoped for from the first of a new generation – a laptop that lifts the bar in terms of features and functionality. It’s utilitarian design isn’t flashy, but the RGB helps and, apart from the trackpad, interacting with it ticks all the core boxes. With super-premium gaming laptops from the big-brands about to land, I’m aware that this bar will likely rise again very shortly, but right now, the DreamBook offers the best combination of features and ergonomics on the market.

Features, Ergonomics and Design Score: 5 / 5

Performance

Inside the Pioneer DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090 is an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX Arrow Lake CPU. If you’re confused by Intel’s architectural nomenclature, you’re not alone – especially with so many different generations found on the market and with each generation having two names… which often sound similar. Indeed the 275HX is part of Intel’s Core Ultra (Series 2) range, just like Lunar Lake… which is a completely different processor that’s designed for ultraportables. Online denizens are also calling it a 15^th Generation Intel processor even though Lunar Lake is arguably number 15. Got all that? Good.

A (Very) Quick Introduction To Intel’s Arrow Lake Processor

Things become a little simpler to understand if we stick to the world of gaming laptops, where Intel’s power-hungry, Hyper-Threaded, ‘Raptor Lake architecture’ processors have underpinned its 13^th and 14^th generations of high-end, Core i9, consumer processors since 2023.

It’s from these that Arrow Lake has (significantly) evolved from, bringing-forth improved multi-core performance; better power efficiency; a new, tile-based architecture; and better caching. Like Lunar Lake ultraportables, Hyper-Threading has been removed but unlike Lunar Lake, there’s an improved core count, so rendering tasks shouldn’t be hobbled. There’s also the integration of the new Neural Processor.

General Computing & CPU Tests

The Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU has eight Performance cores and 16 Efficient cores that operate between 2.1 and 5.4GHz. It’s also got an NPU (that’s capable of 8 TOPS) and an integrated octa-core GPU that operates at 1.9GHz. Usually, I wouldn’t bother testing the integrated GPU as few people will use it when there’s a massive, discreet GPU in play but, as this is so new, I wanted to see what it could do. Our review unit came with 64GB of DDR5-4800 RAM. That’s not the quickest, but it’s a lot.

The DreamBook Power X56 also has three NVMe SSD slots for a maximum of 12TB storage(!) Ours had 4TB which is the most I’ve seen in a long time. You can configure it to run in RAID 0, 1 or 5 arrays for extra data protection and/or performance.

When it came to our benchmarks, I started by running the UL Procyon Office Productivity tests. We’ve removed this from our overall comparisons, at the moment, because the benchmark was changed in March and isn’t currently directly comparable with previous scores (UL says results are now about 4 per cent faster). For reference, it scored 7,753. In the Multi-Platform version (now 15 per cent faster), it scored 273,000.

For the rest of the benchmarks, I wanted to compare the DreamBook Power X35 with two of our fastest last-gen performers which have huge power bricks to pump maximum power into overclockable CPUs and GPUs. They are the Intel-based MSI Vector 16 HX A14V and the AMD-based Asus ROG Strix SCAR 17.

Our first round of benchmarks focuses on the processor and the whole system in general.

It’s interesting to see that the stock-running Arrow Lake-based DreamBook blitzes the maxed-out last gen, Raptor Lake-based Raider in every test. That’s a major positive for Intel. However, the DreamBook only finishes a smidge ahead of the Ryzen 9 processor thanks to its significant, NPU-boosted Ai prowess. The maxed-out Ryzen laptop still edged ahead in every other test. That’s still a big win for Arrow Lake – it’s achieved this while using less power.

Graphics & Gaming Performance

I did a similar comparison in our GPU-focused benchmarks, with the stock-running RTX 5090 going up against some heavily boosted RTX 4090 performers. The results were interesting (note that I don’t have figures for every benchmark as some weren’t part of our review suite (or didn’t exist) when we performed the review).

It’s interesting that the new, Ai-focused Blackwell architecture didn’t leap to the front in the Ai benchmark. But, I was surprised to see just how far ahead the DreamBook was in our video editing test. It completed the four Procyon video encoding workloads between 16 and 45 seconds. The Raider performed the same tasks between 21 and 57 seconds while the SCAR did them between 20 and 50 seconds. All laptops demonstrate great aptitude for portable video rendering, but that’s still an impressive improvement for the RTX 5090. Ultraportables can take 10 minutes to perform each of the same tasks.

As for the 3DMark gaming benchmarks, it perhaps wasn’t surprising to see the DreamBook trail behind the larger two gaming behemoths. Those can pump a full 175-Watts into the GPU (alone) and make use of mature overclocking software to automatically boost the speeds. The DreamBook’s small 230-Watt power brick isn’t capable of pushing such high-levels of sustained power into the whole system. There’ll still be room for tweakers to overclock (using third-party tools) but to a more-limited degree. It shows that there’s likely a lot more headroom in the 5090 and we’ll see it when the new Raiders and SCARs et al appear.

Finally I ran our (relatively) recent Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 benchmark (which didn’t exist when we reviewed the older models). At default settings, which are chosen by the game, it used the native, 2,560 x 1,600 resolution and Extreme detail settings and achieved an average of 97fps with the lowest one per cent of frames (1% Low score) hitting 68fps. Dropping everything to our standardised, Full HD resolution with Minimum Details and DLSS turned on (for competitive-style performance) it averaged 248fps with a 1% Low of 116fps.

I was interested to see what the integrated GPU in the new processor could do, and (at Full HD with Minimum detail settings) it managed 32fps with a 1% Low of 25fps. That’s not great but it will be capable of some more casual, Fortnite-like shooters and casual games.

Ultimately, though, the Pioneer DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090 is a top-tier gaming machine that will be able to play anything at most resolutions.

Cooling

Unlike the big brands, Pioneer doesn’t elaborate on the cooling technology inside the DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090. What I can tell you is that, when forced into Maximum Power mode, the fans will ramp up to a sustained, robust whoosh regardless of what you’re doing. It’s not the loudest we’ve heard and it’s very normal for a gaming laptop. I was most impressed at how well it worked, though – they prevented it from getting warm at all!

In Turbo Mode, the fans will only ramp up when required but in all other modes it’s near silent. You can even force it into fan-less silence by choosing Entertainment Mode and this is the only time it got warm. It’s very effective cooling technology.

Portability and Battery Life

Our review SKU of the DreamBook Power X56 weighed 2.26KG which is low for a beefy, 16-inch gaming laptop. While the 230-Watt power brick doesn’t pour as much power into it as the super-premium machines, it also means that the power brick and cables only add an extra 728g to the mix – we’ve seen double that on the market.

Build quality is OK. Clevo chassis like this are generally robust and well-made (along with the hinges). The base is rigid but the screen can flex a bit when a twisting force is applied. I’d certainly recommend taking a bit of extra care when carting it around, but I’d say that for any laptop that costs this much.

Pioneer says that the battery will last for nine hours, so I was slightly impressed that it ran the PCMark 10 Modern Office test for 10 hours 4 minutes. Certainly, there are other big gaming laptops that can do better here, but many don’t. You’ll always need external power if you plan on playing any demanding games for any significant amount of time, anyway.

Portability and Battery Life Score: 1.9 / 5

Price, Value and Availability

Unlike any other vendor, Pioneer is selling the DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090 right now. It can be heavily configured using an online configurator which allows you to pick from a base model with 16GB RAM and a 512GB hard drive for $6,468, to a 64GB, 12TB(!) RAID 5 model that costs $8,489.

Our review unit cost $7,158. That’s far from cheap in the current market but, from what we’re hearing, it might be considered so when the big boys arrive – some of them will be over $11,000!

Still, it’s normal for prices to be high when new technology lands and there’s no denying that the Dreambook delivers on that front, so the value proposition here is reasonable.

It’s also worth noting that Pioneer will supply the DreamBook with Ubuntu Linux installed if required. You can also push the warranty to three years’ Premium pick-up-and-return for $249.

Value Score: 2.6 / 5

Conclusion: Should You Buy The Pioneer DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090?

If you demand the most powerful gaming laptop in the market right now then Pioneer’s DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090 is it. The arrival of serious competition is imminent but, as we saw the last time a new generation of gaming laptops launched, Pioneer appeared first and held its ground very well in the ensuing onslaught.

There are no weak points here. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles seen in rivals but many of those are cosmetic. For those that arrive with more power, you can bet you’ll be paying through the nose for them.

Either way, I’m more than happy to recommend the Pioneer DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090.

Overall Score: 4.9 / 5

Last Updated on 11 May 2025 by Nick Ross