Whether you're shopping for a sub-$200 laptop, a lightweight laptop for work and play, a 2-in-1 or a powerful gaming rig, the sheer number of choices can be overwhelming. To help you choose, we've picked out the best laptops in every major category, based on our extensive testing, research and comparisons. Looking for something a bit more specific? We've got guides for gaming, college and business laptops as well as Chromebooks and 2-in-1s. Shopping on a budget? Check out our laptops for under $500 as well as our sub-$1000 gaming laptops.
Don't forget to check out our latest reviews like the Qualcomm-powered Lenovo Yoga C630 and the sub-$400 Acer Swift 1. And as CES approaches, keep an eye out for new, exciting systems like the zSpace Laptop PC, the first notebook to offer an interactive AR/VR experience.
Here are the best laptops to buy right now, whether you're shopping for a last-minute holiday gift or want a mobile work machine that will last you for years to come.
Whether you're shopping for a sub-$200 laptop, a lightweight laptop for work and play, a 2-in-1 or a powerful gaming rig, the sheer number of choices can be overwhelming. To help you choose, we've picked out the best laptops in every major category, based on our extensive testing, research and comparisons. Looking for something a bit more specific? We've got guides for gaming, college and business laptops as well as Chromebooks and 2-in-1s. Shopping on a budget? Check out our laptops for under $500 as well as our sub-$1000 gaming laptops.
Don't forget to check out our latest reviews like the Qualcomm-powered Lenovo Yoga C630 and the sub-$400 Acer Swift 1. And as CES approaches, keep an eye out for new, exciting systems like the zSpace Laptop PC, the first notebook to offer an interactive AR/VR experience.
Here are the best laptops to buy right now, whether you're shopping for a last-minute holiday gift or want a mobile work machine that will last you for years to come.
Best Laptop Overall
1. Dell XPS 13
The Dell XPS 13 packs excellent 8th-gen Core performance into one of the sleekest laptop designs you can buy.
With the latest Intel 8th Gen Core CPUs and speedy PCIe-NVMe SSDs inside, the XPS 13 offers powerful performance in a very thin design with a new cooling system. Thunderbolt 3 ports on the outside let you connect to eGPUs and other high-speed peripherals to boost your performance. We also still recommend the slightly-older XPS 13 9360, which has the same Intel 8th Gen Core CPU options, but it's a little bit thicker and doesn't have the new cooling system. However, it does offer a full suite of ports, including a USB Type-A connector and over two hours of additional endurance.
Best Sub-$500 Laptop
2. Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575-33BM)
The Aspire E15 is a superb value, offering a vibrant screen and long battery life for less than $500.
The E 15 is one of the few laptops you can buy that still comes with a built-in DVD burner. It also packs in a plethora of ports, including USB Type-C, Type-A, VGA, Ethernet and HDMI connections. Despite the laptop's budget price, the Aspire E 15's screen can reproduce over 150 percent of the sRGB color gamut. This system also lasts over 8 hours on a charge. At 4.97 pounds, this laptop isn't particularly light, but it makes a great family or student PC that you keep within the home or the dorm.
PROS
Best Chromebook
3. HP Chromebook x2
If you want a Chromebook that's also a tablet, the HP Chromebook x2 is a fantastic option.
The HP Chromebook x2's bright, colorful display and lengthy battery life will make you take Chrome OS seriously. You also get a comfortable typing experience, surprisingly powerful audio and solid performance thanks to its Intel Core m3-7Y30 GPU. Throw in a quick, accurate pen and the ability to convert the system from a laptop to a tablet and you've got an ultraportable jack-of-all-trades machine that offers versatility and style.
Best Value
4. Huawei Matebook D 14-inch (AMD)
Huawei's 14-inch MateBook D packs a solid AMD processor and touch-screen display into a sleek aluminum body for an affordable $629. This MacBook doppelganger also boasts مبل ویلایی long battery life, a comfortable keyboard and a pair of decent speakers. Its AMD processor and GPU performed well on our tests and also offers a solid keyboard. Its premium build and performance belies its affordable price. A.
Best 2-in-1
5. Lenovo Yoga C930
Lenovo's moved away from its classic watchband hinge on the Yoga C930 in favor of a soundbar speaker that's both stylish and practical -- providing 360-degree audio and a place to store the digital pen. The C930 is just as versatile as its forebears, transforming with ease into a variety of use cases while doling out strong performance and lasting more than 10 hours on a charge.
Best Gaming Laptop
6. Alienware 17 R5
The latest Alienware 17 features a refreshed design optimized to stay cool and quiet, and its built-in Tobii Eye Tracking allows you to control games and apps with just your pupils. And with up to a stunning 2560 x 1440 display, your games will look as crisp and colorful as they're meant to.
Best Business Laptop
7. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
The X1 Carbon's snappy, deep keyboard is its best feature. Combined with a soft-touch deck, the responsive keys will make you a faster and more efficient typist. The accurate TrackPoint and touchpad make navigation a pleasure. No matter which of its three screen options you choose, you'll get an extremely bright and colorful panel. However, the high-end, 2K HDR screen is one of the best we've seen on any laptop, providing nearly 500 nits of brightness and covering close to 200 percent of the sRGB color gamut. When you carry the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, you don't have to worry about battery life. In our tests, the laptop lasted over 11 hours on a charge.
Best Laptop for Kids
8. Asus Chromebook Flip C213SA
Because kids need more than just a device that won't break, the Chromebook Flip C213SA provides more than adequate performance and the ability to run Android apps. Its 11.6-inch screen flips back so they can run it in tablet mode. Young typists will appreciate the C213SA's snappy keyboard, which provides the kind of feedback we normally see on professional productivity laptops. Asus's convertible lasts over 11 hours on a charge which is more than enough for school and after-school activities.
Best Detachable
9. Microsoft Surface Pro 6
The king of 2-in-1 detachables just got even better. Not only does the Surface Pro 6 last 2 hours longer than its predecessor, but it also boasts faster performance thanks to its 8th-gen quad-core processor. All of those gains are tied together in an elegant matte black design with a bright and colorful 2736 x 1824 display with smooth Surface Pen functionality for drawing and taking notes.
Best Photo / Video Editing Laptop
10. Surface Book 2 (15-inch)
While other laptops with similar specs also provide the performance necessary to edit 4K videos or create 3D animations, they're all clamshells. With the Surface Book 2, you can edit a high-res clip using Adobe Premiere when you're attached to its dock and then pop off the screen so you can sketch a quick drawing while you stand in line. The Surface Book 2 is also the first Microsoft device to provide a USB Type-C port so you can connect to a variety of new peripherals. When connected to its keyboard, this laptop lasts over 12 hours on a charge.
Best 15-inch Laptop
11. Dell XPS 15
The laptop's optional 4K display can reproduce an awesome 188 percent of the sRGB color gamut while registering a solid 282 nits of brightness. Its 45-watt Intel H series processor provides much stronger performance than the U series CPU in its smaller sibling while its Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics make it a legitimate content creation machine.
Best Ultraportable
12. Huawei MateBook X Pro
The Huawei MateBook X Pro is finally available in America, and it was definitely worth the wait. The 14-inch laptop packs a gorgeous super high-resolution display, a Core i7 CPU and a discrete Nvidia MX150 GPU so you can get some light gaming in on the go. A surprisingly comfortable keyboard, great audio quality and nearly 9 hours of battery life only serve to sweeten the pot.
Why Trust Us
Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing laptops for over two decades. We test over 200 different models per year, subjecting each system to a series of rigorous benchmarks that provides a complete picture of performance, battery life and usability.
Our expert reviewers also use each product to see how it looks and feels in everyday situations. Because we see so many different notebooks, we can compare each to its direct competitors and give you an idea of how it stacks up to the average laptop in its price band.
How We Test Laptops
When we bring a laptop into our laboratory, our goal is to see how it would work if you brought it into your home or office. While we use a number of industry standard benchmarks such as Geekbench and 3DMark, we focus heavily on real-world tests that we have developed in-house.
To test endurance, the Laptop Mag Battery test surfs the web at 150 nits of brightness until the system runs out of juice. To judge pure processing power, we use a giant spreadsheet macro that matches 65,000 names with their addresses, a video transcoder that converts a 4K video to 1080p and the Geekbench 4 synthetic test. We measure graphics prowess with both 3DMark Ice Storm / Fire Strike and a series of actual game titles.
We use a colorimeter to measure screen brightness and color gamut while other instruments help us determine a laptop's key travel and ambient heat. See this page on How We Test Laptops for more details on our benchmarking procedures.
How to Find the Right Laptop
When shopping for a laptop, there's a lot to consider. سطل زباله To help you choose a system, we've put our up-to-date list of favorite notebooks above, along with five points to keep in mind when choosing a system.
Budget: What you get for the money.
You can find good cheap Windows laptops and high-quality Chromebooks for under $500. However, better mainstream laptops usually cost more than $700 and premium Ultrabooks can run over $1,000. The best gaming laptops can cost $2.000 and up, but you can play the latest titles at decent frame rates on gaming laptops under $1,000.
Screen Size: 12 to 14 inches for Portability
Knowing a laptop's screen size tells you a lot about its portability overall. If you want to use your computer on your lap or carry it around a lot, go for one with a 12, 13 or 14-inch display. If you want to use the computer on tables and desks and won't carry it around much, a 15-inch model may give you more value. Some gaming rigs, media machines and workstations even have 17 or 18-inch screens, but those are hardest to carry.
2-in-1 or Clamshell?
More and more of today's laptops are 2-in-1s with screens that either bend back 360 degrees or detach so you can use them as tablets. If you like the idea of using your laptop in slate mode for drawing, media consumption or just using it standing up, a 2-in-1 could be for you. However, you can often get better features or a lower price by going with a traditional clamshell-style laptop.
Battery Life: 8+ Hours for Portability
Unless you only plan to use your laptop on your desk, battery life matters. Even within the home or office, having plenty of juice enables you to work on the couch or at the conference table, without being chained to the nearest outlet. For the best portability, we recommend getting a laptop that lasted over 8 hours on the Laptop Mag Battery Test. The longest-lasting laptops endure for over 10 hours.
Specs: 1080p / Core i5 / 8GB Are Best Bets
You can spend a lot of time delving into specs, but here are the key components to think about. If you just want really good mainstream performance, go for a Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 1080p screen.
Screen Resolution: Unfortunately, 66 percent of consumer laptops and 51 percent of business systems have low-res screens. If at all possible, get a display with a 1920 x 1080 (aka 1080p or full HD) or higher resolution.
CPU: An Intel Core i5 provides good mainstream performance. Some budget systems will come with Core i3, Celeron or Pentium CPUs which are good enough for basic tasks, but not heavy mutltiasking. Get a Core i7 or a quad core processor (serial number ends in HQ or HK) for gaming or high-end productivity tasks such as video editing and 3D modeling.
RAM: 8GB is ideal for most users. 4GB is acceptable for budget systems. Secondary laptops and Chromebooks may have less.
Storage: Unless you're a gamer or a power user, 256GB of internal storage is probably enough. If at all possible, get an SSD (Solid State Drive) rather than a hard drive, because it's going to make your entire computer a lot faster.
Graphics Chip: Gamers and creative professionals need to do some research and figure out which discrete GPU is good enough to run their favorite software. Everyone else will be happy with the built-in Intel HD Graphics that come on the CPU.
If you want to learn more about buying a laptop, check out our full Laptop Buying Guide. Gamers should read our Gaming Laptop Buying Guide and list of Best Gaming Laptops.
