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Shopping for a laptop can be complicated by the variety of hardware combinations, features, and form factors. Different computers are designed for specific purposes, such as daily office work, media consumption, gaming, or high-load tasks such as video editing and CAD.

Additionally, most laptops come in a variety of display, CPU, GPU, memory, and storage configurations, making the choice even more difficult. To help you scope out your options, we’ve compiled a list of the best models at a variety of price points and in different situations. When choosing our recommendations, we consider nearly every aspect of a laptop, including build, upgradability, battery life, overall user experience, processing power, price, and availability.

We’ve tested over 150 laptops, and below you’ll find our recommendations for the best laptops you can buy. You can also see our picks for the best work laptops and the best laptops for work.

Best laptop: Apple MacBook Pro 14

The best laptop I’ve tested is the M4 Apple Macbook Pro 14 (2024). This top-tier laptop has a lot of processing power and can handle just about anything you throw at it. Its build quality is second to none.

Plus, its compact design and all-day battery life make it perfect for taking with you. The overall user experience is great. You get a vibrant, color-sharp mini LED display, a tactile keyboard, an easy-to-use tactile touchpad, and plenty of ports.

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In addition to the performance increase, there are several other upgrades and new features in this M4 model, including a higher display brightness of 1000 cd/m² in SDR, an optional nano-quality texture display that can further reduce Glare, Thunderbolt 5, and a new 12MP webcam. The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2024) is also a good choice if you need more screen space and don’t mind paying more.

When it comes to high-performance laptops, we recommend the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7, a top-notch workstation laptop that can handle intense workloads. It features a large 16-inch screen for multitasking, Lenovo’s acclaimed keyboard and TrackPoint pointing stick, and an excellent 1440p webcam.

While its Intel Meteor Lake processor may be slightly inferior to the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro in CPU performance, choosing a high-end GPU gives you more powerful graphics processing capabilities. Memory support is up to 96GB, and the standard 64GB is enough to cope with most needs. Battery life is about 12 hours under light use, which is excellent, but it is slightly inferior to the MacBook Pro’s battery life of more than 15 hours. In addition, its display brightness is excellent, but it can’t compete with the Mini-LED panel on the MacBook Pro.

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Best mid-range laptop: Apple MacBook Air 13 (M4, 2025)

If you just need a laptop for lighter, everyday office work, the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M4, 2025) is the way to go. The form factor is the same as its M3 predecessor, so you still get a super premium laptop with a sturdy, compact design and all-day battery life.

The 2025 model has further performance improvements, a 12MP webcam with Center Stage support, and enhanced external display support, allowing you to connect two 6K 60Hz monitors at the same time while continuing to use the built-in screen. Its display and port selection are the main shortcomings compared to the MacBook Pro. The peak brightness and contrast of the Retina display are lower than the Mini-LED panel of the MacBook Pro, and the ports only include two USB-C ports.

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A great option for Windows users is the Lenovo ThinkPad X9 15 Aura. This 15-inch ultrabook offers the same user experience as the MacBook Air, with a comfortable keyboard, tactile touchpad, an excellent 1440p webcam, and feature-rich speakers.

Its 120Hz OLED display is arguably the Retina screen of the MacBook, offering deeper blacks and superior input responsiveness on this model.

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But be aware that its OLED screen may flicker at 480Hz, which may cause discomfort to some users. In addition, it has more ports, supports Wi-Fi 7, and has longer battery life when used lightly. The main disadvantage is the higher price, and the starting price of the basic configuration is higher than that of the MacBook Air.

The best mid-range laptop: Acer Swift Go 14

Our mid-range laptop is the Acer Exceptional Go 14. If you want something cheaper, this compact and lightweight ultra-convenience is a solid choice.

The Acer Go 14 has a solid build, with only a slight flex in the lid and keyboard area. It has a spacious but slightly soft-feeling keyboard, a large and responsive trackpad, Wi-Fi 6E, an excellent 1080p webcam, and a good selection of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 and an HDMI port. The battery lasts for about 11 hours under light use, and supports USB-C charging, eliminating the need to carry a dedicated charger.

This laptop is equipped with an Intel Meteor Lake CPU, which is powerful enough to handle daily tasks such as document processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, presentations, as well as high-load work such as programming and simulation. The memory supports up to 32GB and the storage space can reach 2TB, of which only the storage can be upgraded by the user, so make sure to choose enough memory to meet your needs.

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The display is available in two options: FHD+ IPS and 2.8K OLED. Both are sharp and bright enough in indoor environments. However, it should be noted that OLED screens are prone to screen burn-in and consume power faster. In addition, compared with IPS panels, OLED screens may flicker, which may cause discomfort to sensitive users.

Best budget laptop: Asus Intrepid 16

The best budget laptop we’ve tested is the Asus Intrepid 16. This 16-inch ultra-convenience isn’t overly bulky for the price of a 16-inch device, so it’s still easy to carry around.

You can configure it with your choice of AMD Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 CPUs, which are more than enough to handle everyday office use. Regarding memory, this model has 8GB of RAM soldered to the motherboard and comes with a SO-DIMM slot. If you can’t find the 16GB version, you can buy the 8GB model and upgrade it yourself, which may be more economical given that RAM is reasonably priced nowadays. Battery life is about 8 hours under light use, depending on the workload, and you may want to use the fast charging function.

The computer provides a pretty good user experience overall. It has a spacious full-size keyboard with a numeric keypad for handling a lot of digital input, and a sensitive trackpad. It supports Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity, is equipped with a fingerprint sensor for fast login, and provides a rich selection of ports, including three USB-A, one USB-C, and one HDMI interface.

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Unfortunately, USB-C doesn’t support video output, so you’ll have to rely on HDMI to connect an external display. Our primary means of using this laptop was the display. Its 1080p resolution looks pretty sharp at this screen size; however, its screen brightness is low, which may affect visibility in a well-lit room. In addition, the display has a slightly color cast due to its narrow color gamut.

The best 2-in-1 tablet: Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition

If you prefer a 2-in-1 tablet with a detachable keyboard, go for the Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition. The external design of this new model does not stray far from its predecessor.

It’s still a great tablet with a sturdy, built-in kickstand, a comfortable cover keyboard, and pen input support. The new Flex Keyboard has a larger, easier-to-use tactile touchpad and has Bluetooth, so you can use the keyboard even when it’s detached from the tablet.

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The Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition supports Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity, is equipped with an excellent 1440p front-facing camera and a 10MP rear camera, and supports Windows Hello facial recognition, making logging in quick and easy. However, the port selection is still limited, with only two USB-C ports, and the keyboard and stylus need to be purchased separately.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15-inch (2024) is equipped with a Snapdragon SoC. It is recommended to make sure that the applications you use are compatible with this platform, or run smoothly through Microsoft’s Prism emulation layer to meet work needs. Its battery life is about 11 to 12 hours under light use. Although it is not as outstanding as some competitors, it is still excellent for a thin and light notebook.

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It’s important to note that the Snapdragon X Plus model has an IPS display, while the X Elite model uses an OLED screen. OLED displays can produce deeper blacks, but may show a “screen door effect,” a grid-like pattern that some users may find distracting. If you’re sensitive to this, I recommend the X Plus model, but it will require some compromises in performance.

Best gaming laptop: Razer Blade 18

The best gaming laptop we’ve tested is the Razer Blade 18. This high-end 18-inch model has an all-aluminum chassis that feels very solid.

It features a spacious, tactile keyboard with per-key RGB backlighting, and plenty of ports for peripherals and external displays, including three USB-AS, two USB-CS, an HDMI 2.1, and a 2.5GBPS Ethernet port. Don’t worry if you’re not close enough to your router; there’s Wi-Fi 7 on board to ensure a fast and reliable Internet connection when gaming online.

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The Razer Blade 18 has a single CPU option, the high-end Intel Core i9-14900HX, which you can pair with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, 4080, or 4090 laptop GPU. Each configuration is designed to deliver smooth gaming experiences in the most demanding settings.

There are two display options, a 300Hz QHD+ MINI LED and a 200Hz 4K+ IPS panel, so you can choose whether you want better input responsiveness and smoother motion or a sharper image. Both displays have fast response times and G-Sync support.

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Unfortunately, the fans are pretty noisy at 57.0 dBA when running at full speed. Also, the battery life is not great, only lasting about an hour of gaming, so you’ll need to keep a charger handy. Check out our recommendations for the best gaming laptops for more options at different price points.

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