If your company issues you a laptop, you don't get a lot of choice. But when you're shopping for your own machine, the best business laptops can make you feel like you're having fun even when you're working.
I know because my team and I review dozens of laptops from the top manufacturers every year, so we see the difference between the business and consumer-grade laptops from the likes of Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo and more.
The quick list
In a hurry? Here's a brief overview of the laptops on this list, along with quick links that let you jump down the page directly to a review of whichever laptop catches your eye.
The Lenovo Slim 7 is my most recommended business laptop because it gives you a lovely 14-inch OLED touchscreen, 10+ hours of tested battery life and a laptop that's comfy to type on for $1,000 (or less on sale).
We recommend the Acer Aspire Go 15 as a solid Windows 11 laptop that can be yours for under $500. Sure, the webcam sucks and the speakers aren't great, but you'll get decent performance in productivity apps, a comfy keyboard and 10+ hours of tested battery life.
The MacBook Air M4 is the best MacBook for business because it delivers top-notch performance, over 14 hours of battery life and a bright and colorful display all in a delightfully portable design.
The best business laptops you can buy right now
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The best business laptop overall
I really like the Lenovo Slim 7 and often recommend it as the best business laptop I've used because its easy to carry, comfy to type on and offers good performance and battery life (10+ hours tested).
But what I really love is the 14-inch OLED touchscreen, which makes everything you do on the device look lovely and gives you the option of taking your hands off the keyboard and trackpad to tap and swipe when you feel like it.
The model we reviewed is actually sold at Costco so it's a great deal, but if you can't find it at Costco or don't have a membership Lenovo sells very similar models at Amazon and Best Buy.
Read our full Lenovo Slim 7 review.
The best budget business laptop
The Acer Aspire Go 15 is what we typically recommend to folks looking for a decent business laptop for not a lot of money because it delivers great value, offering a comfy keyboard, plenty of ports and good battery life for an incredibly low MSRP of $299.
Sure, it's not much to look at and it can't run any but the simplest of games, but it's more than good enough for browsing the web, writing emails or editing documents and spreadsheets. And while the 720p webcam is pretty disappointing, you can always invest in a standalone webcam down the road if you decide you can't stand how it makes you look during conference calls. For the bootstrapper on a budget, this is the minimum viable laptop.
Read our full Acer Aspire Go 15 review.
The best MacBook for business
If you prefer macOS over Windows, I recommend the 13-inch MacBook Air M4 as the best MacBook for business use because its more powerful than ever, while being smaller and lighter than almost every other laptop on the market.
Apple's MacBook Air laptops are lightweight powerhouses that often outperform more expensive Windows laptops, and while they aren't as well-equipped to play the latest PC games that's hardly an issue for most business users — though you can still have loads of fun between meetings with the games that do run on Apple's newest, slimmest laptops.
And the new M4 models are faster than ever, with a sharper 12MP webcam than their predecessors along with nearly 15 hours of tested battery life. Plus, the M4 generation received a $100 price cut, making it a better time than ever to invest in one of these ultra-thin ultraportables.
Personally I have a slight preference for Windows over macOS, but even I can appreciate the bright displays on both sizes of MacBook Air, as well as the expanded port array and increased support for more external monitors on the 15-inch model. So if you're a real productivity fiend, I recommend the larger Air: you'll get more screen real estate and more functionality for your money.
Read our full Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M4 review!
Also tested
We test and review over a hundred laptops every year, and they can't all be the best— but just because they don't all make this list doesn't mean they aren't good machines.
No, there are loads of great business laptops that don't quite achieve the level of excellence needed to lead the pack. But they're still great machines, and they're worth considering if you're looking for a specific feature or another laptop you want isn't available.
Below, I've gathered all the great laptops we've tested which don't quite make this list, but are still good alternatives well worth considering if they meet your unique needs, or if you can't find your first choice on sale.
How we test the best business laptops
To find the best laptop for business, we run every portable PC we review through a rigorous series of real-world and synthetic tests to measure how well it will perform during everyday use.
We measure the average brightness and color quality of each laptop's display using our in-house light meter and colorimeter. For general performance, we run our machines through tests that include Geekbench (to benchmark CPU performance in both single-core and multi-core workloads), as well as a battery of graphics tests using software like 3DMark and modern PC games. We also run a file transfer test to measure how fast a machine's hard drive is, and a custom battery test that has the machine browse the internet over Wi-Fi until it runs out of juice.
How to choose the best laptop for you
Performance: If you only need something basic for tackling emails and surfing the web, you'll be fine with a mid-range CPU and 4-8 GB of RAM. However, if you want something that can tackle anything you throw at it (short of heavy-duty gaming and video editing) splurge for a Core i7 and 16 GB of RAM.
Graphics and gaming: Business laptops are rarely built to do much serious gaming, but if you just want to unwind with older or undemanding games like Civilization, you should be fine as long as you have at least a Core i5 CPU and 8 GB of RAM. For more demanding games, look into one of the best gaming laptops instead — a few have designs subtle enough to not look out of place in a boardroom.
Size: Consider how mobile you want your business laptop to be. Premium laptops such as the MacBook Air are slim and feather-light, whereas cheaper machines (like the Acer Aspire Go 15) are thicker and bulkier, which could be a pain when trying to cram them in a briefcase or carry-on.
Whichever system you decide on, you may also want to pick up the best mouse and best keyboard for your particular work situation since spending long hours working hunched over a laptop can be murder on your hands, wrists and back. Trust me, I do it for a living.
