The best laptops are powerful enough to handle both work and play, comfy enough to carry all day and power-efficient enough that you won't run out of juice when you're in the lurch.
These days there are dozens of options on the market, which is what makes finding the best laptop for you so darn tricky. That's why I maintain this list of the best laptops we've reviewed: you can count on the fact that I or one of my teammates has tested and reviewed every laptop on this list, so you know a real person has used it in real life and really likes it.
I generally recommend the MacBook Air M3 as the best laptop for most folks thanks to its compelling combo of price, performance and portability, but the Dell XPS 13 is a great alternative for those who prefer Windows 11.
If you just need a good laptop for not much money, I recommend the Acer Aspire Go 15 because it delivers better value than most laptops my team and I review - and we review dozens of laptops from the top manufacturers every year.
So whether you're shopping for a sleek new ultraportable, a cheap Chromebook, a new gaming laptop or the best MacBook for your needs, you can count on finding at least one great option here!
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 MacBook Air 13-inch M3 is the laptop we recommend first to most people because it delivers unbeatable value. You get great performance from Apple's M3 chip, a bright display and more than 15 hours of battery life (according to our testing) in an ultraportable package.
Acer's Aspire Go 15 is the best laptop for the money because it's a decent Windows 11 ultraportable that can be yours for under $500. Sure, it's underpowered and the speakers suck, but I love it because you get a full laptop with a comfy keyboard, decent performance writing and editing and 10+ hours of tested battery life for less than an iPad.
The Dell XPS 13 (2024) is one of the best Windows laptops you can buy now that it has the power of Snapdragon X chips inside, which give this portable powerhouse killer speed and MacBook-beating battery life in our tests. The capacitive keys are controversial, but you can get used to them.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x features blazing-fast performance, incredible battery life and a gorgeous OLED display in an elegant ultraportable chassis. Though its AI features aren’t impressive, it’s an all-around great Snapdragon X Elite Windows laptop that won’t break the bank.
I recommend the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus because this 2-in-1 offers a 1200p touchscreen, a good keyboard and plenty of ports, all at an affordable price—without feeling cheap.
The Framework Laptop is a truly unique ultraportable that's remarkably repairable and upgradeable. It's basically the anti-MacBook, designed to be easy to customize, upgrade and repair while delivering style and performance without compromise.
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We've long been fans of the Zephyrus G14 because it has the chops to run most games at solid framerates, the efficiency to be used as a work laptop in a pinch, and a slim, compact chassis that's more portable than most gaming laptops.
The MacBook Pro M4 Pro lasted nearly 20 hours in our lab battery tests, making it the longest-lasting laptop we've yet tested and the laptop I recommend most to those who prize battery life.
Stylish, lightweight, and powerful, the Acer Swift 5 is a truly impressive Windows 11 laptop that rivals the latest MacBooks in terms of size, style and speed. This mid-range productivity notebook delivers compelling value thanks to its power and vivid 14-inch 1600p touchscreen.
The Asus ProArt PX13 is a mini monster of a 2-in-1 — packing a drop dead gorgeous OLED display, a Copilot+ PC ready screamer of a chip in the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, and a monstrous RTX 4070 GPU.
