1. The list in brief
2. Best overall
3. Best value
4. Best MacBook for business
5. Best 2-in-1
6. Best OLED
7. Best for travel
8. Best 13-inch
9. Best 14-inch
10. Best 15-inch
12. Battery life chart
13. How to choose
14. How we test
The best business laptops make it easy to get work done and be more productive on the go. They're light enough to carry all day, with great keyboards and crisp, easy-to-read screens that are comfortable to look at during marathon sessions.
Plus, they've got great battery life so you don't need to worry about carrying a charger around the office. The minimum we expect a good business laptop to last in our battery tests (one part of our comprehensive testing plan) is 8 hours, but ideally you want closer to 10-12 so you don't have to plug in during long days.
While the best business laptops used to chiefly be made by a handful of companies like Dell, HP and Lenovo, advances in manufacturing have made ultra-light laptops with speedy, power-efficient processors more common and affordable than ever. You'll certainly find traditional matte black clamshells on this list, but you'll also find business laptops with beautiful OLED displays, 2-in-1 hinges that let you use them like giant tablets, and more.
Every one of these recommendations is backed up by our performance testing lab and a hands-on review from one of our experts. That means you know what you're getting before you buy, because you can read all about how each performs, what they're like to use in day-to-day work and how they compare to other laptops we've tested by clicking the linked reviews.
Alex Wawro is a lifelong journalist who's spent over a decade covering tech, games and entertainment. He oversees the computing department at Tom's Guide, which includes managing laptop coverage and reviewing many himself every year.
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 best business laptop overall
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano is the best overall business laptop due to its performance, long battery life and portability. It also has a suite of security features and a comfortable keyboard that lives up to the ThinkPad brand. You might want to pack a USB hub though, as it sports just two Thunderbolt / USB-C ports.
The best value for a business laptop
The Asus Zenbook 13 OLED is an AMD-equipped laptop with excellent value. It offers a crisp 1080p OLED display and exceptional 15-hour battery life — all in a slim lightweight package. Its speakers aren't amazing, the webcam isn't great, and it has no headphone back, but for the price, you can deal with these stumbling blocks. Still, if you need a notebook that flips, HP’s option is plenty enticing.
The best MacBook for business
The MacBook Air M3 is the best laptop for those willing to spend a little bit more for a great notebook. It delivers top-notch performance, over 14 hours of battery life and a bright and colorful display all in a delightfully portable design. The MacBook Air M2 is a laptop that feels truly worthy of the Air name.
The best 2-in-1 business laptop
If you’re on the hunt for a laptop that’s as versatile as it is capable, the HP Spectre x360 ought to be on your radar. This convertible 2-in-1 notebook transitions from standard laptop form into a tablet with ease, along with tent-like and full-flat forms, with a full-sized stylus included for sketching, annotating and more. It's an alluring laptop given what it offers.
The best OLED for business
The Dell XPS 15 OLED is an exceptional business laptop that's perfect for work and playing graphically-demanding games. Though it’s admittedly pricey, it’s hard to argue against its impressive performance. It can handle almost anything you throw at it. Aside from its weak webcam, there's little to complain about. It's the full package.
The best business laptop for travel
The HP Pavilion Aero 13 delivers speedy performance that's easy to discern on the bright 13-inch screen, plus a great keyboard, all in an easy-to-carry business laptop. The lack of an SD card reader makes this not perfect for everyone, but it's great for travel.
Load the next 3 products...
The best 13-inch business laptop
The Dell XPS 13 Plus combines a stunning design with impressive performance for a laptop this compact. And the OLED display and comfy keyboard are both great. But the short battery life and capacitive function row will give some pause. With that said, there’s still plenty to like about this sleek ultraportable.
The best 14-inch business laptop
The Acer Swift 5 packs a lavish design with golden trim plus a powerful Intel Core i7 chip, a gorgeous 1600p display, and a startlingly swift 1TB SSD onboard. It’s also cheaper than comparably equipped rivals like the MacBook Air, giving you a great Windows 11 business laptop for roughly $1,500.
The best 15-inch business laptop
The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 is an ultra-thin 2-in-1 laptop that's tailor-made for people who are always on the go. Like its predecessor, this iteration features a gorgeous AMOLED screen that's perfect for media consumption. It's also ideal for work thanks to its speedy performance.
The best business laptops you can buy right now
Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.
The best business laptop overall
Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Nano is a great business laptop because it's powerful, long-lived, and easy to carry. Weighing in at just 2 pounds, the Nano is the lightest laptop on this list, but with a tested battery life of 12 hours it still has enough juice to last you through a day of work without needing a charger. You can also pay extra for 4G/5G connectivity, if you need to stay connected on the go.
Lenovo didn't sacrifice on performance or usability either. In addition to the standard suite of security features and durability ratings all ThinkPads have, the Nano's Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors provide the speed you need for tons of productivity — and its keyboard provides a snappy and comfortable typing experience that lives up to the ThinkPad brand. You might want to pack a USB hub though, as it sports just two Thunderbolt / USB-C ports.
Read our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano review.
The best value for a business laptop
The AMD-equipped Asus Zenbook 13 OLED is an excellent value, offering an eye-catching 1080p OLED display and exceptional 15-hour battery life in a slim, lightweight package for less than a thousand bucks.
The speakers aren't amazing, the webcam leaves something to be desired, and there's no headphone jack, but these are stumbling blocks you can work around. If you need a zippy little laptop to get work done with a great screen that will last you all day long, you can't do better than the OLED-equipped Asus Zenbook 13 at this price.
Read our full Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review.
The best MacBook for business
The MacBook Air M2 was arguably the best overall MacBook for most people, and now Apple has released a newer, better version that now comes in both 13-inch and 15-inch versions.
These new MacBook Air M3 laptops can 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 laptop.
We also really love the bright displays on both sizes of MacBook Air, as well as the expanded port array increased support for more external monitors on the 15-inch model. Both lasted over 15 hours in our battery rundown test, easily beating most competitors, though the 13-inch M3 Air did last 10 minutes longer than its 15-inch sibling.
Read our full Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M3 review and our Apple MacBook Air 15-inch M3 review for all the details!
The best 2-in-1 business laptop
HP’s latest 13.5-inch version of the Spectre x360 comes with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 chip that’s capable of handling all sorts of creative and productive apps, plus the 13.5-inch screen is a stunner and the refreshed design is appealing. The slim, transformable approach has a couple of drawbacks, including a steep asking price, but this is an alluring option all the same that ranks among the best laptops you can buy.
If you think you’ll reliably use the tablet form factor and stylus, then the HP Spectre x360 is a sharp 2-in-1 option for those with a premium budget. There are other strong options near this price point, including the upgraded Lenovo Yoga 9i with 12th-gen Intel Core i7 chips, however—we really liked last year’s model with the previous Core i7 processor aboard.
All that said, you’re clearly paying HP a premium for the convertible form factor here—so if that’s negligible to your needs, you can find more power and longer battery life at a lower price, particularly with the excellent Acer Swift 5. Even so, if you need a notebook that flips, HP’s option is plenty enticing.
Read our full HP Spectre x360 review.
The best OLED for business
The Dell XPS 15 OLED (2022) isn’t an innovative or revolutionary laptop. Aside from its updated internals, it’s virtually identical to its predecessor. But while this machine isn't shaking things up, it's still one of the best laptops you can buy.
All models of the refreshed Dell XPS 15 pack the latest Intel Core CPUs and come bundled with Windows 11. Higher-end configurations feature an Nvidia 30-series GPU and, like last year's iteration, Dell offers a model with a 3.5K OLED touchscreen.
Not only is this a stellar laptop for everyday use, it’s also a competent gaming machine when kitted out with high-end internals — though that's admittedly pricey.
The Dell XPS line of laptops has long been highly regarded here at Tom's Guide, and the Dell XPS 15 OLED (2022) continues the trend. Even if it isn’t shaking up the computing world with never-before-seen features, it's an all-around solid machine with versatility and style. Now if only Dell could ditch the grainy 720p webcam!
Read our full Dell XPS 15 OLED (2022) review.
The best business laptop for travel
If you’re looking for a great all-around ultraportable laptop for under $1,000, then I think you need the HP Pavilion Aero 13 ($839 as reviewed).
That’s because the HP Pavilion Aero 13 offers a powerful AMD Ryzen 7 CPU backed by a bright, colorful 13.3-inch display along with a clicky keyboard and a superlight chassis, all for a great price. However, some people may not like the small keyboard deck and the lack of a microSD card slot.
But those are cons you could easily get over when you consider it delivers great performance in a lightweight laptop that's easy to carry and satisfying to type on. It’s easily one of the best laptops you can buy.
Read our full HP Pavilion Aero 13 review.
The best 13-inch business laptop
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is one of the lightest, sleekest 13-inch laptops you can buy, because Dell took pains to slim this laptop down at the price of very few ports.
You get just a pair of USB-C ports, one of which you have to use when charging the laptop. Forget about a headphone jack, and you can forget about physical function keys while you're at, because Dell ditched them here in favor of a row of light-up capacitive touch keys. Even the touchpad outline is gone, meaning you have to learn by feel where the touchpad area begins and ends.
This 2.7-pound machine is more than just looks, however. It delivers decent performance thanks to the latest Intel CPUs, and while its middling battery life can't match the best MacBooks it's a solid all-around Windows laptop that's one of the best you can get in the 13-inch category.
Read our full Dell XPS 13 Plus review.
The best 14-inch business laptop
The Acer Swift 5 (2022) packs a lavish new design with golden trim plus a powerful 12th-gen Intel Core i7 chip, a gorgeous 14-inch display, and a startlingly swift 1TB SSD onboard. It’s also cheaper than rivals like the Dell XPS 13 when comparably equipped. There are a couple of caveats to consider, but the latest Acer Swift 5 is a very strong overall pick given its $1,499 price tag.
It's a great Windows laptop that offers plenty of power for everything save serious gaming. And while the speakers and pre-installed bloatware leave room for improvement, the striking 16:10 1600p display and the power of Intel's Core i7 chip make this a great (and great-looking) Windows laptop for getting things done on the go.
Read our full Acer Swift 5 (2022) review.
The best 15-inch business laptop
The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 is an ultra-thin 2-in-1 laptop that's a great choice for folks who want a laptop that doubles as a tablet when working on the go. However, the latest model trades an upgraded 3K AMOLED display for about four hours less battery life than its predecessor the Book2 Pro 360 (according to our testing), so if battery life is more important than screen resolution you may want to look for the older Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360.
The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 remains a laptop we recommend because it looks and feels great, delivers good performance and is a joy to use as a tablet. While it lasts about four hours less (8 vs 12) in our battery rundown test, the trade-off is that on the newer Galaxy Book Pro 360 you get a beautiful 3K AMOLED touchscreen, whereas on the older Book2 Pro 360 you're stuck with a 1080p AMOLED touchscreen.
That may have something to do with why the older 1080p version lasted nearly 4 hours longer than the newer version in our battery rundown tests — driving a higher-resolution display may eat up more battery. But as long as you're not planning to spend more than half a day or so without charging, you should be good to go with the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 review
Battery benchmarks: comparison
| Laptop | Battery life (tested) |
| Dell XPS 13 OLED | 7:59 |
| Asus Zenbook 13 OLED | 15:00 |
| MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022) | 18:20 |
| MacBook Air 15-inch M2 | 14:59 |
| M1 MacBook Air | 14:41 |
| MacBook Pro 2021 (14-inch) | 14:09 |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio | 10:30 |
| Framework Laptop | 10:17 |
| Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 | 12:00 |
| Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 | 8:07 |
| Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra | 10:01 |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 | 10:46 |
| Acer Swift 3 | 11:09 |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 8 | 9:06 |
| Dell XPS 15 OLED | 6:58 |
| MacBook Pro 2021 (16-inch) | 15:31 |
| Lenovo Yoga 9i | 11:15 |
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano | 12:00 |
| Alienware m15 R4 | 4:01 |
| HP Elite Dragonfly | 12:25 |
| Asus Zenbook Duo 14 | 10:37 |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Duet | 12:47 |
| Google Pixelbook Go | 11:29 |
| Acer Chromebook Spin 713 | 11:54 |
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 (think: Core i5 or an AMD A10) 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. Machines such as the Dell ThinkPad X1 Nano and HP Elite Dragonfly are slim and feather-light, whereas machines with larger screens (like the Dell XPS 15) are a bit bulkier and more painful to carry all day.
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.
How we tested these laptops
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.
When testing dedicated gaming laptops, we run benchmarks for popular games such as Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6 and Red Dead Redemption 2. For more information on our testing process, check out our guide to how we test.
Performance: If you only need something basic for tackling emails and surfing the web, you'll be fine with a mid-range CPU (think: Core i5 or an AMD A10) 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. Machines such as the Dell ThinkPad X1 Nano and HP Elite Dragonfly are slim and feather-light, whereas machines with larger screens (like the Dell XPS 15) are a bit bulkier and more painful to carry all day.
Whichever system you decide on, you may also want to pick up the best mouse for your particular work situation.
