What's The Best Laptop You Can Buy

We have named the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 to our best laptop list, as this is now the best 2-in-1 laptop we have tested. It features a fast 13th gen CPU along with a dazzling OLED display.We have also added the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18, which is now our top gaming laptop. This beast includes a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU along with a 240Hz display in a futuristic design.

what's the best laptop you can buy

My best laptop recommendations are determined by rating, pricing and use case. We put every laptop through rigorous synthetic tests and we also use them in real-world situations, evaluating overall performance, display brightness, keyboard comfort and much more. We also run our own battery test to let you know how long these laptops last on a charge.

And speaking of gaming, take a good, long look at the 4K display while enjoying the better-than-average speakers. Just be sure to keep it plugged in while gaming as we only saw 1 hour and 20 minutes of battery life. However, during regular tasks, the laptop lasted 9:28. A jack of all trades and a master of some, be sure to check out the HP Envy 16.

Is the price a little high in my opinion for a Chromebook? But this is a really good value for under $500. And unlike some detachable laptops, Lenovo actually includes the keyboard cover with the system. However, the company stopped short of including the stylus, which is frustrating.

The X1 Carbon lasted a whopping 15.5 hours on our battery test and when it came to our benchmarks, there was no stopping this system. As a business laptop, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (9th Gen) is an undeniable powerhouse with a few minor cons such as the 720p webcam, which in a world of remote work falls short of the mark. But the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (9th Gen) is a force to be reckoned with.

Laptop Mag reviews over a hundred different laptops every year, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming.

In order to make our best laptop of 2023 list, the system needs to score at least 4 out of 5 stars on our reviews and deliver on the things shoppers care about most. In our evaluations, we focus on design and comfort, display quality, the keyboard and touchpad, performance, battery life, and especially value.

Our expert reviewers also use each product to see how it looks, feels, and performs 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.

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.

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.

When shopping for a laptop, there's a lot to consider. 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.

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 $1,500 as well as the best gaming laptops under $1,000.

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.

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.

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.

We regularly test the most promising laptops, from sleek ultrabooks to cheap Chromebooks to massive gaming laptops and beyond. Here are the best models you can buy in every category, along with advice on how to choose which type of laptop is right for you.

Where they fall short: Great ultrabooks can cost more than many people want to spend on a laptop, even if these models provide a better experience and last longer than cheaper alternatives. Ultrabooks also lack the processing power to play high-end games or handle demanding tasks such as professional video editing or 3D modeling. If you need a cheaper laptop or a more powerful one, check out our other picks below.

We recommend adding another 8 GB of memory to the base-model Framework Laptop. If you want the full experience of putting your laptop together, you can choose from a wider variety of parts by purchasing the DIY Edition instead.

Where they fall short: Laptops with color-accurate screens and enough power for creative professionals are expensive, and even more so with add-ons like extra storage and memory. Editing laptops also tend to be larger and heavier than ultrabooks, with most weighing more than 4 pounds. The powerful processors in editing laptops generate lots of heat, as well, so some can get too hot to use comfortably on your lap, though our top pick stayed cool even under the heaviest workloads. In addition, the MacBook Pro is impossible to service on your own, but Apple provides excellent support.

Why we like this one: Made with visual professionals in mind, the Dell XPS 15 9520 is a well-built laptop that offers a beautiful OLED display and serious computing power. It also has a comfortable keyboard and a notably large trackpad, both of which make working on the laptop more enjoyable and less cramped. Its port selection is fairly simple, consisting of two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, a non-Thunderbolt USB-C port, an SD card reader, and a headphone jack.

Andrew Cunningham is a former senior staff writer on Wirecutter's tech team. He has been writing about laptops, phones, routers, and other tech since 2011. Before that he spent five years in IT fixing computers and helping people buy the best tech for their needs. He also co-hosts the book podcast Overdue and the TV podcast Appointment Television.

If you're looking for the best laptops of 2023, then we can help. This year has seen some truly excellent laptops released, and we're only just over a quarter of the way through it. So far, massive laptop brands such as Apple, Dell, Lenovo and Asus have launched some truly spectacular products for all budgets.

Samsung has also been putting out some brilliant laptops recently, and we've just added the excellent Galaxy Book3 Ultra to this list. It's pricey, but it's also packed with some of the very best mobile tech you can buy right now.

If the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra is out of your price range, don't worry, as on this page we've listed the best laptops for a variety of budgets and use cases, and every laptop has been thoroughly tested and reviewed by us, so you can be sure that if you buy any of the laptops below, you'll be getting an absolutely fantastic device.

With the cost of living rising, decent laptop deals are more welcome than ever, and we've made sure that we don't just include only high-end laptops in this list, but also the best cheap laptops and best Chromebooks as well. So read on for our list of the best laptops.

Air, which is a shame, as one of the best things about the 2020 MacBook Air was its low price and excellent performance. The MacBook Air M1 (2020) is still available to buy for $999 / 999 / AU$1,499 and you can read more about it here.

Value for money: As far as Chromebooks and 2-in-1 laptops go, this is hands down the best value you're going to find in a portable device of its kind. It's the computer that last decade's netbooks promised to be - but couldn't quite become - while taking the Chromebook to its next logical step.

The Dell XPS 13 (2022) had its work cut out to really impress us. Its predecessors have often made it to the top of our best laptops list, but recently its competitors such as HP and Apple have really caught up when it comes to making desirable thin and light laptops. To put the XPS 13 back in its rightful place towards the top of our best laptops list, Dell has made some big changes. While the boost in performance thanks to cutting-edge components is welcome, some people will be sorely disappointed by the other changes Dell has made to the 2022 version.

Design: The Dell XPS 13 (2022) gets a new design, which may upset people who loved the old look, but it's fresh and modern and comes with a new color option, Umber (a bluish-purple), in addition to Sky, which is the standard silver color for the XPS laptop line. It's impressively thin and light, and the screen is bright, albeit not up to OLED standards. One design decision that may not please everyone, however, is the lack of carbon fiber palm rests in favor of a more svelte aluminum keyboard deck. We quite like the change, but others may find the aluminum deck less comfortable to use. 041b061a72