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.
The Asus ProArt P16 is a creative powerhouse of a laptop that doesn’t forget about the ergonomics for making great things. From that gorgeous 4K OLED touchscreen to the DialPad, everything keeps you in your flow.
If you want the best blend of price, performance and portability in a MacBook Pro you want the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro. It lasts nearly as long and is nearly as fast as the 16-inch M4 Pro model, while being cheaper and easier to carry.
Dual screen laptops are quickly becoming all the rage, and there's no better option than the new Asus Zenbook Duo — providing Intel Core Ultra performance to keep everything on those gorgeous dual 14-inch 3K OLED displays running fast, and offering it all at just $1,499.
The best laptops you can buy today
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The best laptop overall
✅ You need a long-lasting laptop: The MacBook Air M3 lasted more than 15 hours in our battery test, which is longer than its predecessors. This laptop can last you all day and more.
✅ You want a small, fast MacBook: The M3 chip inside this MacBook Air gives it more than enough power for multitasking, and it pairs well with the long battery life and light weight. While it can't crunch video or play games as well as the MacBook Pros with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, this is the ultimate MacBook for getting things done on the go.
❌ You want to play games: While this laptop does a stellar job of running games optimized for Apple silicon, non-supported games have trouble running at acceptable frame rates. There's also the lack of developer support. If games are important to you, consider looking elsewhere.
❌ You own a MacBook Air 13-inch M2: The MacBook Air M3 is certainly powerful, completely outclassing its M1 counterpart. However, if you own an Air M2, you don't need its M3 variant since the performance difference between the two is minimal.
💻 The MacBook Air M3 is a bit pricey, but it justifies the premium with an unbeatable combination of performance, battery life, display quality and portability.
1. The best MacBook: See all models compared
2. The best laptops for battery life
3. The best 2-in-1 laptops, for when you can't decide between a laptop and a tablet
What you need to know
The MacBook Air M3 is an excellent all-rounder that feels truly worthy of the Air name. Though it's virtually indistinguishable from the excellent MacBook Air 13-inch M2 that previously topped this list, the M3 variant is hard to dismiss.
The MacBook Air M3 (from $1,099) is a breath of fresh you-know-what, and that’s because Apple paired that speedy M3 chip with the same ultraportable design of its predecessor. It's a potent blend of performance and portability, one we recommend as one of the best laptops for getting work done on the go for most folks.
Design: The MacBook Air M3 is so thin it could easily be mistaken for an iPad when closed (especially if the Apple logo is facing out). That’s how slim this notebook is. Measuring just 0.44 inches thick with the lid open, an everyday Bic pen looks chunky next to this machine.
Don't expect to get much in the way of ports, however. As before, you get just a pair of Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 ports along the left edge, alongside a MagSafe power adapter. At least you also get a headphone jack.
Display: The 13.6-inch display offers a 2,560 x 1,664-pixel resolution and gets nice and bright in person, so it's a pleasant place to watch videos, write emails, edit photos and whatever else you want to do.
The MacBook Air M3 did well in our display tests, too. When we tested it with our light meter we found it delivers an average brightness of 476 nits, peaking around 496 when viewing HDR videos. That’s brighter than the Dell XPS 13 OLED’s 357-nit average.
Performance: On Geekbench 6, which measures overall performance, the MacBook Air M2 hit 3,082 on the single-core CPU test and 12,087 on multi-core. That’s faster than both its predecessors, though the performance gulf is widest between the old Air M1 and Air M3. For more details, check out our in-depth MacBook Air M3 benchmark results!
Battery life: The MacBook Air M3 is one of the longest-lasting laptops for the money. On the Tom’s Guide battery test, the new Air averaged 15 hours and 13 minutes, which is better than average.
Read the full review: MacBook Air 13-inch M3
| Test | Notes | How it stacks up |
|---|---|---|
| Battery life | 15:13 tested battery life | ★★★★★ |
| Performance | Speedy, good for light work | ★★★★☆ |
| Design | Thin and elegant, light on ports | ★★★★☆ |
| Display | Bright, colorful 13.6-inch panel | ★★★★☆ |
The best value laptop
✅You need a Windows 11 laptop under $500: The Acer Aspire Go 15 is one of the best laptops under $500 you can get, in my opinion, because it delivers all the utility of a Windows ultraportable for $299. If you need a cheap laptop for school or getting basic work done, this is a great choice.
✅ You need a versatile productivity machine: Acer's Aspire Go 15 can feel sluggish and can't run demanding games or apps, but what it can do is handle web surfing, writing, schoolwork and emails. The keyboard is surprisingly spacious and comfy and you get a versatile array of ports to boot, making this cheap laptop surprisingly good for school and office work.
❌ You can't stand sluggish PCs: The Acer Aspire Go 15 can help you get work done, but it won't do it quickly. The weak Intel Core i3-N305 CPU in our review unit chugged if I opened too many Chrome tabs or apps at once, and forget about playing any but the simplest of PC games.
❌You want to look good on video calls: The cheap 720p webcam built into the Acer Aspire Go 15 is just not very good. It's serviceable if you need to have a chat with colleagues or family, but you won't look your best.
💻 The Acer Aspire Go 15 is a cheap Windows laptop, in both good and bad ways. Luckily, the parts of it which feel cheap in a bad way aren't dealbreakers unless you really can't stand a slow laptop. But if you can make peace with its underpowered performance, the Go 15 will reward you with a sturdy, versatile Windows experience that can last 10+ hours on a full battery, according to our testing.
What you need to know
The Acer Aspire Go 15 is a cheap laptop in good and bad ways. For $299 you get a thick-set 15-inch ultraportable with a spacious keyboard, plenty of ports and 10+ hours of tested battery life.
Of course, you have to make some trade-offs when you buy this laptop. The speakers aren't very good, the low-res webcam makes you look washed-out and performance in anything but writing and browsing the web is pretty disappointing.
But if you can live with those compromises you get a pretty useful laptop for not very much money. It's the kind of thing I'd recommend a parent give a child as their first laptop, as it's great for surfing the web and doing homework. Remote learning, office work and research are all easy to do on this affordable 15-incher, but don't expect to play games or run apps more complicated than Minecraft.
Design: The Acer Aspire Go 15 is a thick-set laptop that measures roughly 14.29 x 9.44 x 0.74 inches and weighs 3.86 pounds. That makes it a bit chunkier and heavier than your average 15-inch ultraportable, but it's still easy enough to carry around the house or toss into a backpack on the way to school.
I actually find the plain silver chassis to be kind of attractive since it's so simple and straightforward, but you can always spruce it up with stickers if you want some flair. Along the edges you'll find a decent port array, including two USB-A ports and a USB-C port, an HDMI out and a 3.5mm headphone jack—which is nice to have given the way headphone ports have become an increasingly rare commodity on modern laptops.
Display: If you're a display snob, you might be a bit unhappy with the Acer Aspire Go 15's 15.6-inch LCD screen. The 60Hz 1080p display is plenty good enough for browsing the web or reading, but videos and games look a bit washed-out and dim.
But as long as you're not planning to use this thing outside in direct sunlight all the time, it's more than good enough for basic work and play.
Performance: The big weak point of this laptop is its performance. The Intel Core i3-N305 CPU and 8GB of RAM in our review unit is fine as long as you're just running a web browser with some open tabs and maybe an app like Spotify in the background, but forget about running demanding apps without serious slowdown.
Not only can you not do much in the way of serious photo/video editing on this machine, but you can't play many games and you definitely won't be able to run any onboard AI apps. Heck, even opening more than 10+ tabs in Chrome can make this laptop feel noticeably slower.
Battery life: One nice thing about this laptop's underpowered CPU is the fact that it doesn't eat up much battery power when you're out and about.
I know because this laptop lasted just over 10 hours (10:15) in our in-house battery test, which means you can safely carry it through a day of work or school without needing to lug the charger with you. You'll have to keep the screen dim and be sparing with the apps, but 10+hours of tested battery life is pretty good for a Windows laptop.
Read the full review: Acer Aspire Go 15
| Test | Notes | How it stacks up |
|---|---|---|
| Battery life | 10 hours of tested battery life | ★★★★☆ |
| Performance | Underpowered CPU causes this laptop to bog down easily | ★☆☆☆☆ |
| Display | 1080p LCD display is good enough but washed-out and a bit dim | ★★★☆☆ |
| Design | Thicker and heftier than modern ultraportables, but still plenty portable and attractive | ★★★☆☆ |
