We test a wide variety of laptops each year here at The Verge, and many of them are very good. But you can’t buy them all. So I’ve done the very difficult (very difficult, trust me) task of selecting some of the best laptops you can get. Whether you’re looking for a Chromebook, a gaming laptop, a 2-in-1 convertible, an ultralight notebook, or something that’s a little bit of each, I’ve got multiple options for you here. These aren’t necessarily the best laptops of all time, but they are, in my opinion, the best laptops you can buy right now.
Our current pick for the best laptop is the MacBook Air M3. It’s a device that does just about everything right. While it’s certainly not perfect, there are no major flaws. It’s a great pick for productivity, browsing, and even light gaming.
It’s getting harder to buy a bad laptop, but what separates the best laptops from good laptops is how they balance power, efficiency, portability, and comfort. A great laptop should have a fantastic keyboard and trackpad — after all, those are the two biggest reasons you’d choose a laptop over a smartphone or tablet. Its display should be easy on the eyes, bright, and sharp enough that you aren’t distracted by jagged edges and visible pixels. It should be powerful enough for most anything short of intensive video editing and advanced gaming. It should be easy to carry around from place to place, and it should be able to last all day without needing to be plugged in.
a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin [&>a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-white”>What we’re looking for
Price is a very important factor in evaluating devices for this page. We’re seeking laptops that offer great value for their asking price and that are the best of the best compared to other laptops in their price category. The more expensive a device, the more exceptional it has to be to make it on here.
We want laptops with enough power to accommodate their target audience. An ultraportable laptop should be able to handle a standard office workload without excessive heat or fan noise. A gaming laptop should run today’s popular games.
These are the two biggest reasons you’d get a laptop over a smartphone or tablet. They’d better be good or you’ll hate every minute.
We like displays that are color-accurate, bright, and sharp enough that you aren’t distracted by jagged edges or visible pixels.
We’re looking for laptops with a solid, durable build that can handle a standard amount of briefcase wear-and-tear while (in most categories) easy to carry around from place to place.
Battery life is much more important in some categories than it is in others. That said, in general, we assume that most shoppers are choosing a laptop over a desktop because they value some ability to work away from a plug. Battery life gives a user more freedom and makes a device more reliable for travel, so we consider it here.
The more ports, the better.
Our other picks for the best laptops, Chromebooks, and 2-in-1s include the MacBook Pro 16 and the HP Spectre x360 14. Check out the full list of best laptop picks below or our roundup of the best gaming laptops, if you’re looking for a powerful machine that doesn’t sacrifice portability.
CPU: M3 (8-core) / GPU: M3 (8- or 10-core) / RAM: 8GB, 16GB, 24GB / Storage: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB / Display: 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display, 2560 x 1664 or 2880 x 1864 , 60Hz, no touch option / Dimensions: 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches or 0.45 x 13.40 x 9.35 inches / Weight: 2.7 pounds or 3.3 pounds
The Apple MacBook Air M3 is the best laptop for most people — Mac users, of course, but also the platform-agnostic or anyone who wants a no-fuss, straightforward machine that doesn’t bombard them with advertisements or bloatware. It’s a productivity laptop that can do a bit of everything, and it now comes in a 15-inch version for those who like their laptops a little larger. It’s hard to find another laptop that offers this kind of combination of performance and battery life in a thin and light chassis.
Despite losing its way around the mid-2010s, Apple has a long history of sending quality MacBooks to market, and the Air M3 is no different. A smooth, almost ethereal trackpad, check. Chiclet-style keyboard that makes typing feel like a dance, check. Fast Wi-Fi adapter, color-rich display, 1080p webcam, and MagSafe charging, check. The Air M3 wasn’t made for heavy gaming, video editing, or 3D modeling or for those who want more than two USB-C ports, but for nearly everyone else, it’s a great option.
a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
It’s absolutely worth spending an extra $100 to get the Air M3 over the MacBook Air M2, which Apple still sells. It’s about 16 to 18 percent faster than Apple’s M2 chip, and the storage on the 256GB configurations is up to twice as fast. The new Airs also support two external displays with the lid closed, which is another improvement from the previous generation. The speakers on 15-inch Air M3 are vastly superior, especially on the low end. You can actually hear the bass, whereas on the 13-inch, it’s nearly nonexistent. If you opt for the midnight colorway in either model, keep a microfiber cloth handy. The amount of fingerprints it collects turns the chassis into a CSI’s playground.
We recommend upgrading the MacBook Air M3 to at least 16GB of memory. It will improve the laptop’s ability to multitask now and will give you a few extra years of service down the line. (Important since you’d have to buy a whole new laptop to upgrade the memory.) 256GB of storage is easier to get away with, given the plethora of cloud and external storage options available, so if you can only upgrade one thing, make it the memory. You get an automatic GPU bump when you do, anyway.
Apple MacBook Air M3.
CPU: Intel Core i5-1335U / GPU: Intel Iris Xe / RAM: 8GB / Storage: 256GB NVMe SSD / Display: 14-inch IPS, 1920 x 1200, multitouch / Dimensions: 12.31 x 8.82 x 0.71 inches / Weight: 3.1 pounds
The Chromebook Spin 714 is a great 14-inch 2-in-1 convertible Chromebook with a 1920 x 1200 screen, blazing fast processors, and a good keyboard. It was a pretty good deal at $700-ish when it launched, but these days you can regularly find it for under $500 with a 13th-gen i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB NVMe SSD. That’s a screaming deal while it lasts.
The Spin 714 has more going for it. It has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 1080p camera, Wi-Fi 6E, even a stylus tucked away in there. It’s also been updated with Chromebook Plus certification, which means it’ll get 10 years of software updates.
Acer Chromebook Spin 714 review.
CPU: Intel Core i5-1335U, i7-1355U / GPU: Intel Iris Xe / RAM: 16GB, 32GB / Storage: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB / Display: 13.5-inch IPS, 60Hz, 1920 x 1280 / OLED, 3000 x 2000, touch option / Dimensions: 11.75 x 8.67 x 0.67 inches / Weight: 3.01 pounds
The HP Spectre x360 13.5 is a drop-dead gorgeous machine with a sturdy build and a premium look and feel. It can be configured with a 3:2 OLED screen that’s vivid, crisp, and bright and has an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz. You also get a comfortable keyboard, clear and bass-heavy audio, and a practical port selection. (There are even ports on the corners.) HP ships it with a number of webcam features via its GlamCam package, which you can use to “glam” your video calling experience if that is of interest.
Performance (on the unit we received) was quite speedy and was cool and quiet throughout much of our day-to-day testing. If you’re looking for a sleek and beautiful device, you should look no further than HP’s Spectre line.
a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
You can get the Spectre x360 13.5 for under $1,000 with a Core i5 processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, and a 400-nit 1080p IPS touchscreen; the configuration we tested has a 3000 x 2000-pixel OLED screen, Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, and 1TB of storage for around $1,500.
This machine comes with a couple major caveats, however. First, the battery life on the OLED model we tested is not great. We averaged between four and five hours of continuous use. That’s not necessarily unexpected given the screen’s high resolution and refresh rate, but it will still make the Spectre an impractical buy for some people. Previous models with IPS screens lasted longer in our tests, so if battery life is a higher priority, configure accordingly.
HP Spectre x360 14 review.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 4090 / RAM: 32GB / Storage: 1TB / Display: 17-inch IPS QHD, 240Hz display, 3ms, 300 nits, 100 percent DCI-P3 / Dimensions: 15.55 x 11.1 x 1.11 inches / Weight: 6.51 pounds
The ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D is big. It’s loud, it’s garish, and it’s flat-out the fastest gaming laptop we’ve tested. Thanks to its AMD Ryzen 9 79045HX3D processor, it leaves models with the same top-tier RTX 4090 graphics card and Intel’s fastest CPUs in the dust. It can run many of today’s AAA titles at 1440p with triple-digit frame rates.
The Scar 17 X3D has a 17-inch 2560 x 1440 240Hz screen with G-Sync, oodles of ports, a pleasant keyboard, and RGB galore. At over six and a half pounds and 17 inches on the diagonal, it’s your classic high-performance, barely portable gaming laptop.
Its webcam is potato, battery life is exactly as bad as you’d expect from everything we just listed, and it’s expensive, but for now this is the high-water mark for gaming laptops.