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Shopping for a computer can be pretty challenging, as there are countless models that cater to different needs, from ultraportables designed for everyday tasks like emails and web browsing to gaming laptops and powerful content-creation workstations. Cost varies wildly, ranging from a few hundred to thousands of dollars. Here are a few of our top picks.
If you're looking for a thin, light laptop that can easily handle general productivity tasks, like web browsing, emails, and video playback, the Apple MacBook Air 13 is your best bet. Whether you like or dislike macOS, it's hard to argue that this premium ultraportable is among the best on the market. With a gorgeous display, excellent keyboard, industry-leading touchpad, and full-sounding speakers—this sleek, thin, and light laptop has nearly everything to provide a fantastic user experience.
As with almost all Apple products, the build quality is outstanding; you'd have a hard time finding anything as sturdy and well-built. Apple's in-house M2 processor is fast, even when running on battery and without a cooling fan. Its incredible power efficiency also means all-day battery life, lasting around eleven hours of light use. Port selection is the biggest downside, as it only has two USB-C ports and can only output to a single external monitor.
For Windows users, we recommend the ASUS ZenBook Flip 14 OLED. As you can probably guess from its name, this is a 14-inch 2-in-1 convertible with an OLED display. You can flip the screen into tablet mode, set it up in tent mode for media consumption, or take handwritten notes with its included stylus. The display produces vibrant colours and inky blacks; the only downside (as with all OLEDs) is its susceptibility to permanent burn-in, meaning static content, like Windows' taskbar, can cause a residual ghost image on the screen after prolonged use. You likely won't experience it if you hide the taskbar and watch varied content; it's just something to be aware of.
In addition to its amazing OLED display, you get a spacious and tactile keyboard, a responsive touchpad, and a great 1080p webcam with facial recognition. Performance is excellent; Intel's 13th Gen CPU has no problem handling tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and presentations. Battery life is decent at around eight hours of light use, so you might need the charger to get through a typical workday.
We haven't forgotten about the gamers out there! The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 Gen 8 isn't the most premium or powerful gaming laptop; however, it's among the best bang-for-buck options. This 16-inch model has an AMD CPU and an NVIDIA GPU to provide smooth gameplay in demanding AAA games at a 1080p or 1440p resolution. It also has a nice display with a high refresh rate, a fast response time, and variable refresh rate support, resulting in a clear image in fast-moving scenes with minimal screen tearing.
The keyboard gives clear, distinct tactile feedback, so you know when a keypress is registered, and its key actuation is light enough not to cause fatigue over long gaming sessions. An Ethernet port and Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity ensure a solid internet connection when gaming online. Unfortunately, portability is not great, as it's a 16-inch device with power-hungry components and robust cooling. Another drawback is its short battery life of around one hour when gaming, although that's typical for most high-performance devices.
If you only need a media consumption device that doesn't cost too much, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5, also known as the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5, is a great option. It's a 13-inch Chrome OS tablet with a detachable keyboard. Chrome OS is generally more user-friendly than other operating systems, like Windows and macOS. Still, it's also more restrictive, as you have to do everything through a Chrome browser or Android app. Think of it as a beefier version of Android.
This device stands out because of its sharp, bright, and colourful OLED display, a rarity in the world of Chromebooks. The 2-in-1 tablet form factor is another reason why it's great for media consumption, as you can detach the keyboard to make it easier to hold as a tablet or to save space, like on a kitchen counter or airplane tray table, and you can snap it back on when you need to type something out. While you can work on this Chromebook, though, don't expect too much of it. Its Snapdragon processor can only handle light workloads, and the keyboard isn't ideal for long typing sessions, as it can get uncomfortable to type on due to its cramped layout and heavy actuation. The battery lasts around ten hours of light use or eight hours of video playback, and it charges over USB-C, so there's no need to carry around a proprietary charger.
If you need a powerhouse to blast through your demanding workload and money is no object, get the Apple MacBook Pro 14. It has tons of processing power to handle nearly anything you throw at it, including intensive tasks like video editing, 3D animation, programming, and scientific simulations. Even with all this processing power, it's still a fairly compact laptop, making it easy to carry around. The battery lasts easily through a typical workday, thanks to Apple's incredibly power-efficient chips, although it does take a while to fully charge.
This laptop has nearly everything you'd expect of a premium model and is considered by many to be the gold standard in the industry. It has an incredibly sturdy, all-aluminum chassis, a fantastic Mini LED display with up to 1600 nits of brightness, a great keyboard, and Apple's famous haptic touchpad. Its 1080p webcam is among the best on the market, and the same goes for the speakers. The port selection is excellent; it includes three Thunderbolt 4s, a full-size HDMI, and an SD card reader. A fingerprint sensor is present so you can log in quickly and get to work.
The number of laptops released each year is astounding, so it's important to know that although a particular model doesn't make it on our list, it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't good, as personal preference plays a vital role in any buying decision. These picks are only a few that stand out. We make our choices based on various factors, including the laptop's performance, build, features, user feedback, and availability.
Written by Ryan Lim, RTINGS.com
Disclaimer: The prices displayed are accurate at the time of publication. We'll do our best to keep them as up-to-date as possible, but you may see slight changes. The products in this list are ranked by independent third parties. Rankings are based on both reviews and independent testing.