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The 7 Best Business Laptops of 2025

Updated Feb 04, 2025 at 02:42 pm
Best Business Laptop

If you're looking for a laptop for work, your best bet is an ultraportable one that's easy to carry around with a battery that lasts long enough to get you through the day. You'll also want to look at the display, keyboard, touchpad, and webcam quality, as they can significantly impact the overall user experience. A wide port selection will allow you to connect multiple peripherals or external displays without needing a separate dock. Of course, you'll want enough processing power to handle your tasks. We've compiled a list of recommendations to help you with your purchasing decision, including options for different operating systems and form factors so you can find the laptop to suit your needs.

We've tested over 145 laptops, and below, you'll find our recommendations for the best laptops for work you can buy. See our recommendations for the best laptops at Best Buy, the best lightweight laptops, and the best laptops for graphic design. If you want to learn more about how we test laptops or our review process, check out this article, where we give you a quick rundown of each step from the moment we purchase the laptop to the final published review.


  1. Best Business Laptop

    The best business laptop we've tested is the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024). This 2-in-1 convertible is among the most premium-feeling and well-built laptops you can find in the Windows world. Its compact design makes it easy to carry around, and its battery lasts easily through a typical eight-hour workday. Featuring Intel's Lunar Lake processors, it can easily power through productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and presentations. Plus, since this is a 2-in-1 with pen input support, you can use it as a tablet, take handwritten notes, draw, or set it in tent mode for media consumption.

    Speaking of media consumption, this device delivers an amazing viewing experience, as it sports a sharp and colorful OLED display. Of course, there are downsides to consider when it comes to OLEDs, like their risk of permanent burn-in and flicker—the latter can bother people sensitive to flickering, causing eye strain. Other aspects that make this laptop amazing to work on are its tactile keyboard, haptic touchpad, and excellent 4k webcam. There's a fingerprint sensor and facial recognition camera for added security and quick logins. Its port selection is decent, though there's no USB-A or HDMI port, so you might need to carry a dongle or dock.

    See our review

  2. Best Mid-Range Business Laptop

    Current Deal: The Acer Swift Go 14 (2024) has dropped in price by $100 at Amazon.com.

    Our mid-range pick is the Acer Swift Go 14 (2024). This thin and light 14-inch model offers many features that are normally found on higher-end devices. One stand-out feature at this price point is the display options. You can choose between an FHD+ IPS or a 2.8k OLED panel for the display; the OLED display is sharper and better suited for color-critical work, which is great for small businesses that need to do some light photo editing. Just remember that OLEDs are susceptible to permanent burn-in and will drain the battery faster. As for performance, it features Intel Meteor Lake CPUs, which are powerful enough to handle tasks fairly demanding tasks. You can get up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, though only the latter is user-replaceable.

    This laptop feels very well-built despite having a little more plastic in its construction than premium models like the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024) above. It has a spacious, albeit slightly mushy keyboard, a large and responsive touchpad, a 1080p webcam with facial recognition support, and a wide port selection that includes two Thunderbolt 4s and an HDMI. Its battery life is excellent at around 11 hours of light use—you can charge the laptop via USB-C.

    See our review

  3. Best Budget Business Laptop

    The best laptop for business we've tested for when you're shopping on a budget is the ASUS Vivobook 16 M1605 (2023). This ultraportable feels well-built for the price and isn't overly bulky for a 16-inch device, so it's still easy to carry around. You can get this laptop with an AMD Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 CPU, which are more than adequate to handle general productivity tasks. As for the RAM, it has 8GB soldered onto the motherboard and a SO-DIMM slot, so if you can't find a model with 16GB, you can always get an 8GB model and upgrade it yourself. Its battery life is okay at around eight hours of light use, which means you may need a quick charge to get through a typical workday, depending on your usage.

    This model delivers a pretty good user experience overall. It has a spacious full-size keyboard with a numpad, which is handy for those working with lots of numbers, as well as a large and responsive touchpad. You get Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity, a fingerprint sensor for quick logins, and a decent port selection with three USB-As, a USB-C, and an HDMI. Unfortunately, the USB-C doesn't support video output, so you'll have to use the HDMI port to connect an external display. The main drawback of this laptop is the display. Its 1080p resolution looks reasonably sharp at this screen size; however, it's quite dim at around 250 cd/m² of brightness, so visibility may be an issue in well-lit rooms. It also looks washed out due to its narrow color gamut.

    See our review

  4. Best Cheap Business Laptop

    If you want to spend as little as possible, get the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023). This 14-inch Chromebook is a great option for anyone needing a simple device to do light work like responding to emails, text processing, spreadsheets, and video playback. The Core i3 configuration (paired with a FHD touch-sensitive display, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage) is often on sale for around $400 directly from Lenovo. There are cheaper configurations; however, we don't recommend them unless you have an extremely light workload and don't mind compromising on the display quality.

    The touch-sensitive FHD display gets bright enough for well-lit settings and is reasonably color-accurate. Above the display sits an excellent 1080p webcam, so your colleagues and clients can see and hear you clearly on video calls. The keyboard feels spacious but a tad mushy, and the touchpad is small and not always responsive. For those new to Chrome OS, know that this operating system is limited in the type of applications you can install, so you must ensure you can do everything through a Chrome browser or Android app.

    See our review

  5. Best MacBook For Business

    Although Windows is the most used operating system in the corporate business world, some of you may prefer or have the option to use a MacBook, especially in this remote work era. If so, we recommend the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2024), one of the best laptops for business and personal use we've tested. This laptop is an incredibly well-built ultraportable that comes with Apple's M3 silicon; its performance is excellent for most productivity tasks, including some light photo or video editing. Its 15-inch display gives you plenty of room for split-screen multitasking, and it gets bright enough to combat glare, even outdoors in broad daylight. It also features the best-in-class battery life, so you can comfortably get through a full workday on a single charge.

    The user experience is great. The keyboard feels spacious and tactile, and the touchpad is large and responsive. You get an excellent 1080p webcam, so your colleagues can see and hear you clearly on video calls. Port selection is the major pain point here, as you only get two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports; while you can use these to connect to two external monitors, this only works if the lid is closed. If you plan to use an external monitor with the laptop closed or prefer a more compact device for on-the-go use, you can get the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024). It's cheaper, but the speakers don't sound as good.

    See our review

  6. Best Workstation For Business

    For people needing to do a bit of everything, including graphic design, photo editing, and video editing, get the M4 Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2024), one of the best laptops for small business we've tested. This premium 14-inch workstation packs a ridiculous amount of processing power and can handle nearly anything you throw at it. Its 120Hz Mini LED display provides good visibility in well-lit settings and is color-accurate out of the box, making it suitable for color-critical work. In addition to better performance, this M4 generation comes with a few other upgrades and new features, including an optional nano-texture finish to combat glare, a 12MP webcam with Center Stage support, and Thunderbolt 5 (Pro and Max models).

    On the Windows side, we recommend the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 (2024). This is also a premium workstation laptop that can handle intensive workloads. It features a 16-inch display, Lenovo's beloved keyboard and Trackpoint, a huge haptic touchpad, and an excellent 1440p webcam. While its Intel Meteor Lake processors can't quite keep up with a maxed-out MacBook Pro in CPU workloads, you can get more raw GPU performance if you go with one of the higher-end GPUs, like the NVIDIA RTX Ada Generation 3000 or RTX 4070. You can only get up to 64GB of RAM, whereas the MacBook Pro is configurable with up to 128GB; however, the RAM is user-replaceable, allowing you to add up to 96GB. Unfortunately, its battery life isn't as good as the MacBook Pro's, and none of the available displays get as bright to combat glare.

    See our review

  7. Best 2-In-1 Tablet For Business

    If you want a versatile work device that you can also use as a tablet for media consumption, get the Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition (2024), one of the best laptops for business and personal use we've tested. Unlike our top pick, the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024), this is a tablet PC with a detachable keyboard. Removing the keyboard makes the device easier to hold as a tablet and takes up less space on a table. The downside is that it's a bit more unstable when using it as a laptop on your lap. The new Flex keyboard feels spacious and comfortable, and it now works even when disconnected from the device, giving you more flexibility to position the tablet to your liking. It also has a new haptic touchpad that's larger and easier to use. Unfortunately, the keyboard is still a separate purchase; the same goes for the stylus.

    An important consideration for business use is this tablet uses an ARM processor. The Snapdragon chips are more than adequate to handle general productivity tasks, and they're quite power-efficient, giving you an all-day battery life. That said, make sure that the apps you use are compatible or run well enough through Microsoft's Prism emulation layer to get your work done. Regarding the display, the Snapdragon X Plus model sports an IPS panel, while the X Elite models come with an OLED panel. While the OLED display will give you deeper blacks, it exhibits the 'screen door effect,' a grid-like pattern that some may find distracting. Also, remember that OLEDs are susceptible to permanent burn-in. Other than that, this is a great device overall.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024):

    The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024) is a great ultraportable with a significantly longer battery life than the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024). Its 15-inch display gives you more room for split-screen multitasking and gets brighter to combat glare. Plus, unlike the HP's OLED display, it's entirely flicker-free and immune to permanent burn-in. It isn't a 2-in-1, though, and make sure you check for app compatibility first because it runs on an ARM-based Snapdragon SoC.

    See our review
  • ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (2024):

    The ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (2024) is a good option to consider if you don't care for the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024) 2-in-1 aspect. Although its touchpad isn't haptic like the HP's, it can turn into a virtual numpad with the press of a button, which can be handy for those working with lots of numbers. It also has a wider port selection that includes a USB-C and an HDMI port. However, its battery life is a little shorter at around eight hours of light use, and its CPU throttles significantly under load.

    See our review
  • Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14 (2024):

    The Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14 (2024) is a good mid-range option if you prefer a 2-in-1 convertible. It's very similar to the Acer Swift Go 14 (2024) overall, though it doesn't have as much processing power, and its battery life is slightly shorter.

    See our review
  • Apple MacBook Air 13 (2022):

    The Apple MacBook Air 13 (2022) is a cheaper option if you find the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2024) or its smaller 13-inch sibling, the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024), too expensive. Its M2 SoC is slower but still adequate for general productivity tasks; since it's an older model, you can often find it on sale with 16GB of RAM for as low as $799 USD.

    See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Feb 04, 2025:

    Replaced the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) with the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024) because the OmniBook is a newer model that's easier to find. Added the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024) and the Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14 (2024) as Notable Mentions. Removed the HP Pavilion Aero 13 (2024) from the Notable Mentions because there are better options.

  2. Dec 11, 2024:

    We've replaced the HP Pavilion Aero 13 (2024) with the Acer Swift Go 14 (2024) as the 'Best Mid-Range Business Laptop,' the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023) with the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2024) as the 'Best Workstation For Business,' and the Dell XPS 16 (2024) with the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 (2024) as the Windows alternative in this category, as these models all offer better performance and features. We added the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2022) as a cheaper alternative to the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2024) in the Notable Mentions and the HP Pavilion Aero 13 (2024) as a more portable alternative to the Acer Swift Go 14 (2024).

  3. Sep 26, 2024: We've replaced the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 (2021) with the Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition (2024) as our pick for the 'Best 2-In-1 Tablet For Business,' as it's newer and performs better. We've also made small edits for clarity.

  4. Jul 30, 2024: Replaced the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (2022) with the HP Pavilion Aero 13 (2024) because the Surface has increased in price. Added the Lenovo Yoga 6 13 (2023) as a Notable Mention.

  5. Jul 16, 2024: Replaced the Lenovo Yoga 7i 16 (2023) with the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (2022) because the Lenovo is no longer available. Replaced the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 (2023) with the ASUS Vivobook 16 M1605 (2023) because the Lenovo is hard to find. Removed the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 (2023) from the Notable Mentions because it's no longer available.

All Reviews

Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best laptops for work you can get. In addition to the test results, we factor in the price (a cheaper laptop wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no laptops that are too difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).

If you prefer to make your own decision, here's the list of all of our laptop reviews. Keep in mind that most laptops are available in various configurations, and the table only shows the results of the model we tested, so it's best to see the full review for information about other variants.

Comments

  1. Recommendation

Best Business Laptops: Main Discussion

What do you think of our picks? Let us know below.


Looking for a personalized buying recommendation from the RTINGS.com experts? Insiders have direct access to buying advice on our insider forum.

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    thank you!
    However, I’m confused because I thought the 2022 in the RTINGS review said it had flicker even though the flicker graph was flat while the 2021 review indicated no flicker but then it’s flicker graph had bumps in it. Wondering if both reviews were off to start, and were both years reviews updated or just the one? Also do you know if there are any iPhones and also any iPads that would work for me at certain brightness settings, that is without flicker? I want one of each. And do you do any consulting away from RTINGS. If I were to buy a MacBook Air (or iPhone/iPad) could we have it shipped to you and have you test it for flicker (within the return window) and maybe configure it, of course for a fee?

    Hi,

    I think there’s a bit of confusion regarding the actual model. There’s no 2021 MacBook Air. The M1 came out in 2020, while the M2 came out in 2022, and the M3 came out in 2024. Are you referring to the MacBook PRO from 2021?

    As for iPhones and iPads, most recent models flicker as far as I’m aware. Unfortunately, we don’t do any consulting work to test specific products.

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    thank you!

    However, I’m confused because I thought the 2022 in the RTINGS review said it had flicker even though the flicker graph was flat while the 2021 review indicated no flicker but then it’s flicker graph had bumps in it. Wondering if both reviews were off to start, and were both years reviews updated or just the one?

    Also do you know if there are any iPhones and also any iPads that would work for me at certain brightness settings, that is without flicker? I want one of each.

    And do you do any consulting away from RTINGS. If I were to buy a MacBook Air (or iPhone/iPad) could we have it shipped to you and have you test it for flicker (within the return window) and maybe configure it, of course for a fee?

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    Thank you for all this information. Can you tell me what other sizes the M2 2022 Macbook comes in besides 13"? And what memory options, and where to buy?

    Hi,

    The M2 MacBook Air is available in a 13- and 15-inch. However, the 15-inch has been discontinued, so you can only get it from a thrid-party seller or marketplace like Amazon or Bestbuy. The 13-inch is still available from Apple and other retailers. RAM options vary from 8GB up to 24GB. Apple has recently discontinued the 8GB model and made the 16GB the baseline spec, though you can still get the 8GB from third-party sellers.

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    Thank you for all this information. Can you tell me what other sizes the M2 2022 Macbook comes in besides 13"? And what memory options, and where to buy?

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    Did the iPad Pro M4 measure any flicker? Is there any super simple “no set up” tool to measure flicker at home? Rereading your comments, still some confusion whether the 13" MacBook from 2021 or 2022 measured flicker-free, or if both measured flicker-free? When you say “IF” the 2021 13" MacBook is flicker-free then according to the Apple Tech the larger variants from that year should also be flicker-free, it is the Rtings review of the 2021 13" MacBook that says it is flicker-free, so are you thinking it is possible there is flicker on that model but the Rtings review measurement tool just was not able to pick it up, or how should I understand the “IF”?

    Yo! The iPad Pro M4 does measure with flicker at 480Hz.

    Opple Lightmaster meters are a consumer-grade luminance tool that will give you a bunch of information on the display (brightness, color temperature, flicker, etc). I’ve not personally used one as I have access to much more sophisticated tools, but the reviews seem to be positive about the tool itself, but the app being more of an annoyance than anything. I’m hesitant just because it doesn’t tell me all the thresholds for it’s reading capability, so I’m concerned it wouldn’t be able to identify flicker above a certain cap, which they don’t tell us.

    Another method is to use a camera and set the shutter speed to 1/4000 and you might be able to identify it. The thing you’ll see more of with this method is the stroboscopic visibility, which would be the seen as wide gaps in the line. The Macbooks don’t have a wide stroboscopic visibility so this method isn’t really useful for you in this particular circumstance.

    Sorry, I’ll try to make it a bit clearer. It does get a bit confusing.

    So, the M1 Macbook Air we tested from 2021 does have flicker (this should be updated in the review soon). The M2 Macbook Air from 2022 does not have flicker.

    What I meant by “if” was more a reference to the information I received from the Apple Store genius. I can confirm what I have here but any variants of our products (so in this case a larger M2 Macbook from 2022), I cannot verify. I can only say what Apple employees have told me. So the “if” is a lack of my ability to 100% guarantee that information. What I can guarantee is that the M2 Macbook Air 13" 2022 does not have flicker.

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    Thank you so much again! You are going above and beyond to help me figure this out, and I really appreciate it. I hope they give you a raise because it sounds like you deserve it haha. There’s not much more I can ask of you, other than if there’s any way to find out if the larger 2022 MacBooks also have a flicker-free screen like the 13-inch one. I tried going to the Apple Store, but they had no idea. I also tried calling customer support, and I don’t think they even knew what flicker was. If there is some Apple customer support number to actually talk to their engineers, then maybe I could get an answer myself, but I don’t know if there is or who to contact. Do you know anyone who owns that model and could measure it, or, if not, do you have any way to do it? Please let me know, or if you have any ideas on who I could contact. If you can do it, great, but if not, I understand.

    Did the iPad Pro M4 measure any flicker?

    Is there any super simple “no set up” tool to measure flicker at home?

    Rereading your comments, still some confusion whether the 13" MacBook from 2021 or 2022 measured flicker-free, or if both measured flicker-free?

    When you say “IF” the 2021 13" MacBook is flicker-free then according to the Apple Tech the larger variants from that year should also be flicker-free, it is the Rtings review of the 2021 13" MacBook that says it is flicker-free, so are you thinking it is possible there is flicker on that model but the Rtings review measurement tool just was not able to pick it up, or how should I understand the “IF”?

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    It’s all good! It wasn’t a waste or anything, so no worries about that. :) If the information I received from Apple is correct, than if one of the models is flicker-free than all models regardless of size within that same category should be flicker free as well. So the 2021 13" Macbook Air being flicker free should mean that the larger sizes of the Macbook Air from that year should be the same. I hope that answers your question!

    Thanks so much! If you ever get a chance to confirm this by measurements or some other means let me know, otherwise thanks again for your time and help.

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    I’m sorry but I think I goofed. I just looked on rtings.com at the 2021 13" macbook air review and that is the model that is flicker free, so I was hoping you could find out if the larger models were also flicker free for that year. I realize you’ve already spent quite a bit of time on this.

    It’s all good! It wasn’t a waste or anything, so no worries about that. :)

    If the information I received from Apple is correct, than if one of the models is flicker-free than all models regardless of size within that same category should be flicker free as well. So the 2021 13" Macbook Air being flicker free should mean that the larger sizes of the Macbook Air from that year should be the same.

    I hope that answers your question!

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