The 4 Best Laptops For Programming - Black Friday 2024

The best laptop for programming we've tested is the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023). This premium workstation has a sturdy all-aluminum build, a compact design, and all-day battery life. You can get this model with a base M3, M3 Pro, or M3 Max SoC, so you can choose depending on your budget and the complexity of your work. The Pro/Max chips have a very capable GPU, which is great for game development or anyone requiring high graphical horsepower. The downside is that you'll pay for the GPU performance even if you don't need it.

In addition to its amazing performance, this laptop provides a great user experience with its sharp Mini LED display, spacious keyboard, and gigantic, easy-to-use haptic touchpad. If you want more screen space and don't mind paying more, get the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023) instead. It's essentially the same device, just bigger and with better-sounding speakers. By the way, Apple has released new MacBook Pros with its M4 chips, which we've purchased and will test shortly. Changes include faster SoCs, a brighter display, Thunderbolt 5 support, and a higher-resolution webcam.

Our recommendation for Windows users is the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 (2024). It's configurable with Intel Meteor Lake CPUs, up to a Core Ultra 9 185H paired with integrated graphics or an NVIDIA discreet GPU, so you don't have to pay for graphical performance you don't need. The overall user experience is great; you get a large 16-inch display, a comfortable keyboard, and plenty of ports. It doesn't get very hot under load, but its fans are noticeably louder than the MacBook Pro's.

If you don't need the processing power of a workstation like the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023), check out the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023). It's very portable for a 15-inch model, and its battery easily lasts through a full workday. It has a sharp 60Hz Retina display, which isn't as pretty as the MacBook Pro's Mini LED but is still excellent, as well as a spacious and tactile keyboard. You also get a large haptic touchpad, an excellent 1080p webcam, and a fingerprint sensor for added security. Apple's M3 SoC is fast enough for most programmers, and you won't have to deal with fan noise since this is a fanless device. The main drawback is its limited port selection, as it's still limited to two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports. Unlike its M2 predecessor, the M3 model can output to two external displays, but only with the laptop closed.

On the Windows side, we recommend the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024). This is also a 15-inch ultraportable that provides a premium user, sporting a brighter 120Hz touchscreen, a more comfortable keyboard, a wider port selection, and Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity. The important thing to know about this laptop is that it uses an ARM-based SoC, the Snapdragon X Elite. This chip is quite capable; however, many programs lack support for Windows on ARM, so they might not run at all or perform poorly through emulation, so it's best to check that the apps you use work first. Its battery life is amazing at around 17 hours of light use, and you can charge the laptop via USB-C.

If you want a more affordable option, check out the Acer Swift Go 14 (2024). This thin, light productivity laptop is a solid option that provides a great user experience without the high price tag of premium models from brands like Dell, Microsoft, or Apple. It features the latest Intel Meteor Lake CPUs, which are powerful enough to handle tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and presentations, as well as more demanding workloads like programming and simulation. There's no dedicated GPU option, so any work requiring lots of graphical processing power is out of the question. You can get up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage; unfortunately, only the latter is user-replaceable, so ensure you get enough RAM for your needs upfront.

The build quality is great. Though not as rigid as an Apple MacBook Air, it feels sturdily built, exhibiting only a small amount of flex on the lid and keyboard deck. You can choose between an FHD+ IPS or a 2.8k OLED panel for the display. Both look sharp and get bright enough to combat glare in most indoor settings. Of course, the OLED display will provide a better visual experience, but remember that it's susceptible to permanent burn-in and will drain the battery faster. The keyboard feels spacious, albeit slightly mushy, and the touchpad is large and responsive. You get Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity, a 1080p webcam, 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.

The best laptop for developers we've tested in the budget range is the ASUS Vivobook 16 M1605 (2023). This is an AMD system with an older Zen 3 processor. It isn't quite as fast as the picks above but can still get the job done, as long as your workload isn't overly complex. You get a nice keyboard, a large touchpad, and a fingerprint sensor for quick logins. Its battery lasts around eight hours of light use, so you might need to plug it in to get through a typical day. You can get this laptop with 16GB of RAM, but it may be hard to find. Thankfully, the memory is user-upgradeable, so you can just pop in a SO-DIMM stick.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of compromises. First, the display only gets to about 250 cd/m² at full brightness, which is fine for most indoor settings but not for sunny environments or outdoors in broad daylight. Next, there's only one USB-C port, and it doesn't support video output, meaning you can only use the HDMI port to connect to an external monitor. Lastly, the webcam is okay at best, as the image looks much softer and overexposed.