The 8 Best Laptops - Spring 2024 Reviews

The best laptop we've tested is the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023). This premium mobile workstation has a sturdy build, a compact design, and an incredible battery life. It provides an excellent user experience with its sharp 120Hz Mini LED display, spacious keyboard, and gigantic, easy-to-use touchpad. Equipped with Apple's new M3 Pro/Max SoCs, it can handle even the most demanding workloads. The new chips bring better performance (compared to the M2), as well as ray tracing and increased memory support up to 128GB. The display is suitable for color-critical work like photo and video editing, as it has a wide color gamut and superb factory calibration. The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023) is also a good choice if you need more screen space and don't mind paying more. It's the same device but with better-sounding speakers.

A Windows alternative to the MacBook Pro 14 is the Dell XPS 15 (2023). Like the MacBook Pro, it's a premium laptop that provides a great user experience. It's available with Intel 13th Gen H-series CPUs and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs, up to a 4070. These CPUs and GPUs can easily handle general productivity tasks as well as demanding workloads like programming and 3D modeling. Display options include a 3.5k OLED panel with full DCI P3 and Adobe RGB coverage for color-critical work. The port selection is okay; it only has three USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports and an SD card reader, so you might need an adapter or dock to connect external displays. Just so you know, Dell has released newer 2024 XPS laptops. The company has retired the 15-inch model and replaced it with a 14-inch, sporting the same design as the Dell XPS 13 Plus (2022). So, if you like the larger 15-inch size, this is a good time to grab one, as it's often on sale now that there's a newer model.

If you only need a laptop for light productivity and media consumption, get the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024). This 13.6-inch model is thin and lightweight, making it easy to carry around, and like the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2024) above, it feels incredibly well built, sporting a full-aluminum chassis. Working on this laptop feels amazing; it has a sharp, bright display, a spacious keyboard, and a gigantic haptic touchpad. Apple's M3 SoC can easily handle light productivity tasks and even some light video editing and 3D graphics. Plus, it's remarkably power efficient, resulting in 11 to 12 hours of battery life. Port selection is its biggest weakness, as it only has two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports, and while it can output to two external displays, it can only do so with the lid closed. The 15-inch MacBook Air is also a good choice if you want a bigger screen. It has better-sounding speakers but costs more. We'll have a full review of the 15-inch model soon.

For Windows users, we recommend the LG gram 14 (2023). Like the MacBook Air, it provides a great user experience with a nice screen, comfortable keyboard, and responsive touchpad. The display doesn't get quite as bright as the MacBook's, but enough for good visibility in most indoor settings. It has a wider port selection, which includes two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s, allowing you to connect two 4k displays at 60Hz with a single cable. Performance is excellent; Intel's 13th Gen processors can easily handle light productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, and spreadsheets. Besides the display's brightness, the only other downside is that its magnesium alloy chassis doesn't feel nearly as sturdy as the MacBook Air's all-aluminum build.

Our mid-range pick is the Lenovo Yoga 7i 16 (2023), a Windows 2-in-1 convertible. This well-built model has a 16-inch display, giving you plenty of room for split-screen multitasking. You can choose between an FHD+ or QHD+ panel; the latter looks sharper and gets brighter to combat glare. Don't worry about the higher resolution draining the battery; even the QHD+ model lasts around 12 hours of light use. The keyboard feels great to type on and includes a numpad, which is great for those working with lots of numbers. You also get Wi-Fi 6E, a fingerprint sensor, a facial recognition camera, and Thunderbolt 4 ports. It's available with Intel 13th Gen U- and P-series CPUs, which are plenty fast for general productivity tasks. The only complaint is that the webcam image has an unnatural tint, and the microphone picks up some background noise.

The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2022) is another mid-range option worth checking out. It's also a 2-in-1 convertible with stylus support, but it has a smaller 14-inch screen and runs Chrome OS. Its smaller size makes it more portable, but there isn't as much screen real estate. Performance is not a problem with its Intel 12th Gen CPUs, and its battery life is amazing at over 13 hours of light use. Unfortunately, this model is getting harder to find because there's a newer version. While we haven't tested it, it looks largely the same design-wise. The upgrades include newer and faster Intel 13th Gen CPUs and a 1440p webcam.

The best budget laptop we've tested is the Acer Swift 3 14 (2020). Acer's Swift models aren't exactly considered budget and are usually more expensive. However, this is an older model from 2020, so the price has decreased considerably, making it a great value. You can get it with an Intel 11th Gen Core i5 or i7 CPU and up to 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage. The Intel 11th Gen CPUs are a few years old but fast enough for general productivity tasks. The battery also lasts over 13 hours on a full charge. It has a nice FHD IPS display, a decent keyboard, and a wide port selection, including two USB-As, one USB-C/Thunderbolt 4, a full-size HDMI, and a headphone jack. The webcam is our only major complaint; its exposure is too low, and the microphone sounds staticky.

Our best cheap laptop pick is the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023). This compact model is a great option if you only need a simple device for light productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, and video playback. The Core i3 configuration (paired with an FHD display, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage) is regularly on sale through Lenovo. The cheaper configurations with an Intel N100 or N200 CPU and/or 4GB of RAM are fine if you have an extremely light workload; just know that they'll get bogged down quickly when multitasking.

As for the display, avoid the 768p TN display and get a model with a 1080p, touch-sensitive IPS panel. Not only does it look sharper, but it also has better viewing angles and color reproduction. Unfortunately, the keyboard feels slightly mushy, and the touchpad is small and sometimes unresponsive. Its 1080p webcam is excellent, which is surprising for a budget-friendly Chromebook. The battery lasts around 13 hours of light use and charges over USB-C. Lastly, ensure you can do everything through a Chrome browser or Android app because Chrome OS is limited in the type of applications you can install.

The best 2-in-1 tablet we've tested is the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 (2021). This versatile tablet form factor makes the Surface Pro one of the best laptops for home use. You can detach the keyboard to make it easier to hold or save space, like on a kitchen counter, and pop it back on when you need to type something out. Its 3:2 display looks sharp, gets bright enough to combat glare, and has a 120Hz refresh rate to make pen input feel more responsive. Above the display sits an excellent 1080p webcam and a Windows Hello IR camera for quick logins.

The keyboard feels good to type on, although you need to buy it separately, and the same goes for the stylus. The battery lasts only around seven hours of light use, but luckily, the power adapter is fairly compact, and you can also charge via its USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports. As this is a model from 2021, there's already a newer version, the Surface Pro 9. It's essentially the same device but with faster Intel 12th Gen processors. The Surface Pro 9 is easier to find, but if you don't need the performance increase, you can save a good chunk of cash with the Surface Pro 8 since it's an older device and often on sale. See the Surface Pro 9 on Amazon here.

The best gaming laptop we've tested is the Dell Alienware m16 R1 (2023). This 16-inch model provides a fantastic, immersive gaming experience. You can configure it with a 480Hz FHD+, a 240Hz QHD+, or a 165Hz QHD+ IPS panel, so you can choose based on your budget and whether you want smoother motion and better responsiveness or a sharper image. You also have two keyboard options: one with scissor switches and the other with low-profile, clicky CherryMX mechanical switches. Although it's quite bulky, it feels incredibly well-built, so it isn't the best for on-the-go use.

As for the CPU and GPU configuration options, this laptop is available with high-performance AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs and discrete AMD and NVIDIA GPUs, up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Memory and storage max out at 64GB and 8.5TB, respectively, and they're user-replaceable. Performance is outstanding, though you'll have to endure loud fan noise. If you play online games, you'd be happy to hear it has Wi-Fi 6E and an Ethernet port. Other ports include two USB-As, two USB-Cs, an HDMI 2.1, a Mini DisplayPort, and an SD card reader. You can get this laptop directly from Dell if you have trouble finding it elsewhere.

A quick FYI: there's a new model of this laptop, the Dell Alienware m16 R2 (2024). It has a more compact design and longer battery life; however, Dell has limited the GPU configuration options, as you can only get up to an RTX 4070. Also, there's a single 240Hz display option, and you can no longer get the low-profile mechanical keyboard.

Gaming laptops are usually expensive, with top-end models costing over two, three, or even four thousand dollars. You can sometimes find great models at a more budget-friendly price, like the ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (2023). This all-AMD model delivers a smooth gaming experience at 1080p or 1440p in demanding AAA games. For around $1,000 USD, you can get a Ryzen 7 7735HS configuration with an AMD Radeon RX 7600S GPU, a 165Hz FHD display, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. The IPS panel has a fast response time, resulting in a clear image with minimal ghosting in fast-moving scenes, and it supports variable refresh rate to reduce screen tearing. It doesn't get very bright, so it's best suited for a dark to moderately lit room.

The A16 feels very sturdy build-wise. It has a spacious—albeit slightly mushy—keyboard, Wi-Fi 6 wireless connectivity, and a wide port selection, including a true HDMI 2.1 and an Ethernet port. The SSD is fast, which helps shorten game loading times; however, 512GB isn't very much considering the size of modern games. Thankfully, it's user-replaceable, and there's even a second M.2 slot to add an additional drive. The memory is upgradeable, too. Thermal throttling isn't a problem, but the laptop gets hot and loud. As for the battery, it lasts a little over an hour when gaming, which is pretty typical; what's unusual is that it lasts nearly 13 hours of light use, making this laptop great for general productivity tasks. Of course, that's as long as you don't mind lugging around a bulky 16-inch model that weighs nearly five pounds.