The 6 Best Travel Laptops - Black Friday 2024

The best travel laptop we've tested is the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023). This 14-inch workstation has nearly everything you could ask for in a premium model: a sturdy all-metal chassis, a compact design, tons of processing power, and a long battery life. Sporting a bright 120Hz Mini LED display, a spacious keyboard, an easy-to-use haptic touchpad, and a superb webcam, it provides an amazing user experience while on the go. The display is suitable for color work, as it has full DCI P3 coverage and superb factory calibration.

New in this generation of the MacBook Pro is the addition of a base M3 model, similar to the discontinued 13-inch model with Touch Bar. This can be a great option if you don't need all the processing power but still want the 'Pro' features, like the display and up-firing speakers. The main downside is that the RAM and storage aren't user-replaceable, and upgrading them increases the total cost considerably.

If your workload consists mainly of general productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and video playback, an ultraportable might be a better choice. We recommend the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024). This 2024 version is super compact, and its battery lasts around 17 hours of light use. You get a sharp, bright 15-inch screen for multitasking, a comfortable keyboard that you can type on all day, and a responsive haptic touchpad. Its 1080p webcam is among the best you can find in the Windows world, eliminating the need to carry a separate webcam. Its port selection is likely sufficient for most people, though there's no Thunderbolt 4 support.

An important thing to know about this laptop is that it now sports an ARM SoC, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. This chip performs well and is more than adequate for light productivity tasks; however, many programs don't run natively on an ARM processor. While Microsoft has introduced a new emulation layer to improve compatibility, you should still check that the apps you use are compatible or run well enough to get your work done first.

For Mac users, get the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024), which is also a high-end model that provides a premium user experience. Its base M3 SoC is plenty fast for most people, and of course, you get all the benefits of the Apple ecosystem, which includes features like Continuity Camera, Universal Clipboard, and instant Hotspot. Unfortunately, the display's refresh rate is limited to 60Hz (120Hz on the Surface), and its port selection comprises only two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3s and a MagSafe charging port. Battery life is great at 11 hours of light use, though not nearly as impressive as the Surface Laptop's.

If you want a more affordable mid-range option, check out the HP Pavilion Aero 13 (2024). Available with AMD Zen 4 CPUs, this 13-inch ultraportable can easily handle general productivity tasks like web browsing and spreadsheets, as well as more demanding workloads like programming. It only comes with 16GB of soldered RAM, which is both good and bad, as you don't have to spend more money to upgrade from the measly 8GB found in most base models, but you also can't get more or add more later. As for the display, you can choose between an FHD+ or QHD+ IPS panel; both get bright enough to provide good visibility in well-lit settings.

The biggest difference between this model and the more premium models mentioned above is build quality. Its chassis—a mix of aluminum and plastic—exhibits a fair amount of flexing, and the device as a whole feels hollow. Additionally, the finish is prone to scratches even from regular, everyday use. The keyboard feels spacious, albeit a tad fatiguing over an extended period of use, and the touchpad is responsive but makes some actions like dragging and dropping hard to perform. Its 1440p webcam supports Windows Hello facial recognition, allowing you to log in quickly and avoid typing your password in public areas.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023) is the best travel laptop we've tested with a budget-friendly price. This 14-inch model is a great option if you only need a portable device to browse the web or get some light work done while on the go. It feels decently well built for the price, sporting an aluminum and plastic chassis, and its battery life is outstanding at around 12 to 13 hours. You get Wi-Fi 6E, a surprisingly excellent 1080p webcam, and a decent port selection with two USB-As, one USB-C, and an HDMI. The keyboard feels spacious but a tad mushy, and unfortunately, the touchpad is small and sometimes unresponsive.

While there are many CPU and display configuration options available, we recommend getting a Core i3 model with 8GB of RAM and a 1080p IPS display, which you can regularly find on sale for about $400 to $500 USD via Lenovo. The N100/N200 models with 4GB of RAM are likely fine if you only use the laptop to access the internet and want to pay as little as possible; just know that you'll experience more frequent stutters and slowdowns when multitasking. Lastly, remember that Chrome OS is limited in the type of applications you can install so make sure you can do everything through a Chrome browser or Android app.

For gaming on the go, we recommend the sleek and compact ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024). This 14-inch model is available with AMD Ryzen CPUs and NVIDIA 40-series GPUs (up to an RTX 4070), providing plenty of processing power for a smooth gaming experience in intensive AAA titles. Its 120Hz 2.8k OLED display has a fast response time, so you get a clear image in fast-moving games and great input responsiveness, and there's also VRR support to minimize screen tearing. There's a wide port selection for peripherals and external displays, including four USBs, a MicroSD card reader, and an HDMI 2.1. Unfortunately, there's no Ethernet port, though you do get Wi-Fi 6E.

Configuration-wise, every model can handle gaming at 1080p, but if you want to play at 1440p or at the display's native 2.8k resolution, we recommend going up to an RTX 4060 or 4070 GPU, as the RTX 4050 will struggle to reach 60 fps in highly intensive titles. Storage configuration maxes out at 1TB, which isn't a lot these days, but thankfully, you can easily replace the SSD, as this laptop uses a standard M.2 SSD. Unfortunately, the battery life lasts less than two hours when gaming, so you'll need to bring the charger when gaming on the go.