Buying a new laptop is an exciting and potentially frustrating experience.
Exciting, of course, because a powerful computer that lets you communicate and work efficiently, or keep you entertained, is priceless.
However, you can get understandably frustrated as you browse through dozens of different models, configurations, designs, and brands.
It's our job to keep up with the latest trends in technology, and we'd be lying if we said that we never felt overwhelmed by all the options ourselves.
But it
's
our job, and we take it seriously.
So for the past few months, we've been testing the latest and greatest laptops we could get our hands on, from Apple to Microsoft to Lenovo, and we've come across some standout machines:
Best overall laptop: Apple MacBook Air
Best touchscreen laptop: Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13
Best video editing laptop: Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro
Best business laptop: Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon
Apple's MacBook Air just beat the Microsoft Surface 3 13 laptop as our best overall pick.
The deciding factors have come down to its design, its good battery life, * fixed * screen and keyboard, and the value derived from seamless integration with Apple's ecosystem of products and services.
Of course, not everyone owns an iPhone and can take advantage of that entire suite, but even then, the MacBook's reliability was enough to tip the balance in its favor.
Microsoft's Surface Laptop 3 13 ″ is not far behind.
It nearly matched the MacBook Air across the board, scoring high on performance and hardware while doing its best to keep up with software and ease of use.
Instead of top honors, the Laptop 3 won our best touchscreen title.
When you combine its PixelSense display, Surface Pen integration, and sleek design, it's hard to fall in love with Microsoft hardware.
The battery life was a couple of hours shorter than the MacBook Air, and that ultimately accounted for our final decision.
Apple's MacBook Pro laptop did not disappoint.
It's packed with powerful internals, including a dedicated GPU that's powerful enough for photo and video editing tasks.
In fact, it scored top marks in our performance and battery life tests.
The device, however, is much larger and heavier than the rest of the laptops we tested, and its $ 2,399 price tag makes it a niche computer for those who need the extra power.
As such, it won our pick for the best video editing laptop.
Business users will feel right at home with our top choice for business laptops - the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon.
It's surprisingly light, the keyboard exudes confidence, and it has enough ports to connect whatever you want.
The X1 Carbon's performance was average, but its battery life was unmatched in any laptop we tested.
It is sure to last a full working day and more.
It does have a standard HD screen though, and it just doesn't look as vibrant as the MacBook or Surface Laptop when placed next to them.
With long battery life and a business success story, in a case that's extremely laptop, we gave it a nod as our best business laptop.
Best overall laptop: Apple MacBook Air (starting at $ 999; amazon.com)
Last year, Apple's MacBook line was plagued with keyboard problems.
On some machines the keys repeated random characters or stopped working entirely.
The problem was severe enough that Apple announced a keyboard service program, listing 16 different models for free repair.
But all that changed when Apple announced that it had returned to the lab and created the Magic Keyboard, which debuted on the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
And let us tell you, dear reader, that it is a pleasure to write in it.
The keys are responsive and ready almost instantly, have a solid feel to every keystroke, and haven't been prone to the problems found on the previous butterfly keyboard.
However, the Magic Keyboard alone did not win top honors from the MacBook Air.
The MacBook Air is really a very complete laptop.
Starting at $ 999, it has a 13-inch Retina display with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels.
That's a bit more than the Surface Laptop 3, and honestly, you probably won't notice the extra pixels.
Instead, where the air really shines is with its clear, vibrant colors, overall brightness, and Apple's True Tone technology.
If you're unfamiliar, True Tone dynamically adjusts the color of your screen to match the ambient light in your room, resulting in a better picture.
In addition to the Magic Keyboard, the power button functions as a Touch ID-equipped fingerprint sensor that quickly and reliably unlocks the computer, and can even be used to log into apps or approve purchases.
The touchpad shouldn't be ignored - Apple's touchpads are unmatched.
Compared to the competition, they are usually larger, which gives more space to drag and drop a file on the desktop and react quickly to gestures and touches.
At 2.8 pounds, it's light.
It's hard to notice it in your backpack even after a long day of carrying it around.
Apple promises a battery life of up to 12 hours when you play a movie in the Apple TV app.
However, our benchmark using VLC to loop video fell slightly below that estimate, with the MacBook Air shutting down after 10 hours and 12 minutes.
In other words, there is more than enough power here to get you through a full working day of use.
Performance wise, don't expect it to keep up with grueling video game or video editing sessions.
It is best suited for standard daily computing tasks such as web browsing, email, video streaming, office work, and light video or photo editing.
Best of all, if you're an iPhone user, MacOS and iOS work seamlessly together, and that's worth a lot when you consider the overall experience.
For example, you can send and receive messages - iMessages or traditional text messages - on your phone and then follow the conversation on your MacBook without delay.
Our biggest complaint?
It has only two USB-C ports, both on the left side: one that you will use to charge the computer and the other that you will find yourself connecting to some kind of docking station.
More ports wouldn't hurt, Apple.
We tested the $ 1,299 model, which is equipped with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory (RAM), and 512GB of storage.
Of course, you can further customize that setting, adding more memory, storage, or a faster processor, but for most, we bet this setting hits the sweet spot of performance and cost.
For most people, the MacBook Air is the right tool for the job.
It's compact, has reliable battery life, and packs a punch, and Apple finally fixed its keyboard.
We don't hesitate to recommend the MacBook Air as our best overall laptop.
Best touchscreen laptop: Surface Laptop 3 13 ″ (starting at $ 999.99; amazon.com)
Microsoft's Surface line is a masterclass in hardware design for Windows computers, 2-in-1s, and tablets, and the 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 3 is no exception.
The Laptop 3 has a 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen with a resolution of 2256 x 1504. That's just a notch below the resolution of the MacBook Air, but good luck trying to really differentiate between the two when looking at an image.
However, you will notice the different screen ratio.
Surface Laptop has a 3: 2 aspect ratio, while the MacBook Air uses a 16:10 aspect ratio.
Basically the Laptop 3 has a taller but slightly narrower screen than the MacBook Air.
You will be able to see more than one document on the screen, but you may experience some clipping when watching widescreen programs.
The visual difference between the two proportions comes down to personal preference.
Above the screen is a Windows Hello camera setup that uses facial recognition to almost instantly unlock Windows 10 when you open the lid.
The screen will respond to touch, either with your finger or with a Surface Pen.
During our tests, the laptop screen 3 never wavered when it came to registering touches.
There was minimal delay, if any, when using the Surface Pen to annotate notes on a PDF or sketch on a screenshot.
On the Dell XPS models we tested, for example, they sometimes didn't register a touch or swipe.
It was not frequent, but it is something we noticed.
Taking a screenshot with a few taps on the screen, for example, followed by the Surface Slim Pen to draw an arrow along with a quick note was a surprisingly simple and useful process.
Since the Laptop 3's screen doesn't fold 180 degrees to make it a tablet, it's limited to a normal range for screen movement.
Still, we did not find our arm tensing to reach the screen.
Playing is quite natural, and fits well with a classic keyboard and trackpad interface model.
Windows 10 has touch support built into the operating system, allowing you to enable a touch-focused tablet mode that provides larger buttons, allows swiping gestures, and causes back and forth from the keyboard and touchpad to touch the screen to selecting something is a natural experience.
The keyboard is almost as good as Apple's Magic Keyboard, but it has a slightly thinner profile.
The keys are quick to type, but it doesn't take more than a light touch to activate them, which can lead to accidental presses as you contemplate your next word or sentence.
With an estimated 11.5 hours of battery life, we were slightly disappointed by the eight hours and 32 minutes we experienced during our benchmark test.
However, it's common for computers to fall short of company estimates, and we can't find much to complain about when a battery lasts for almost a full day of use.
One drawback of the Surface line as a whole is the proprietary charger that Microsoft uses.
Instead of using a USB-C connection, you stick with Microsoft's slim, reversible adapter.
It would be nice if that port was replaced by another USB-C port, or even a USB-C and USB-A port, so you can connect a couple of peripherals or charge the laptop computer.
Speaking of ports, you'll find a lone USB-C port and a USB-A port on the left side of the cover.
You may want to use an adapter to connect more than a couple of devices to your computer.
The 3 13 ″ laptop starts at $ 999, but the model we tested is priced at $ 1,599.
It includes an Intel Core i7, 16 GB of memory (RAM) and 256 GB of storage.
We'd love to see Microsoft include more storage at this price, but with the addition of a Microsoft 365 subscription and its 1TB of OneDrive storage, we felt confident with the amount of storage space in our review sample for daily tasks. .
The $ 999 model includes 128GB of storage, an amount that is too quick and easy to fill, especially if you plan to install any games or multimedia software.
By the time you start working with large files, you'll need to clear some space.
Instead, you'll want to go for the $ 1,299 model with 8GB of memory (RAM) and 256GB of storage.
Our test setup was impressively smooth and performed well, even under intense workloads consisting of multiple documents and countless Edge browser tabs open at the same time.
You won't have a problem doing light video editing or even some extreme photo editing on the high-end settings.
Heck, you can even play a couple of games of Fall Guys without breaking a sweat.
The 3 13 ″ Laptop stands out, thanks to its overall performance, battery life, design and the versatility of the touch screen.
It is simply a joy to use and a welcome alternative to Apple's MacBook lineup.
Best video-editing laptop: 16-inch MacBook Pro (starting at $ 2,399; amazon.com)
Apple's most expensive and powerful MacBook Pro lives up to its price.
The model we tested will cost you $ 2,799, but it's more than capable of handling just about anything you can throw at it.
With an Intel Core i9, 1 TB of storage, 16 GB of memory (RAM), and an AMD Radeon Pro 5500M GPU, the 16-inch MacBook Pro will not only be able to handle an overly complicated Excel spreadsheet, but also to edit video and photos heavy with hardly any effort.
All of these specs mean that you get a good CPU, lots of RAM, and storage along with a dedicated graphics processing unit.
Everything in a laptop laptop.
The 16-inch screen has a resolution of 3072 x 1920, with Apple's True Tone technology and 500 nits of brightness.
When looking at the screen, it is almost misleading, as it feels like there is more space than on a computer with a 17-inch screen.
Optical illusions aside, this display is probably our favorite of the bunch of computers we tested.
The greens and blues in one of the default forest wallpapers, for example, were almost mesmerizing to look at.
Opening a bright, colorful photo in the Photos app and then adjusting its hue, brightness, and color saturation is a good way to quickly examine the range and abilities of the screen.
Of course, Apple's Magic Keyboard is here.
The keys are slightly thinner than the MacBook Air (something we experienced with the 13-inch MacBook Pro as well), but they are still fast, responsive and a joy to type with.
Once again, Apple put its Touch ID fingerprint reader inside the power button, making it painless to log into your local account or log into online accounts when using a password manager.
The MacBook Pro's Touch Bar, which equates to a small touchscreen just above the keyboard that fits and features digital buttons based on the app you're using, is sometimes helpful, but not essential.
And with a speaker on either side of the keyboard, you won't find yourself turning up the volume just so you can hear your favorite song or an audio cue in the video you're splicing.
This laptop is big, you will definitely know when you have it in your bag, but not as bulky as you think.
At 14.09 by 9.68 by 0.64 inches and weighing 4.3 pounds, the 16-inch MacBook Pro falls short of the size and weight levels of gaming laptops.
Battery life was solid too, lasting 10 hours and 23 minutes in our benchmark test.
It is more than enough to get you through a full day at work.
There are a total of four USB-C ports, with two on each side, that you can use to connect accessories or an external monitor, or charge your MacBook Pro.
Depending on your workload and how often you find yourself editing 4K clips, you may be able to get by with the base setting of $ 2,399.
For that price, you'll get the same overall design, but with an Intel Core i7 processor, 512GB of storage, and 16GB of memory (RAM).
Naturally, the MacBook Pro, like the Air, uses all of Apple's services and provides the same overall experience.
It is a complete machine designed for someone who needs a laptop to do more than the occasional task.
Best business laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (starting at $ 2,145; lenovo.com)
Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a pretty straightforward laptop.
Its black design with subtle red highlights makes it look like just another laptop from the crowd.
And, in many ways, it is.
However, once you start using the X1, you realize that its only purpose is to work, and to do it well.
The X1 measures 12.72 by 8.54 by 0.59 inches and weighs 2.4 pounds, but it feels much smaller and lighter than that;
We wouldn't complain if they gave us this laptop and told us we had to carry it around campus all day.
The 14-inch screen has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and is pretty much your entry-level high-definition display.
That's not to say it falls short in any way, but there is nothing noteworthy about its color or clarity.
We found no fault with it and we are sure that neither will you, but it is not surprising.
The keyboard really sealed this rig for us.
The keys are not the standard square shape, but rather have a slight curve at the bottom edges that round it out.
This small change from a typical keyboard key, along with the spacing between the keys themselves, makes typing on the X1 quite a pleasant experience.
It wasn't long after setting it up before we were typing at full speed with minimal errors.
In the center of the keyboard is a small red core, or TrackPoint, that puts mouse pointer control at your fingertips, literally.
Instead of having to move your hand down to the keyboard trackpad, you can place a finger on the little red dot and move the mouse, then use the left and right click buttons at the top of the trackpad to select an item. .
It's what we grew up using on older computers, so we feel right at home when we switch between typing and moving the mouse.
Alongside the touchpad is a fingerprint sensor that you can use to unlock the laptop, and while it feels slightly out of place, it's just as simple and efficient as Apple's implementation.
The ThinkPad doesn't use Intel's high-end i7 processor like some of the other laptops we tested.
Instead, it uses a modest Intel Core i5 processor that includes 256GB of storage and 8GB of memory (RAM).
At least that's what the $ 1,613.50 configuration we tested was equipped with.
All those numbers can be summed up on a computer fast enough for spreadsheets and dealing with countless meeting requests, but without a faster processor or dedicated GPU, you won't want to use it with intense gaming or video editing.
Battery life is where the ThinkPad X1 Carbon really shines, even though it fell short of Lenovo's estimate of 19.5 hours.
It lasts 10 hours and 35 minutes, the highest of all the laptops we tested, so you can work all day without looking for a nearby outlet.
In terms of ports, there are two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and a network extension port to dock your ThinkPad in the office.
With a starting price of $ 1,249, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is affordable and capable, and designed for the business environment.
Whether you need to write an agreement, sign an NDA, or review a spreadsheet, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is up to the challenge.
Most importantly, it is lightweight, has a low-profile build, and long battery life.
Other laptops we tested
Apple 13-inch MacBook Pro (starting at $ 1,299;
amazon.com
)
Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro is a good machine, no doubt.
It's well designed, has Touch ID, integrates with the Apple ecosystem, and has a screen that makes other laptops jealous.
But, for us, the use of an 8th Gen Intel processor (compared to 10th Gen processors in all the other models we tested) combined with its price kept this from being crowned the best laptop overall.
Performance wise, you are unlikely to notice the difference between the two processors, but over time older hardware will show signs of aging sooner.
If you want something more powerful than the MacBook Air and have the space in your budget, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is a worthy choice.
Acer Aspire 5 ($ 709.57;
amazon.com
)
Acer's Aspire 5 surprised us with its performance, especially when you consider its low price.
Overall though, the build quality, display, and battery life held it back.
Of all the laptops we tested, the Aspire 5 had the worst battery life, recording five hours and 30 minutes in our benchmarking.
The plastic housing helps with the overall weight, but with the cost of feeling cheap.
On performance: The Aspire 5 kept up with the Dell XPS models we tested, and even some of the MacBooks, so we're confident this model will get the job done.
Just have your charger handy.
Dell XPS 13 (starting at $ 783.99;
dell.com
)
Dell's XPS line has remained competitive and impressive over the years, and while the XPS 13 performed well in our tests, it did not stand out in a special way.
Performance wise, the XPS 13 9300 was able to keep up with whatever grind we threw at it.
But the sheer number of preloaded shortcuts, apps, and even antivirus software was enough to give us pause.
The
bloatware
should be a
thing of the past, especially when it comes to
passive-aggressive constant reminders and indications on our test antivirus expiring soon.
Aside from
bloatware
, the XPS 13's keyboard felt, to be blunt, cheap.
Despite its drawbacks, Dell continues to use impressive displays in its XPS line.
Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 (starting at $ 881.99;
dell.com
)
We have many of the same complaints and compliments for the XPS 13 2-in-1 as we did for the old one.
The performance, again, was respectable and something we would have no trouble working on on a daily basis.
The touchscreen and screen quality make up for some of that, especially when you fold the screen back and use it more like a tablet than a laptop.
But at the end of the day, the combination of
bloatware
and a keyboard that's just not a pleasant experience kept it off the podium.
Microsoft Surface 3 15 ″ Laptop (starting at $ 1,199.99;
microsoft.com
)
As we noted, we really liked the smaller of the two Surface Laptop 3 models, but the 15-inch model fell flat when it came to performance in our tests.
Specifically, we tested the AMD edition, and both the regular performance and the battery life did not meet expectations.
For example, we saw a low five hours and 36 minutes of battery life in our battery benchmark.
That's not enough to go through a couple of movies, not to mention an entire workday.
Samsung Galaxy Book S (starting at $ 949.99;
samsung.com
)
Samsung's Galaxy Book S looks absolutely stunning.
It's compact and lightweight, and has enough battery life to keep it going well into the night after a full day of school.
However, it uses the same type of processor as cell phones, which means that applications must be built specifically for the platform.
Because of that, whether an app works or not, or works fine, it's going to be a checkered experience.
The technology behind the Galaxy Book S is undoubtedly the future, but it is not ready for most.
Note: The above prices reflect the price at the time of publication of the article.