The 8 Best Laptops of 2025

The best laptop we've tested is the M4 Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2024). This premium workstation has plenty of processing power to tackle nearly anything you throw at it. The build quality is second to none; plus, its compact design and all-day battery life make it great for on-the-go use. The overall user experience is amazing; you get a sharp 120Hz Mini LED display that's well-suited for color-critical work, a spacious keyboard, an easy-to-use touchpad, and tons of ports for peripherals and external displays. Upgrades over its M3 predecessor include higher display brightness when viewing SDR content (up to 1000 cd/m² outdoors), a nano-texture display option that further cuts glare, Thunderbolt 5 support (M4 Pro and Max models), and a new 12MP webcam with Apple's Center Stage feature. The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2024) 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.

On the Windows side, we recommend the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 (2024), also a premium workstation laptop that can handle intensive workloads. It has a large 16-inch display for multitasking, Lenovo's beloved keyboard and Trackpoint, a haptic touchpad, and an excellent 1440p webcam. While its Intel Meteor Lake processors won't give you as much CPU processing power as a maxed-out MacBook Pro, 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. As for the RAM, you can only get up to 64GB (user-upgradeable to 96GB), whereas the MacBook Pro is configurable with up to 128GB. Unfortunately, it gets hotter and louder under load, and none of the available displays get as bright as the MacBook Pro's Mini LED panel.

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 most MacBooks, it feels incredibly well built, sporting a full-aluminum chassis. Working on this laptop feels amazing; it has a sharp, bright IPS display, a spacious keyboard, and a gigantic haptic touchpad. Apple's base 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 limited, as it only has two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports, and while it can output to two external displays, which is an improvement over its M2 predecessor, it can only do so with the lid closed.

A Windows alternative to the MacBook Air is the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024), which is also an ultraportable. It has a brighter 120Hz touchscreen, a more comfortable keyboard, a wider port selection, and Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity. This 2024 model is quite different from its predecessors, as it now sports an ARM-based SoC. The Snapdragon X Elite chip is plenty fast for general productivity tasks, and its incredible power efficiency results in an incredible 17-hour battery life in light uses. The downside is that some apps might not run at all or perform poorly through emulation, so it's best to check that the apps you use run well enough to get your work done. The 15-inch Surface Laptop is more expensive than the MacBook Air 13. If budget is a concern, check out the 13-inch Surface Laptop, which we haven't tested but expect to be very similar.

Our mid-range pick is the Acer Swift Go 14 (2024). This compact and lightweight ultraportable is a solid option if you want something cheaper that still provides a good user experience overall. It feels sturdily built for the price, exhibiting only a small amount of flex on the lid and keyboard deck. You get a spacious, albeit slightly mushy keyboard, a large and responsive touchpad, Wi-Fi 6E, a great 1080p webcam, and a wide port selection that includes two Thunderbolt 4s and an HDMI. The battery lasts around 11 hours of light use, and you can charge it via USB-C, so there's no need to carry around a proprietary charger.

This model features Intel's 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. You can get up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage; only the latter is user-replaceable, so ensure you get enough RAM for your needs upfront. Display options include an FHD+ IPS and a 2.8k OLED panel. Both look sharp and get bright enough for use in most indoor settings, but remember that the OLED is susceptible to permanent burn-in and will drain the battery faster. Also, unlike the IPS panel, the OLED flickers, which might bother people sensitive to screen flickering.

The best budget laptop we've tested is the ASUS Vivobook 16 M1605 (2023). This 16-inch ultraportable feels well-built for the price, and it isn't overly bulky for a 16-inch device, so it's still easy to carry around. You can configure it with an AMD Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 CPU, which are more than adequate to handle productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and video playback. 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, which might be cheaper since RAM sticks are pretty affordable these days. Its battery life is okay at around eight hours of light use, so depending on your workload, you may have to plug it in for a quick charge.

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 rely on the HDMI to connect an external display. Our main gripe with this laptop is the display. Its 1080p resolution looks reasonably sharp at this screen size; however, it's quite dim, so visibility may be an issue in well-lit rooms. It also looks a bit washed out due to its narrow color gamut.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023) is our best cheap laptop pick. 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 for around $400 USD. 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 color reproduction. Unfortunately, the keyboard feels mushy, and the touchpad is small and sometimes unresponsive. Its 1080p webcam is excellent, though, which is surprising for a budget-friendly Chromebook. Its battery life is excellent; you can get around 13 hours from light use, and the laptop charges over USB-C, so there's no need to carry around a proprietary power adapter. 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.

If you like 2-in-1 tablet PCs with a detachable keyboard, check out the Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition (2024). This new model's external design doesn't stray far from its predecessors. It's still a premium-feeling tablet with a sturdy, built-in kickstand, a comfortable, Alcantara-covered type cover keyboard, and pen input support. The new Flex keyboard has a larger, easier-to-use haptic touchpad, and it's Bluetooth-enabled, so you can use the keyboard even when detached from the tablet, giving you more flexibility to position the device to your liking. You get Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity, an outstanding 1440p front-facing webcam, a 10MP back-facing camera, and Windows Hello facial recognition for quick logins. Unfortunately, like the last Surface Pro, its port selection is limited to two USB-Cs, and you must buy the keyboard and stylus separately.

Like the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024) mentioned above, this device has a Snapdragon SoC, so make sure the apps you use are compatible or can run well enough through Microsoft's Prism emulation to get your work done. Its battery life isn't quite as impressive as the Surface Laptop at 11 to 12 hours of light use, though it's still pretty respectable for a thin tablet PC. Regarding the display, it's important to note that the Snapdragon X Plus model comes with an IPS panel, while the X Elite model comes with an OLED panel. The OLED display will give you deeper blacks; however, it exhibits what's commonly known as the 'screen door effect,' meaning the digitizer is visible, creating a grid-like pattern that some may find distracting. If this bothers you, it's best to go with the X Plus model, though you'll have to sacrifice a bit on performance.

Gaming laptops are usually expensive, with top-end models costing over two, three, or even four thousand dollars. However, if you're on a tighter budget, there are still some great options, 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 also upgradeable. 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.