Why we like this one: Our top pick among Apple laptops is the 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro (non-Touch Bar). It is more expensive than the Dell XPS 13, but it’s the least expensive Mac laptop that has powerful enough specs and all the features most people need—we recommend the configuration with an i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage. The MacBook Air had always been the thinnest and lightest Mac laptop available until the MacBook came along. It is still the cheapest, though, and remains a popular choice.
Finding the Right Work Laptop
Choosing the best laptop for work is a serious business. After all, you need something that's durable, secure, powerful, light, and capable of lasting through a long workday—and you have countless options. We've winnowed down the 10 best business laptops that can get the work done, but browsing even this smaller subset of machines with care is key. Not every laptop matches how you or your employees work, or what you do.
These work-oriented PCs have the same basic components as everyday consumer laptops, but business-PC manufacturers include features to meet specific business needs, such as biometrics (fingerprint readers and facial recognition); rugged, MIL-SPEC-tested chassis and keyboards; Intel-vPro-certified networking and power management; and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) support for secure access. The latter two are checkmark features that an IT-based business-laptop buyer might look for in a fleet of machines, but everyone needs more physical security and durability.
You'll also find choices for professional versions of Windows, and less bloatware than comes with consumer PCs. With so many thin black and silver laptops on the market, business machines tend to look samey, but the key differences that matter most to business users tend to be below the surface, inside the chassis.
The line between tablets and laptops is also blurring in the business-machine world. Once the two were separated by operating systems, but there are now several tablets aimed at businesses that run true versions of Windows. Some of these tablets even have physical, detachable keyboards.
But make no mistake, in the business sphere, conventional clamshell-style laptops still rule, and choosing the right one can determine whether you run a company that's successful or one that suffers from too much downtime. Let's walk through essential business-laptop features, the components you'll need, and—also important—how to distinguish between a business laptop and a consumer one.
Evaluating Processing Muscle (and Memory)
Today, quad-core processors such as the 8th Generation 'Kaby Lake R' and 'Whiskey Lake' Intel Core i5s and Core i7s are available to handle both everyday email checking and more strenuous business applications. They'll be joined by new 10th Generation ('Ice Lake' and 'Comet Lake') mobile CPUs later this year. Truly demanding workflows will instead need hexa-core units like the latest top-end 'Coffee Lake' Core i7 9th Generation CPUs. You can even find six- and eight-core Intel Core i9 chips, previously limited to desktops, in some larger workstation-grade machines meant for designers, engineers, and serious data crunchers.
At the other end of the spectrum, power-saving processors such as Intel's Y-series Core i3, i5, and i7 have largely supplanted chips from the Intel Atom and Core M lines in tablets and ultraportable laptops. These ultra-low-wattage processors are often marketed alongside higher-performance chips; look for the 'Y' in the chip name to tell the difference. Chips a step up from the Y series in the Intel mobile-CPU world tend to end in a 'U' and are the mainstream choice. The ones with an 'H' at or near the end are the power chips.
A few business laptops you'll see will sport Intel Xeon processors, or the option for them. These are mobile workstations, and they're designed to run specialized software in fields such as financial modeling, engineering, and graphic design that require the ultimate in both power and constant-grinding reliability. They're typically more expensive—and have far shorter battery life—than mainstream business laptops powered by Intel's Core CPUs. Only choose one of these if you need to run a specialized app that requires that kind of specific CPU support. Otherwise, an Intel Core i7 or Core i9 will offer similar performance, and typically lower prices and better battery life.
If your business still uses software that requires Windows 7 Pro, look specifically for laptops with older 6th Generation Intel Core processors (chips with a '-6xxx' model number). Laptops with 7th and 8th Generation Intel Core processors and newer require Windows 10.
Also, look for no less than 4GB of RAM if shopping for a PC for a rank-and-file worker (that's a stingy amount in 2019 unless you're looking at a Chromebook), but go for 8GB or 16GB if at all possible. (Graphic artists and spreadsheet ninjas should aim for 16GB as their absolute minimum.) The right amount of memory allows you to keep more programs, windows, and browser tabs open at once, as well as perform multimedia processes (such as editing photos) faster.
![Best Mac Laptops For Business 2018 Best Mac Laptops For Business 2018](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126368471/555470383.jpg)
Go Solid, if You Can: Storage Solutions
With businesses using video, multimedia PowerPoint slides, and multi-megapixel photos in staff meetings, opting for a spacious hard drive is a good idea. A 1TB hard drive is a good balance between economy and space.
That said, we're huge fans of solid-state boot drives. While pricier and more meager in their storage capacities, solid-state drives (SSDs) don't have any spinning parts and are therefore better suited to take a licking on the road. SSD-equipped systems also boot and launch apps more quickly. If you'll travel or commute much with your laptop and don't need maximal storage capacity, an SSD is the right choice.
Free download adobe photoshop cc 2018 for mac. These days, you won't find less than a 128GB capacity for a solid-state boot drive on a business-centric Windows machine or on an Apple MacBook, but upping the amount to 256GB or 512GB is a good idea if you can afford it.
Optical drives have all but disappeared on business laptops. If you need to retrieve older files or records stored on CDs or DVDs, an external drive can help; that's a smarter move than buying a bulky laptop equipped with an optical drive if you know you're not quite done shuffling discs yet.
Assessing Graphics: Integrated and Dedicated
Most business PCs come with integrated graphics chips, which are a lightweight graphics-acceleration solution that's part of the main CPU. These integrated GPUs are usually fine for business laptops, since you won't be playing 3D games on a computer meant for work. (Right?) Most professionals who require discrete graphics will use them for specialized tasks such as GPU acceleration in Photoshop, high-definition video creation in Adobe Premiere Pro, or 3D graphics visualization in architectural drawings and CAD software. Mobile-workstation-class laptops will usually come with some sort of discrete graphics, either for their 3D capabilities or to drive multiple monitors.
When evaluating graphics solutions, it's easy to tell what tier of business laptop you're looking at. Integrated graphics silicon is usually dubbed 'Intel HD Graphics' or 'Intel UHD Graphics' and indicates a mainstream business machine. The most common dedicated graphics chips in laptops, as a whole, are from Nvidia's GeForce GTX line, but they are not usual fare in business machines. GeForce GTX chips tend to be reserved for higher-end consumer or gaming systems, though some business machines will include one of Nvidia's lesser GeForce MX chips to give graphics a little boost. A higher-end workstation machine will tend to use dedicated graphics chips from Nvidia's Quadro or AMD's Radeon Pro line.
As for the display panel, LCD screens with 1,366-by-768-pixel resolution are still available if you're trying to save some money on your laptop, but your eyes will thank you for upgrading to at least a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel display that makes use of in-plane switching (IPS) technology. This combination will ensure that you have plenty of space for displaying many columns of numbers in Excel or arranging many windows on the screen at once, and that your coworkers will be able to see them from any angle while clustering around your desk.
For graphics or scientific work, a 3K or 4K display provides more real estate still, as well as sharper text and more detailed visuals. Though these are still fairly uncommon fixtures on business laptops, they're emerging at least as options in some isolated models, and worth the money if your job will make use of extra pixels. Just know that, all else being equal, a high-resolution screen will drain battery life more rapidly than a lower-res one of the same base technology.
Stay Connected: Wired and Wireless Options
A strong wireless-connectivity loadout is essential in any business machine these days. Offices, airports, and client sites demand wireless connectivity for access to real-time email, messaging clients, and cloud services. Few businesspeople work fully local anymore.
Every laptop these days has some flavor of Wi-Fi built in. It should get you satisfactory throughput, but you have to find a hotspot or an unprotected network to surf the web. Look for dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi for the best flexibility for your IT organization. The most common kind nowadays, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, runs primarily on 5GHz networks, but it will work with 2.4GHz networks as a fallback. Offices in high-density buildings may wish to use the less-populated 5GHz bands, as the 2.4GHz channels tend to get more crowded. It's not common yet, but the first laptops supporting an early version of 802.11ax, the next-gen version of Wi-Fi known as 'Wi-Fi 6,' are just starting to hit the street.
Don't discount good old Ethernet entirely, though: You'll still need it for crowded conferences where the Wi-Fi is saturated. So, if your laptop is too thin to house an Ethernet jack, a USB-to-Ethernet adapter is a worthwhile investment. (One might come in the box.)
These difficulties are, in part, why some business laptops have built-in mobile-broadband wireless modems as options. They work in tandem with available cellular networks to bring broadband speeds to your laptop wherever there's a cellular signal available. You can configure many business laptops with one of these modems integrated for a nominal fee; this option is one of the key distinguishing features of business laptops.
Mobile data plans to use with the laptop, on the other hand, don't come cheap. Depending on whether or not you have an existing plan, rates can run as high as $60 to $80 per month. The faster 4G LTE wireless will give you transfer speeds rivaling what you get from a Wi-Fi connection, and it's available from the top cellular networks with the most coverage, notably AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Mobile hotspots and smartphone tethering are also available in case you don't want to buy internal modems for all your employees; they're a quick fix if you only need mobile internet part-time.
Keep Running: Know Your Battery
A big battery can be your best friend on a lengthy flight or a long commute. Business laptops usually come with multiple battery options. Some enterprise-class laptops have two or three different kinds of batteries (four-, six-, and nine-cell options). More cells means longer battery life, all else being equal. The 'equal' is the tricky part; this isn't always the case with laptops that use 4K displays or other power-hungry components. A big battery adds some heft, but being able to run it unplugged from dawn 'til dusk is worth the weight gain.
Most ultraportable laptops have non-removable, sealed-in-the-chassis batteries. Laptops with removable batteries do still exist, but they are increasingly uncommon, limited mostly to rugged tablets and laptops designed for extreme conditions.
If you think you'll need more battery life than a single charge can offer, look for an external battery pack rather than limiting yourself to a model with a swappable internal battery. Combined with the internal battery, these external solutions can help deliver battery life in the 19-to-24-hour range. Just be forewarned that these extra-life batteries can weigh down your system by an extra pound or more.
See How We Test Laptops
The Appeal of 2-in-1 Tablets
Price and portability are arguably the biggest reasons why a business might consider a Windows-based tablet for work. Some tablets sell for less than $500 and can easily adapt into a corporate environment. While specialized (read: expensive) tablets have been in vertical markets, such as health care, for years, the ubiquity of the Apple iPad means that people are used to carrying a computer that doesn't have a physical keyboard or that uses a detachable, basic one.
Look for a Windows 10 tablet like the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 if you need to run in-house or third-party apps that were originally created for PCs. True enterprise-class tablets running Windows 10 are still evolving, but most business users expect their work computers to behave the same as their personal tablets. Apple fans will have to be content with using the iPad or iPad Pro for business, as a tablet-optimized version of macOS doesn't exist.
Most Windows tablets are built to surf the web, run Office apps, and perform other very light computing tasks, but they are also compatible with the gamut of security applications, VPN and email clients, and countless hardware peripherals such as printers, scanners, and network-attached storage (NAS) devices. We wouldn't run an entire business on a tablet, but one can be a nice take-along unit for an offsite meeting or used as a portable alternative to your 6-pound big-screen bruiser of a workstation.
Chromebooks for Business: Simple and Affordable
With the cloud becoming omnipresent in our computing lives at both work and home, Chromebooks are more viable options than ever for laptops devoted to work activity. These laptops are restricted to using Google's Chrome OS, which began as a souped-up version of the popular web browser. Android apps from the Google Play Store (such as the Microsoft Office suite or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom) extend Chromebooks' abilities, but they often lack features found on the Windows-based versions of the same programs. Businesses that run their core applications on the Google suite may find Chromebooks useful under certain circumstances, though, as emailing and communications stations.
If web-based collaboration is key to your workflow, a Chromebook could be enough, and because Chromebooks don't need powerful hardware to run most web apps, they generally cost a lot less than other business laptops. Some Chromebooks designed for work do have beefier processors and more memory. Our general takeaway, though, is that under most circumstances, they tend to work better as adjunct than primary machines in most businesses.
Best Laptop For Personal Use 2018
Mobile Workhorses: Our Top Bets
Take some time to consider the nature of your particular job. Doing so should point you toward the ideal business laptop. Paying a little extra for more power or capabilities now will save you headaches down the road. The added value of a longer warranty (some business laptops come with three years), specialized tech support, and a more ruggedized frame (fortified by carbon fiber or magnesium alloy) are some of the extra benefits you may get with a business laptop. If your work is graphics-intensive, you'll want to opt for a laptop with discrete graphics. When choosing a processor, you'll have to find the right balance between power for your applications and energy efficiency, and in selecting a battery, you'll need to choose between its capacity and weight. When you determine the best features for your needs, you can focus on just those laptops that incorporate them. And that's where our deep-dive reviews come in.
Our current favorite business laptops are laid out below. We refresh the list often to include the newest products, and because of the large number of laptops we review every year, not every top-rated product makes the cut. For more, also see our overall top laptop picks, and if money is tight, our roundup of the best budget laptops is worth a read.
If you're looking to fully outfit your work area, also check out our takes on the best business monitors, plus our favorite keyboards and printers.
Best Business Laptops Featured in This Roundup:
HP EliteBook x360 1030 G3 Review
MSRP: $1449.00Pros: Wonderfully compact and light. Three screen choices: bright 1080p, privacy-filter 1080p, and 4K. Crisp keyboard. Good array of ports, including two Thunderbolt 3. Marathon battery life. Impressive audio.Cons: No SD card slot. Clumsy cursor-arrow keys.Bottom Line: Business convertibles don't come any better than the HP EliteBook x360 1030 G3, an executive 2-in-1 that combines ample power with a sunny 13.3-inch screen and a snappy keyboard in a petite 2.76-pound package.Read ReviewLenovo ThinkPad X390 Review
MSRP: $899.00Pros: Healthy battery life. Strong build quality and performance. Excellent input devices. Plenty of ports, including Thunderbolt 3.Cons: Standard warranty is only one year. Battery isn't swappable. Inconvenient microSD card slot.Bottom Line: Lenovo's ThinkPad X390 ultralight combines strong build quality, zippy performance, and a great keyboard into a winning recipe for a productive travel laptop.Read ReviewLenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 7 (2019) Review
MSRP: $1179.00Pros: Thin, light, and very sturdy. ThinkPad-typical comfortable keyboard. Long battery life, as configured with 1080p screen. Many screen options. Optional Intel vPro. Full-size HDMI output.Cons: Small touchpad. Requires (not-included) Ethernet adapter.Bottom Line: With a sturdy, lightweight carbon-fiber exterior, an excellent keyboard, and plenty of security and manageability features, Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 7 is the best laptop you can buy for your business.Read ReviewDell Latitude 7212 Rugged Extreme Tablet Review
MSRP: $1909.00Pros: Very bright, polarized screen. Long-lasting batteries are hot-swappable. Extensive selection of accessories.Cons: Keyboard cover is a pricey extra. Unresponsive touchpad.Bottom Line: The Dell Latitude 7212 is a well-designed, tough detachable Windows tablet that can take pretty much anything you (and nature) can throw at it. And compared with the rugged competition it's a relative bargain.Read ReviewDell Latitude 7400 2-in-1 Review
MSRP: $1599.00Pros: Proximity sensor streamlines sign in. Sturdy, sleek chassis. Thin screen bezels, and relatively large 14-inch screen. Excellent touchpad and keyboard. Three-year warranty. Prime-time battery life.Cons: Relatively low maximum screen brightness. Lackluster audio quality.Bottom Line: With a deluxe chassis, keyboard, and touchpad, paired with a snappy sign-in feature and superb battery life, Dell's Latitude 7400 2-in-1 is a top contender among business convertibles.Read ReviewHP Chromebook x2 Review
MSRP: $599.99Pros: Elegant detachable design. Spiffy screen. More lap-friendly than tablets with kickstands. Strong performance and battery life.Cons: Expensive. No backlit keyboard. Mediocre cameras.Bottom Line: It could use a $50 or $100 price cut, but HP's pioneering Chromebook x2 detachable joins Google's $999 Pixelbook as the elite of the Chrome OS field.Read ReviewLenovo ThinkPad P52 Review
MSRP: $1160.10Pros: Powerful, VR-ready Nvidia Quadro graphics and six-core Intel CPU. Gorgeous 4K touch screen. Classic ThinkPad keyboard does not disappoint.Cons: A pound overweight. Brief battery life.Bottom Line: Thumping its peers in our testing, Lenovo's Quadro-based ThinkPad P52 raises the bar for beefy 15.6-inch mobile workstations in almost every regard.Read ReviewMicrosoft Surface Book 2 Review
MSRP: $2499.00Pros: Premium alloy construction. Elegant convertible design. Sharp high-resolution touch display in new larger size. Discrete Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics. Very long battery life. Multiple configuration options. Xbox wireless controller receiver is integrated.Cons: 16GB RAM maximum. Surface Pen is an additional purchase. Adding SSD storage is pricey. Some finicky issues required troubleshooting in our tests.Bottom Line: The Surface Book 2 is a feat of design, a top-of-the-line premium convertible 2-in-1 laptop that's fast, long lasting, versatile, and portable. It's even up for gaming.Read ReviewAcer Swift 5 Review
MSRP: $999.99Pros: Unbelievably light for its screen size. Sunny 1080p screen. Good battery life.Cons: No Thunderbolt 3 port or SD card slot. Screen is reflective. Beaucoup bloatware.Bottom Line: The lightest 15.6-inch laptop the world has ever seen, Acer's 2.2-pound Swift 5 is a design landmark whose portability outweighs its minor imperfections.Read ReviewMicrosoft Surface Pro 6 Review
MSRP: $899.00Pros: Speedy new 8th Generation Intel processor. Good battery life. Premium feel. Sleek all-black color option. Brilliant display. Well-implemented kickstand.Cons: Minimal changes from previous model. As ever, keyboard sold separately. Not ideal for in-lap use. Somewhat restrictive configuration combinations. Limited ports.Bottom Line: With a modest speed boost and a new color choice, the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 may not have changed much from the previous iteration, but what we loved about this 2-in-1 convertible then, we still love now.Read Review
Your guide
- Wirecutter Staff
Smartphones and tablets may have taken over much of people’s screen time, but there's still a need for a “real” computer sometimes—and for most people, that means a laptop. For school and office work and things like spreadsheets and video editing, there’s no good substitute for a decent keyboard and a big screen. But which laptop you should get depends on how often you’ll use it, what you’ll use it for, and (of course) how much money you can afford to spend on it.
We’ve tested all of the most promising laptops over the past few years, from sleek ultrabooks to cheap Chromebooks to massive gaming laptops and beyond. Here are the best models you can buy in every category, along with advice on how to choose which type of laptop is right for you.
The research
Mac or Windows (or something else)?
Many people already know whether they want a MacBook or a Windows laptop: If you’re already familiar with macOS or Windows, the easiest choice is to buy a computer that runs that operating system. That said, macOS and Windows have never been more similar, and most popular apps work just as well on either platform (or at least have alternatives that work similarly). If you’re interested in switching, it isn’t as big a deal as it used to be.
If you’re not tied to a platform, the biggest factor is how easy it is to get support. Do most of your family and friends use Macs? Do you have an Apple Store nearby? Do your most tech-savvy friends use Windows? If you’re a student, does your school have a help desk? Will your company’s IT department provide support for your home computer? If you’re not a self-sufficient techie and want the best service for your computer, buy a Mac, because you can take it to any Apple Store to get it fixed. No other computer maker provides that level of support. (If you are self-sufficient, go with what you like.)
Alternatively, as more tasks can be accomplished in a browser, without downloading and installing apps, you might not even need a traditional operating system—a Chromebook may be all you need.
For most people: The best ultrabook
Our pick
Dell XPS 13 (9380)
The Dell XPS 13 has a thin, light chassis plus impressively long battery life, alongside a great keyboard, trackpad, and screen.
Buying Options
*At the time of publishing, the price was $1,050.
Who these are for: Ultrabooks are the best laptops for most people, including college students, writers, office workers, and commuters. They have great keyboards, screens, battery life, and enough power to do everything most people need a computer for, and they're thin, light, and portable. You should expect to pay between $900 and $1,300 for a great Windows ultrabook that will last you three to four years.
Where they fall short: Great ultrabooks cost more than most people want to spend on a laptop, even if they provide a better experience and last longer than cheaper alternatives. They also lack the processing power to play high-end games or do demanding tasks like professional video editing or 3D modeling. If you need a cheaper laptop or a more powerful one, check out our other picks below.
Why we like this one: The Dell XPS 13 (9380) is the best Windows ultrabook for most people because it offers the best balance of what makes an ultrabook great: It’s compact, its battery life is the longest we’ve seen, and it has a good keyboard and trackpad. It has the newest Intel processors, enough memory for most tasks, a 256 GB solid-state drive, and Thunderbolt 3—we wish the XPS 13 had a USB-A port too, but that problem is easy enough to resolve with a USB-C hub or dock. The laptop weighs just 2.7 pounds and measures 11.9 by 7.8 by 0.5 inches. Its design was amazing in 2015 and remains impressive today—it’s about a half-inch more compact than other laptops we tested—but it’s no longer the outlier it once was.
You can read more about the Dell XPS 13 and our other picks in our guide to Windows ultrabooks.
The best Mac laptop
Our pick
Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
You get good-enough performance and a full workday of battery life in a thin, light laptop with a fantastic display and two Thunderbolt 3 ports.
![Best laptop for personal use 2018 Best laptop for personal use 2018](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126368471/980165931.jpg)
Buying Options
Who these are for: If you prefer macOS or need great tech support, Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro offers the best combination of size, weight, and speed. It’s great for the same people a Windows ultrabook is good for, including writers, office workers, commuters, and college students. Expect to pay around $1,300 for one with good enough specs and storage to last you three to four years.
Where they fall short: MacBooks are even more expensive than Windows ultrabooks—the 13-inch Pro usually costs a bit more for similar specs. Apple’s default 128 GB of storage is on the small side, and the company overcharges for storage upgrades. And like Windows ultrabooks, our recommended configuration for most people lacks the processing power to play demanding games or do professional 3D modeling.
Why we like this one: The 13-inch MacBook Pro (2019, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) has some shortcomings, but they’re almost all shared by other modern Apple laptops: the low-travel keyboard, a small number of homogenous ports (in this case, two Thunderbolt 3 ports) that may require the use of USB-C hubs or new cables, and a high price relative to Windows laptops with similar performance and features (especially if you need more storage). But the Pro’s light weight, solid construction, and industry-leading support make it a good laptop, especially if you also own an iPhone or other Apple devices.
If you need a less expensive Mac or a more powerful one with a larger screen, take a look at our full guide to MacBook models.
The best cheap ultrabook
Our pick
Asus ZenBook 13 UX333FA
The ZenBook 13 UX333FA has more than enough battery life for a full day of classes, and it’s thin and light, making it an excellent value.
Buying Options
*At the time of publishing, the price was $926.
Who these are for: Most inexpensive Windows computers, especially those less than $500, are large and heavy and have poor battery life—among other flaws—but for a bit more money you can get an ultrabook that is almost as good as a thousand-dollar one. Budget ultrabooks are ideal for students in particular, and for anyone who can spend around $800 on a laptop.
Where they fall short: Budget ultrabooks tend to have bigger, creakier bodies and worse build quality than our top picks, and they can also have less responsive keyboards and trackpads, dimmer and less accurate screens, or fewer ports. But if you can find one that makes as few of these compromises as possible, you may be able to save a few hundred dollars.
Why we like this one: The Asus ZenBook 13 UX333FA is a fantastic value. It costs a few hundred dollars less than our top ultrabook pick and has nearly identical specs. It’s even a little lighter than the Dell XPS 13, despite being slightly bigger too. Battery life lasted more than 10 hours in our tests, plenty to get you through a full workday. This ZenBook’s trackpad is accurate and responsive, but its backlit keyboard is a bit less enjoyable to type on than those of our other picks. It also lacks Thunderbolt 3 ports. But if you need a thin, light laptop for less than $1,000, you should definitely get the ZenBook UX333FA.
You can read more about the ZenBook UX333FA and how it compares to our other picks in our full guide.
The best Chromebook
Our pick
Asus Chromebook Flip C434TA
With solid performance, a great keyboard and trackpad, excellent battery life, and a 14-inch screen squeezed into a compact laptop, the C434TA is one of the best Chromebooks ever made.
Buying Options
Who these are for: Chromebooks are ideal for students and kids, but you should also consider one if you spend most of your computer time in a Web browser, if you’re on a tight budget, or if you already have a decent desktop PC. A good Chromebook can do almost anything a regular laptop can do—as long as it’s possible in a Web browser or via Android apps. And they’re cheap: A $400 Chromebook is faster, lighter, and sleeker than a $500 Windows laptop and blessed with better battery life. Plus, Chromebooks are secure and easy to maintain.
Where they fall short: Chromebooks can’t run iTunes, Photoshop, demanding games, or many of the programs you might be used to on your Mac or Windows computer. They don’t have much local storage, and they work best with a full-time Internet connection. But if you use Web-based email, if you can get by with Office 365, Google’s office Web apps, and Android app alternatives, and if you stream your music and movies over the Internet, a Chromebook should do just about everything you need it to.
Why we like this one: The Asus Chromebook Flip C434TA is one of the best Chromebooks ever made, with solid performance, a reliable trackpad and backlit keyboard, excellent battery life, a spacious 14-inch screen with tiny bezels and a compact body, and both USB-C and USB-A ports to connect new and older peripherals. The C434TA has a 360-degree hinge, though the machine is too heavy to use comfortably in tablet mode. It’s expensive for a Chromebook, but it’s worth the money if you plan to use your Chromebook a lot. We recommend the DSM4T model with a 14-inch 1920×1080 IPS touchscreen, an Intel Core m3-8100Y processor, 4 GB of memory, and 64 GB of storage. Asus also offers a DS384T model with 8 GB of RAM for around $600; that’s overkill for most people but a good option when our recommended model costs more than $570 (or if you already know you’re a tab monster whose workflow requires more memory).
You can read our full guide to Chromebooks here.
The best budget Windows laptop
Our pick
Asus VivoBook Flip 14 TP412FA-OS31T
Sleek for a cheap Windows laptop, the VivoBook Flip 14 has a vibrant screen and a comfortable backlit keyboard. But it chugs if you try to multitask, and its trackpad is slippery.
Buying Options
*At the time of publishing, the price was $380.
Who these are for: If you need a Windows laptop for home, work, or school—and you can’t afford to spend a lot—you can find a good one for $450 to $600. They’re ideal for K–12 students, people on a strict budget, and people who use their computers mostly at home in the evenings for schoolwork, Web browsing, managing a budget, or watching Netflix. Cheaper, lighter laptops tend to be too slow to recommend, while faster, sleeker ones usually cost too much.
Where they fall short: To get a laptop that doesn’t feel slow for a decent price, you’ll have to make a lot of compromises. Most budget laptops with decent specs have 15-inch screens, weigh 5 or 6 pounds, and have much shorter battery life compared with ultrabooks. And because some budget laptops use a traditional hard drive instead of a solid-state drive, they feel slower than an ultrabook with the same processor and memory.
Why we like this one: The Asus VivoBook Flip 14 TP412FA-OS31T has 128 GB of solid-state storage, an Intel Core i3-8145U processor, 4 GB of RAM, and a bright, 14-inch screen with a 1920×1080 resolution. Its keyboard is comfortable and responsive, and the VivoBook Flip is sturdier and more compact than other laptops in this price range. But the VivoBook Flip’s 4 GB of memory is a bit limiting, its trackpad is slippery and unreliable, and its battery won’t last a full day like the Chromebook’s. It also comes with some bloatware, and it has Windows 10 in S mode—a version of Windows 10 that allows apps only from the Microsoft Store and limits you to Microsoft Edge for Web browsing—but you can switch it to Windows 10 Home for free.
Choosing a budget laptop is tricky, because you’ll find dozens—even hundreds—of configurations at a given time. Their prices fluctuate constantly, too, and companies release and discontinue models with no warning. If our pick isn’t available, you should look for the following specs in an all-purpose budget laptop: seventh- or eighth-generation Intel Core i3 or i5 processor (they’ll have model names that start with i3 or i5 and end with 7xxx or 8xxx), 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM, a solid-state drive, and a 1366×768 or better screen resolution.
You can read our full guide to budget laptops here.
The best Windows laptop for photo and video editing
Our pick
Microsoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)
The Surface Book 2 has powerful specs and the best battery life and most accurate screen of any Windows laptop we tested. It’s reliable enough for most creative tasks, but not quite accurate enough for video color grading and print production.
Buying Options
Who these are for: If you’re a creative professional and want a Windows laptop that’s more powerful than an ultrabook, with a larger, higher-resolution screen and a faster graphics processor, you should get what we call a power notebook. These are ideal if you’re an audio, video, or photo editor, or if you do a lot of 3D modeling, but you still want something fairly light and portable. They’re pricey, though, so expect to pay upwards of $2,500.
Where they fall short: Laptops with color-accurate screens and enough power for creative professionals are expensive. Power notebooks also tend to have shorter battery life than ultrabooks, because of their larger, higher-resolution screens and power-hungrier processors. Skyrim for mac 2018. And because they’re thin and light enough to be reasonably portable, these laptops are often not as easy to upgrade as chunkier business or gaming laptops.
Why we like this one: The Surface Book 2 configuration we recommend costs around $2,900 (we know!). Keep reading: It has a 4K display, an eighth-generation 1.9 GHz Intel Core i7-8650U processor, 16 GB of RAM, and a 512 GB solid-state drive. It also comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB VRAM, a powerful graphics processor that can handle demanding tasks—like quickly exporting 4K footage in Adobe Premiere Pro—much faster than the GPU in the MacBook Pro (it’s also good for gaming). The Surface Book 2 model’s keyboard is clicky and comfortable to use for long periods of time, and its trackpad is even better: It tracks smoothly and accurately, and it executes gestures and other Windows-related tasks with ease. It also has all of the necessary ports and connections: two USB 3.0 ports, a USB-C port (though not Thunderbolt 3), as well as a full-size SD card reader, and a proprietary Surface Connect port. It also had the longest battery life of any laptop we tested this year by about 20 minutes, and you can even detach its screen and use it as a tablet if you want.
You can read more about these options in our full guide to power notebooks.
The best MacBook for photo and video editing
Our pick
Apple MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (15-inch, 2019)
The 2019 MacBook Pro has the best display of any laptop we’ve tested, and it’s accurate enough for video color grading and print production. Its keyboard is shallow and its battery life is short, but it’s the most powerful option for Apple users.
Buying Options
Who these are for: If you need a Mac for professional creative work such as audio, video, or photo editing, Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Pros offer larger screens, faster processors, and more powerful graphics processors than the 13-inch models. Expect to pay at least $2,500 for one with enough memory and storage to last three or four years.
Where they fall short: The 15-inch MacBook Pro is even more expensive than our Windows laptop for creative professionals. And Apple’s latest MacBooks have removed common ports like USB-A, DisplayPort, and HDMI, so you’ll have to pay even more for dongles and adapters to connect your peripherals.
Why we like this one: If you need a Mac for creative work, Apple’s 2019 15-inch MacBook Pro is the best option. The MacBook Pro’s 15.4-inch 2880×1800 Retina display was imperceptibly more color-accurate than the Dell XPS 15’s, and its screen reproduced more of the sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts; it has the best display and trackpad we’ve used on a laptop. But it has a shallow keyboard, it lacks older but still common ports, and it’s expensive. We recommend the $3,150 model—which is about $250 more than the Surface Book 2—with a 2.6 GHz eighth-generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of solid-state storage, and Radeon Pro Vega 20 dedicated graphics with 4 GB of memory.
You can read more about these options in our full guide to power notebooks.
The best gaming laptop
Our pick
Asus ROG Strix Scar II GL504GS-DS74
With excellent performance, good heat management, and a top-notch screen, the Scar II has almost everything we look for in a gaming laptop. But the design seems to have come straight out of Hot Topic.
Buying Options
*At the time of publishing, the price was $1,554.
Who these are for: If you want a laptop that can play the latest games with decent settings at high frame rates, a high-end gaming laptop is the way to go. Expect to pay $1,750 or more for one. They’re ideal for anyone who travels frequently and doesn’t want a desktop, including deployed soldiers, college students, truckers, and the like.
Where they fall short: Gaming laptops need to be huge and heavy to make room for powerful components and proper cooling, and they also have abysmal battery life. And they’re expensive: A $1,500 desktop computer is much more powerful and upgradable than a $3,000 gaming laptop; meanwhile, a $1,000 ultrabook handles nongaming tasks just as well as a gaming laptop at one-third the weight and four times the battery life, with much better build quality.
Why we like this one: Our favorite gaming laptop is the Asus ROG Strix Scar II. It has powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics, an eighth-generation Intel Core i7-8750H six-core processor, and 16 GB of memory. It comes with 256 GB of solid-state storage and a 1 TB hybrid drive. But it has a garish faux-military design with contrasting camouflage and carbon fiber patterns, and it lacks G-sync and Thunderbolt 3, two features we expect in high-end gaming laptops. You’d have to pay $200 more to get both with the specs we like.
Read our full guide to gaming laptops here. If you want a gaming laptop but don’t have a couple grand to spend, see the next category.
The best budget gaming laptop
Our pick
Dell G5 15 Gaming
The Dell G5 15 Gaming has impressive battery life for a gaming laptop but it’s a bit heavier than the competition, and its fans get distractingly loud during gaming sessions.
Buying Options
Who these are for: For $800 to $1,300 you can get a laptop with a 15-inch screen and a thinner and lighter body that still plays games pretty well. This kind of laptop will serve you well for older games on high settings, and you can expect it to play most new games on at least medium settings for the next couple of years. They’re ideal for gamers with tighter budgets, especially students.
Where they fall short: Every affordable gaming laptop we’ve tested has had at least one serious flaw. Some get way too hot, others have poor build quality, and some have dim screens with poor viewing angles. And although budget gaming laptops tend to be smaller and lighter than their more powerful brethren, all gaming laptops are large, heavy, and saddled with short battery life compared with more portable options like ultrabooks.
Why we like this one: The Dell G5 15 Gaming has impressive battery life for a gaming laptop, but it’s a bit heavier than the competition, and its fans get distractingly loud during gaming sessions. We recommend the G5 with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q graphics, an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 16 GB of RAM, a 256 GB solid-state drive, and a 1 TB hard drive.
Read more about our budget gaming laptop pick in our full guide.
Best Mac Laptops For 2017
The best business laptop
Our pick
Lenovo ThinkPad T490
The T490 has the best combination of performance, size, weight, upgradability, and price among business laptops, which tend to be more durable and serviceable than other laptops.
Buying Options
*At the time of publishing, the price was $1,130.
Best Mac Laptops For Photography
Who these are for: Most people don’t need a business laptop, and those who do will probably get one issued from their IT department. But there are a few great reasons to get a business laptop, even if you’re paying for it yourself, including better long-term durability, easier serviceability and upgrades, more RAM and storage, and more plentiful and varied ports than you get with an ultrabook. Our main picks typically cost between $1,200 and $1,400, but we also have a great budget pick for around $1,000.
Where they fall short: Ultrabooks are a better option than business laptops for most people because they’re thinner, lighter, and offer similar performance for less money. The majority of people don’t need to upgrade or repair their own laptops, and if you really need business-centric features like smart card support and vPro, it’s likely that the place where you work has already provided you a laptop that supports them. Dongles and docks, while inconvenient, can make up for some ultrabooks’ limited port selection.
Why we like this one: The Lenovo ThinkPad T490 has an excellent keyboard and trackpad, a decent screen, and a good mix of new and old ports that should keep you from ever needing a dongle or adapter. And the T490 offers long enough battery life to last you through a full workday or a cross-country flight. Our recommended configuration costs around $1,200 to $1,400 and includes an Intel Core i5-8265U processor, 8 GB of memory, a 256 GB PCIe SSD, a 14-inch 1080p IPS screen, and a backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader. Our pick’s specs are fast enough for everyday work, and it’s exceptionally easy to upgrade the memory or storage or to replace the battery.
Check out our full guide to business laptops to learn more.
The best 2-in-1 laptop
Our pick
Lenovo Yoga C930
The Lenovo Yoga C930 is the best laptop that you can flip into tablet mode. Its battery will last all day, and it has a big, 14-inch touchscreen and included stylus, but its size and weight make it less convenient for carrying around.
Buying Options
Best mac for programming 2018. *At the time of publishing, the price was $980.
You’ll encounter two main types of 2-in-1 laptops. Convertibles are just ultrabooks with a 360-degree hinge that lets you fold the laptop’s screen all the way around, flat against the bottom of the keyboard, to use the entire package as a bulky tablet or in any mode in between. Detachables, the other type, are more like tablets with a removable keyboard. They tend to be awkward in at least one of their two modes, and the operating systems they use (usually Windows, sometimes iOS, Android, or ChromeOS) are usually good for either laptop work or tablet work, but not both.
Who these are for: Convertibles are a good choice if you want a great laptop that you’ll occasionally use as a tablet or propped up like a tent. For example, tent mode can be convenient for navigating recipes in the kitchen or watching Netflix on an airplane. Detachables are the more appropriate option for people who want a tablet they can sometimes use as a laptop. If you don’t need tablet features at all, we recommend sticking with one of our ultrabook picks above.
Where they fall short: Even the best 2-in-1 makes for a bulky, awkward tablet; the one we recommend is an excellent laptop first, with bonus modes for occasional needs. And styluses for writing or drawing in tablet mode usually cost extra, on top of an already expensive laptop.
Why we like this one: The Lenovo Yoga C930 is an excellent ultrabook with a 360-degree hinge and a 14-inch touchscreen with an included pen. It’s the best option if you want a laptop that also works as a tablet sometimes. The Yoga C930 has a battery life that will last all day and a good keyboard and trackpad. But it’s about an inch larger and a half-pound heavier than the Dell XPS 13, so it’s less convenient to throw in your bag for a day of working on the go. We recommend the model with an eighth-generation Intel Core i5-8250U or i7-8550U processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256 GB PCIe solid-state drive. It has two Thunderbolt 3 ports and one USB 3.0 Type-A port, as well as a fingerprint reader for easy logins.
If you need a compact, light laptop above all else, we recommend getting our ultrabook pick instead.
You can read more about the Yoga C930 in our guide to Windows ultrabooks.
What about detachables? Tuxera ntfs for mac 2018. Most inexpensive detachables are neither good laptops nor good tablets, as they usually don’t have great performance, keyboards, trackpads, hinges, or battery life. High-end detachables like the Microsoft Surface Pro have fine battery life and performance but still make for bulky tablets and awkward laptops. Most people are better off with a convertible laptop like the Lenovo Yoga C930 or an iPad with a keyboard.
Footnotes
- If you’re considering switching to Mac, but you still need to run Windows-specific software on occasion, keep in mind that you can do so on a Mac using Apple’s Boot Camp feature or virtualization software such as Parallels. Unfortunately, you have no easy way to run macOS software on Windows.Jump back.
- You can find even more powerful laptops for professional work, but they tend to be big, bulky mobile graphics workstations. We don’t cover these machines because they’re very niche, and if you need one, your workplace probably already prefers a certain model. If you do want a recommendation, Notebookcheck’s top 10 list is a good starting point.Jump back.