Choosing the best laptop is a largely subjective decision that comes down to your primary use cases, your preferred operating system, and your budget. In other words, there’s no such thing as a universally best laptop.
This is an annoying fact of life for both laptop shoppers and those of us doling out “best laptop” recommendations, since we can’t make custom judgment calls for everyone in need of a new machine. (I would love to, but I’ve got a thing after this.) However, I can confidently point you in the right direction of some standouts that I and other members of the Mashable team have vetted and approved.
Our top picks
As of Dec. 2024, Mashable’s top laptop overall is the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, a sophisticated Copilot+ PC with incredible performance, an unrivaled battery life of nearly 23 hours, and some fun AI features if you’re into that sort of thing.
For card-carrying members of Team Apple, we think the best MacBook for most people is the 15-inch M3 MacBook Air, a sleek, peppy notebook with a scrumptious keyboard and closed-lid support for two external displays. After new testing, we now recommend the 16-inch, M4 Pro-powered MacBook Pro as the best laptop for photo and video editing — it’s stupid fast, beautifully made, long lasting, and configurable with a stunning nano-texture display.
For those on a budget, the best cheap laptop we’ve tested is the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3, which has a premium, ultra-portable design and an excellent keyboard. If you’re trying to spend less than $500, look into the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch: With a large, colorful display, cool everyday performance, and some useful AI features, it’s the best Chromebook we’ve tried.
Among gaming laptops, the Alienware m16 R2 leads the pack. It’s a super snappy mid-ranger that’s capable of being toned down for everyday use when you’re done playing Cyberpunk 2077.
The best laptops we’ve used also include several hybrid devices. Our 2-in-1 frontrunner is the Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 9), a solid performer with a gorgeous 2.8K OLED display and a rotating soundbar. Creative professionals may be better served by the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2, a sturdy convertible with a decent battery life and a pull-forward design that can turn it into an easel, while heavy multitaskers should look further into the latest Asus Zenbook Duo. It features two OLED displays, performs well for its price point, and includes free accessories like a stylus and a detachable keyboard.
After spending countless hours reviewing laptops across popular brands, we’ve decided to recommend these models because they’re well-made, powerful enough for their respective use cases, and priced fairly (or easy to find on sale). At the very least, we think they can be useful archetypes within different categories of computers. Don’t start from square one if you don’t have to, you know?
What’s on deck
We’re currently testing a bunch of laptops, including the Dell XPS 13, a Lunar Lake PC with a tandem OLED display; the HP Omnibook Ultra Flip, a 2-in-1 Lunar Lake model with a 3K OLED display; the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34, a cheap Chromebook; and the latest Framework Laptop 13, a modular laptop. (The previous-gen Framework Laptop 13 used to be featured in this guide as Mashable’s favorite repairable laptop.) I’ll update this story once we’ve finished testing them.
Relatedly, several members of the Mashable team will attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, where a slew of new and updated laptops will likely debut. We’ll be keeping a close eye out for possible top pick contenders and replacements that are worthy of testing.
What we’ve tested lately (and didn’t love)
We recently tried the HP Omen 17, a 17-inch gaming laptop priced at $1,799. It’s a strapping machine with a plastic chassis that keeps it remarkably cool while playing Triple-A games, but its lousy speakers, unsatisfying keyboard, and cheap-feeling build disappointed our reviewer. It also underperformed in our graphics benchmark compared to Alienware’s m16 R2. (Both of our testing units had the same RTX 4070 GPU.)
The Omen 17 is still a decent pick if you’re looking for a minimalist big-screener, but the m16 R2 is a more well-rounded machine and retains its “best gaming laptop” title for the time being.
Read on for Mashable’s in-depth guide to the best laptops of 2024. FYI: We’ve listed the pricing and specs of our testing units, which may not apply to each laptop’s base model.
