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Standout features include a gorgeous 13-inch display, fast performance, a comfortable detachable keyboard with a built-in stylus slot, useful security features, and a class-leading webcam . These are all packaged in a sleek metal chassis that can easily be slipped into a backpack or purse. If you want more dedicated business features, the Surface Pro 7+ offers a more enterprise-focused take with the last-gen Surface Pro design.
The display isn’t bright, though, limited to just 250 nits, but as long as you don't use it in direct sunlight, it should be enough for everyday use. To find the best laptops, we combined our extensive first-hand experience with in-depth research to determine our picks for the best laptops you can buy today. Getting into laptop-processor specifics can get you pretty deep in the weeds, but for a good overview that doesn't overwhelm, check out our guide to choosing a laptop CPU that fits what you do. If you want a 2-in-1 tablet and don't mind spending extra for a keyboard cover and other accessories, this is it. It's simply the best, combining the iconic Windows tablet with smooth pen integration and an updated thin-bezel design. If you're looking for a gaming laptop bargain, the G15 is the way to go.
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However, some lines of laptops from these manufacturers have a particular pedigree for reliability and durability. Check what ports the laptop has, and if it can accommodate the peripherals you need to attach. If you have an external hard drive, make sure it has enough connectors for it and your other accessories.
The company's flagship 14-inch Yoga 9i Gen 7 has an updated look with comfortable, rounded edges and 12th-gen Intel processors that give it a big multicore performance jump. A beautiful OLED display and improved audio make it excellent for work, video conferences and entertainment. Lenovo includes an active pen and a laptop sleeve to complete the premium package. The Dell XPS 13 is a perennial favorite for its size, weight and performance and just overall good looks. For 2022, Dell made the XPS 13 even smaller and lighter, kept its sub-$999 starting price the same and dropped in the latest 12th-gen Intel processors. The design is still great (though there's no headphone jack; a USB-C adapter is included instead) and the battery life is long.
Apple 13.3" MacBook Pro (Mid
In this price range, you'll also find faster memory and ssd storage -- and more of it -- to improve performance. First of all, from the spec sheet, the MacBook Air seems under-qualified when compared to the big boys like the Surface Book 2 and Matebook X Pro. Okay, but the trade-off here is the ultra-portability of the MacBook Air, the clean and focused macOS ecosystem, and the damn sheer unadulterated sleek styling of this laptop.
For people with similar needs but larger budgets, an Apple MacBook might be the way to go, assuming you’re cool with running your day-to-day computing life on macOS. No laptop is perfect, but the 2022 Dell XPS 15 OLED gets most of the wish-list items right for a general-use desktop-replacement laptop for power users. But this big, authoritative classic is an ace at content creation tasks, and it looks great in silver or white.
Best All-Around Windows Laptop
Photographers will benefit from a built-in SD or microSD card reader for more convenient image uploading. And if you plan to use your laptop in a public, unsecured location, a security notch for fastening a physical locking cable is very useful. These fall into two types, the Kensington-cable style and the Noble-lock style. Make sure the notch type matches the kind of cable you intend to use to tether the machine to an immovable object. If video output matters to you, check for a dedicated port like an HDMI connector, especially if you plan to connect your laptop to your TV, desktop monitor, or a lecture hall A/V system.
The HP Pavilion x360 is among the best 2-in-1 laptops you can buy in 2022, and with comparable features to our best budget laptop offering, it ticks a lot of boxes as a great affordable laptop, too. It has a solid mid-range Intel Core i7 12th generation processor, and half a terabyte of fast SSD storage, giving it snappy operation in day- to-day use and a fast startup time. The 14-inch 1080p display is crisp thanks to the high pixel density at this size, and with over 10 hours of battery life, there's more than enough to finish a full workday at the office or in lectures. For graphics or scientific work, a 3K or 4K display provides more real estate still, as well as sharper text and more detailed visuals.
In such a case, I recommend you to take a look at other decent options. For example, the Asus ZenBook 15 is equipped with a 10th Generation Intel Core processor, 16 GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD and a powerful video card. The 15-inch HP Pavilion is a great office computer, which proves that it is possible to get a premium-quality device without spending a fortune. The elegant design of this laptop is modern and attractive, and the overall performance is amazing. While it has some downsides, such as poor brightness or lack of some ports, I definitely recommend the HP Pavilion 15-cs3019nr as a good option for those who need to work from home.
It didn't get the updated design of the Air this year, but its performance remains outstanding. There are arguably a ton of gaming laptops out there that can outperform this one, but are any of them as portable as this? Yes, gamers do love themselves some big-screen gaming, but this ASUS ZenBook really does get an "A" for effort. Like the Surface Book 2, we only looked at the smaller version of the HP ZBook x2 G4. There's a 15" version that is slightly more premier than this version, but under 14", this is a comparable experience. I won't bore you with specs but I will say that you can tell you're dealing with a workhorse here when all the configurations start with Intel Core i7 processors.
The one concern for creatives will be the display, but if that’s crucial for you consider the OLED panel option or perhaps an external display. The HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook Enterprise is the best option available today. Boasting Intel vPro security, a Titan C chip, and a fingerprint sensor the Dragonfly far surpasses the security of your average Chromebook. A free year of Parallels for Chromebooks gives you full access to any Windows apps you might still need.
That’s also a good target amount for heavy multitaskers, PC gamers, and people who surf the web with many tabs open. Modern web browsers loading multimedia-rich sites and web apps are voracious consumers of memory. Most laptops above entry-level come with solid-state drives , which use memory cells instead of a spinning platter to store data. Since information stored in cells is much faster to access, SSDs are the best and most common drive configuration.
The M2 can struggle a little with getting hot during extensive heavy compute loads, even though Apple has a passive heatpipe cooling solution to offset the chip’s heat. Since thermal throttling can happen, this laptop is best suited to more lightweight tasks, even if it can blaze through short-run demanding tasks if the need should arise. The best gaming laptop title usually goes to the most powerful gaming laptops, and that's understandable. But more modest gaming laptops like this Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 are arguably better for general use, as they not only deliver excellent gaming performance, but also have longer battery life and a lighter chassis. The Razer Blade 15 is one of the best gaming laptops ever made, and this configuration impresses.
If you’re an Apple die-hard, or even just ambivalent towards Windows, then the M2 Apple MacBook Air is the general-use laptop we recommend. But it's not the cheapest Mac laptop; that would be the M1 version of the MacBook Air, which starts at $999 and might be a better choice if you prioritize saving money over the additional benefits that the M2 provides. This laptop is for those who are set on ChromeOS as the preferred or required environment, but would like laptops with Windows-level quality and performance.
Best Affordable Laptop
A laptop won’t revolutionize the minutiae of your life the way a smartphone can. You can’t easily whip one out to kill time in the elevator, capture a breathtaking sunset, or pay for a cup of coffee. That said, what games you play and what content you create -- and the speed at which you do them -- is going vary greatly depending on the components inside the laptop. MacOS is also considered to be easier and safer to use than Windows, especially for people who want their computers to get out of the way so they can get things done.
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