Best Asus laptops in 2024

The best Asus laptops are hidden among the company's expansive portfolio. It can be overwhelming to figure out which one is best for you. There are so many! The good news is that we've sifted through Asus' massive lineup of laptops, so you don't have to.

The best laptops from Asus are known for their mind-blowing, state-of-the-art innovation. Asus' impressive innovations (we love their dual-screen laptops) and economically priced notebooks keep this laptop maker high in the industry's esteem.

After all, Asus doesn't want to get lost in a sea of boring laptops. Instead, it wants to stand out from the crowd and offer powerful performance in a computer while still tackling the challenge of portability. We've tested a cornucopia of Asus laptops, including their battery runtimes, display quality, sturdiness, and more.

Asus announced exciting new ProArt laptops at Computex 2024. The first Asus Copilot+ PC will arrive via the Asus Vivobook S 15, which comes outfitted with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor. We also got hands-on with the Asus ROG Ally X, the newest handheld gaming PC from the Taiwan-based tech giant. (I'm hyped for that the most.)

Below, we've compiled a well-tested list of Asus' best laptops.

Curated by

Curated by

Rami Tabari

Rami loves a great Asus laptop, especially the gaming variety. After reviewing dozens of laptops over 6+ years, Rami can spot a star laptop in any category, whether it's cheap or premium. His one and only five-star laptop review was of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. It went downhill over the years, but the recent entry is pretty solid. Extensive testing and hands-on experience taught Rami how to ensure that you will get the most for what you're paying for with the best Asus laptops.

The Quick List

Best Overall

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I do not often get to crown a laptop that starts at under $1,000 as the best for a whole brand's page. That's right. The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Q425M) is a killer laptop with incredible battery life and is surprisingly affordable. It's our best for students' laptops on our best laptops page, and it even made its mark on the laptops with the best battery life page for its incredible 15 hours and 52 minutes of battery life.

Despite its price, the Zenbook 14 is equipped with Intel's latest Core Ultra 7 155H, which offers enough power to handle a modest number of tasks. A Photoshop editing session combined with a couple dozen Chrome tabs and spreadsheets wasn't enough to slow it down.

It's not just performance and battery that takes this machine to the top. I love OLED displays, and my favorite part about the Zenbook 14 is its 14-inch, 1080p OLED display. This baby covers 79.8 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, averaging 339 nits of brightness. That means the Zenbook 14 will be there for you at the end of the day when you want to stream your favorite shows on a gorgeous window.

That battery will get you through work or school, but what about the keyboard? Thanks to their pleasant click-to-pressure ratio, these 1.4mm deep keys will carry you throughout the day. Take comfort in the comfort that this keyboard graces your fingertips with.

Then we've got the bumpin' Harman Kardon and Dolby Atmos-certified super-linear speakers that had us headbanging subconsciously. The Zenbook 14 captured quality mids and highs along with a wide bass.

The device is also remarkably thin, sliding in at 0.59 inches. Slot this into a medium-sized purse, and you're good to go. You can't forget about the webcam privacy shutter, which is an excellent feature in this day and age.

See our full Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Q425M) review.

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Best budget

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The Asus Chromebook Detachable CM3 is not only the best Asus Chromebook, it's one of our favorite Chrome OS devices we've ever tested. Yes, it’s a bit on the older side, but it’s incredibly versatile thanks to its laptop-to-tablet nature, built-in stylus, and long battery life. 

It lasted 11 hours and 41 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test. That’s enough time to outlast the average work or school day. You can even get some overtime or a head start on homework. Its weight and size make it much more portable, at 2 pounds (with keyboard and case) and 12.7 x 8.9 x 0.68 inches, respectively.

Speaking of its design — you can’t get more versatile than a durable 2-in-1 detachable. What makes it durable? It meets U.S. MIL-STD810H standards for bumps, shocks, and temperature changes. Otherwise, its design lets you use it as a laptop or tablet, and its cover lets you stand it vertically. And unlike some premium products, this Chromebook sports a built-in stylus, so you don’t have to pay extra.

Then we’ve got the 10.5-inch, 1900 x 1200 touchscreen display, which wowed us with its color and brightness. The Asus Chromebook Detachable CM3 covered 93.6 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and averaged 386 nits of brightness, which is more impressive than some premium laptops we test.

Unfortunately, the MediaTek MTK 8183 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of eMMC storage don't deliver much performance. However, if you buy it directly from Asus, you can get it for cheap. Please don’t purchase this device for anything over its launch price, which started at $329.

Overall, the CM3 is a fantastic device for kids, students, or anyone who needs a rugged, portable device for a budget-friendly price. 

See our full Asus Chromebook Detachable CM3 review.

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Best gaming

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Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 playing Cyberpunk 2077.

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 is the monster under the bed if your bed has the under glow of a Fast & Furious street car. Packed with Intel's Core i9-13900HX processor and Nvidia's RTX 4090 GPU, its chips are powerful and highly overclockable so that you can squeeze every drop of performance out of the system.

The king of gaming laptops crushed our benchmarks and their families. For the most part, it maintained a three-digit result during gaming tests. The Strix sped through on the Assassin's Creed Valhalla benchmark with a scorching 154 fps. It reached 181 and 152 fps on Rise of the Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto V, respectively.

Meanwhile, the 13th Gen CPU scored 19,233 on the Geekbench 5.4 overall performance test, which smoked the average premium gaming laptop (practically doubling it). Our video transcoding test was no match, as the Strix completed it in just 2 minutes and 49 seconds, which is over a minute faster than the MacBook Pro 16-inch M2 Pro Max. And the Strix's pair of 1TB SSDs dominated our file transfer tests.

We also loved the design, which had a mysterious Blade Runner vibe. The 18-inch, QHD+ (2560 x 1600) 240Hz display also created a beautiful picture with a buttery smooth rendering.

However, be prepared to make some sacrifices. You're stuck with a measly 4 hours and 26 minutes of battery life. Naturally, we hate its 720p webcam. Even if it wasn't great, we expected a 1080p shooter at this eye-watering price. 

Despite that, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 is the gaming laptop to beat. Seriously, it's at the top of our best gaming laptops page.

Unfortunately, the webcam is rough, so we recommend checking out the best webcams if that's an issue for you.

See our full Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 review.

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Best Workstation

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Are you ready to work on a dual-screen monstrosity that emphasizes performance and productivity? The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 features the most bizarre deck layout, but the design works perfectly for anyone with a multitask-heavy workflow.

Let's start with its displays (plural). The main display is a 16-inch, 1600p, 240Hz Mini-LED panel that wowed us with its 121 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut and its stunning 684 nits of brightness. Finding an equally bright and colorful display of this caliber is like catching a shiny Pokémon. But that's not the only display!

Then we have the 14-inch, 2560 x 734-pixel ScreenPad Plus, which encompasses half of the deck. Its touchscreen panel is incredibly responsive, making it perfect for managing multiple projects, including video and photo editing.

Now let's dive into the awesome specs, including an AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU with 16GB of VRAM, and 32GB of RAM. We ran the Duo 16 through Grand Theft Auto V and Borderlands 3, achieving an excellent 158 fps and 135 fps, respectively. Other laptops with an RTX 4090, like the Razer Blade 16, got 164 fps and 142 fps, respectively. While the Razer technically did better, the Duo 16 offers comparable performance.

The Duo 16 may put a sizeable dent in your bank account with a price tag nearing $5,000. This six-pound gaming laptop will also require you to up your gym game. And you need to get used to the keyboard and touchpad — no, they are not where they should be.

Forget about using this machine unplugged. On our battery test, the Zephyrus Duo lasted 4 hours and 7 minutes with one display enabled, and it survived 3 hours and 32 minutes with two displays enabled.

Overall, the Asus gaming laptop will be an excellent investment for those who constantly cross-reference documents for work — this chunky money is a significant time saver.

See our full Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 review.

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Best MacBook Pro alternative

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Are you looking for a MacBook Pro equivalent for Windows that you don’t need to pay $3K+ to get? That’s why the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED is here. Starting under $1,999, you get quality performance, a gorgeous display, and strong speakers that a content creator could only dream of.

Asus stacked the Zenbook Pro 14 OLED with an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM. The Pro 14 scored 13,249 on the Geekbench overall performance test and 19,010 on the 3DMark Fire Strike synthetic graphics test, which crushed the average laptop in its category. 

Let’s move on to that beautiful 14-inch, 2800 x 1800, 120Hz, 16:10 OLED display. The Pro 14 reproduced 78.2 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and averaged 346.6 nits of brightness. That’s nearly on par with a MacBook Pro. The one advantage that the Pro 14 has is its OLED panel, which presents deeper blacks and bolder colors.

For a beast of a machine, it’s relatively lightweight and slim as well. It weighs 3.5 pounds and measures 12.67 x 8.79 x 0.7 inches. And packed within that chassis are Harmon Kardon-tuned speakers, which showcase very discerning, clear audio with depth.

However, the only place where the MacBook Pro 14 dominates the Zenbook is in battery life. The Pro 14 lasted only 6 hours and 51 minutes on our battery test. It can get you through most of the workday, but you’ll have to plug it in before the day closes.

Despite that, the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED is an excellent option. If you’re doing serious video editing, you’ll likely be plugged in to take full advantage of the GPU.

See our full Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED review.

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Best handheld

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The last thing I imagined was that Asus would produce one of our favorite devices in the past decade, but it wasn't a laptop. Yep, this is the Asus ROG Ally, one of the few trending handheld gaming devices that launched since the Steam Deck made its mark on the world.

Outside of its incredible concept, the ROG Ally's most remarkable feature is the display. It's smaller than a traditional gaming laptop but looks way better. At 465 nits of brightness, the 7-inch, 1920 x 1080 display is brighter than some premium laptops. It also supports a 120Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync with a 7-millisecond response time.

Before you start jumping up and down, temper your expectations. You won't play games on high settings, so put that out of your mind. Despite that, the Ally pushed hard on our testing. On the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla benchmark, the ROG Ally scored 29 fps at 1080p on High. You'll likely get at least 60 fps if you turn that to low.

Surprise! The ROG Ally weighs only 21.4 ounces and measures 11 x 4.4 x 0.8 inches, making it the most portable device on this page. I threw this thing in my purse, and I still had room for my usual things. 

So what's wrong with it? The battery life. You’re getting 1 hour and 43 minutes — that is persistent gaming. If you’re not gaming, it lasts 5:51. However, if we consider the use case, that's not a great way to just the device. We don't use the Nintendo Switch to browse the web, so why do it on this?

Asus is the king of innovation, so while I am shocked that the Ally exists, it makes sense. If you're looking for a controller-based gaming rig to play on the go, the Asus ROG Ally is the one for you.

See our full Asus ROG Ally review.

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How to choose the best Asus laptop for you

Do your intensive daily workloads require more RAM than the average Joe? Are you a video editor who needs extra storage? Are you a gamer who wants a powerful GPU? Sorting through the best Asus laptops to fit your lifestyle is tricky.

To simplify your shopping process, we put together some tried-and-true guidelines to help you find the best laptop for your specific needs.

Budget: What you get for the money.

You will struggle to find decent Windows laptops or high-quality Chromebooks for under $500, but some diamonds are rough. However, better mainstream laptops usually cost more than $800, and premium laptops start at over $1,000. The best gaming laptops can cost $2.000 and up, but you can play the latest titles at decent frame rates on gaming laptops under $1,000.

The CPU and GPU are among the most significant factors in the cost of any laptop, so don't pay for a premium gaming laptop if you're a casual gamer who prefers retro titles or spend up for a content creator laptop with a 40 series GPU if you are going to be browsing the web and doing productivity tasks. List the apps you use or games you want to play and start checking the PC requirements. You can likely take on anything non-graphic-intensive with a Core i7 or higher for traditional machines. In terms of gaming laptops, almost any with a 40-series GPU can play an indie game, but if you're dabbling in AAA titles, you have to decide which settings you're comfortable playing on and scale up to an RTX 4070 or higher as needed.

Screen Size: 12 to 14 inches for portability

Knowing a laptop's screen size tells you a lot about its portability overall. If you want to use your computer on your lap or carry it around a lot, go for one with a 12, 13, or 14-inch display. If you want to use the computer on tables and desks and won't carry it around much, a 15-inch model may give you more value. Some gaming rigs, media machines, and workstations even have 17 or 18-inch screens, but steer clear of those if you need to tote this laptop in your bag daily.

Do you want a 2-in-1 or a clamshell?

More of today's laptops are 2-in-1s with screens that either bend back 360 degrees or detach so you can use them as tablets. If you like using your laptop in slate mode for drawing, media consumption, or just standing it up, a 2-in-1 could be for you. However, you can often get better features or a lower price by going with a traditional clamshell-style laptop.

How much battery life do you need?

If you're on the go, you'll need to make sure you snag a laptop that lasts more than 10 hours. But if you're a homebody or tied to your desk all day, perhaps you can sacrifice some battery life and save money. If battery life is your top priority, check out our laptops with the best battery life list.

Specs: 1080p / Core i5 (Ultra 5) / 256GB / 8GB are a good baseline

You can spend a lot of time delving into specs, but here are the key components. If you just want good mainstream performance, go for a Core i5 (Ultra 5) CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 1080p screen. If it's within your budget, consider upgrading to 16GB of RAM, particularly if you like to multitask. 

How We Test the Best Asus Laptops

We put each laptop through extensive benchmark testing—both synthetic and real-world—before we send it to our reviewers. We evaluate each aspect of the laptop, including its performance, battery life, display, speakers, and heat management.

In our benchmark testing, we use a Klein K10 colorimeter to detect the laptop's display's brightness and sRGB color gamut. For performance testing, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 5 and 6 and 3DMark professional graphics tests. 

To determine real-world performance, we task the laptop with converting a 4K video to 1080p resolution and duplicate a 25GB multimedia file. Our real-world graphics test is Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark with medium settings at 1080p resolution.

We also run heat tests by playing a 15-minute full-screen video and measuring temperatures in different areas of the laptop. Last but not least, our battery test consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. For MacBooks and premium Windows 11 laptops, a runtime of over 9 hours is considered a good result, whereas gaming laptops and workstations that can stay powered longer than 5 hours deserve praise. 

We complement these tests with extensive hands-on testing from our reviewers, who critique everything from the laptop's materials to the feel of its touchpad. 

See this page on How We Test Laptops for more details on our benchmarking procedures.

Why Trust Laptop Mag

Laptop Mag reviews over one hundred different laptops every year, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming. 

We are 100 percent independent and have decades of experience to help you buy with confidence. In fact, Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing products for three decades and continues to deliver trustworthy reviews you can rely on. 

Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it. 

Future Publishing, one of the world's largest technology publishers, enforces our editorial trustworthiness. As a company, we have unrivaled experience across every tech sector — and we're the group's specialist for all things mobile tech.