Best laptop 2024: 10 best laptops tested and rated

Looking for one of the best laptops of 2024? You've arrived at the right place. At Laptop Mag, we test over one hundred laptops yearly to find the best of the best. While there are some duds along the way, we are panning for laptop gold and working to find outstanding laptops.

Whether you are searching for an affordable Chromebook, a powerful gaming laptop, a flexible 2-in-1, or a content creation laptop with a gorgeous display, we've done the legwork for you with our extensive reviews and testing.

While there is always something new on the horizon in the world of laptops, this page will always reflect the best laptops you can buy today. 

After years of reviewing laptops, I still find something fascinating about every one that crosses my desk. So, let me be your guide on this quest for the best laptop for you.

My best laptop recommendations aren't just my personal favorites; they are determined by rating, pricing, and use case. 

The Laptop Mag testing team puts every laptop through rigorous tests before turning it over to our reviewers to use in real-world situations, evaluating overall performance, display brightness, keyboard comfort, and much more.

This page is constantly updated to reflect the Laptop Mag staff’s current top laptop choices based on our latest reviews. 

Read on to learn more about our top-rated laptops.

Curated by

Curated by

Sean Riley

Sean Riley has covered a wide variety of tech over his 13 years as a journalist but found his home at Laptop Mag in 2020. As the managing editor, he participates as a reviewer or editor in every laptop review published on Laptop Mag. 

Best laptops at a glance

No time for full reviews? Not to worry. We've got a TL;DR take on each of the laptops on our list, and if you want to know more, you can click through for our full review.

The best laptop for most people:

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Weighing a mere 2.7 pounds, Apple’s smallest laptop features the M3 chip, which delivers a power and efficiency boost over its predecessor. This makes it my pick as the best laptop for most people. 

The MacBook Air's 13.6-inch display is one of the brightest laptops around, and True Tone ensures excellent color accuracy, but its vibrancy falls short of some of the OLED competition. Rumors of Apple moving to OLED in the future abound, but not yet.

Like the M2 Air, the MacBook Air M3 is one of the thinnest laptops at only 0.4 inches. However, unlike many ultraportable laptops, it can keep up with an impressive workload thanks to the M3 chip. Whether it was our benchmarks or real-world usage, the Air M3 was up for any task. 

Looking at the benchmarks, the MacBook Air M3 scored 12,087 on Geekbench 6.2, well above the category average. Our Handbrake video transcoding test took 7 minutes and 54 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. Again, this beats the average, but it's worth noting that some of its Intel Core Ultra-powered competition is passing the MacBook here. Apple also addressed the slightly slower SSD read/write performance of the Air M2, jumping from 2,800.1/2,210.6MBps on the M2 to 3,030.7/3,058.8MBps with the M3. 

All that performance prowess doesn't hurt its battery life, either. If finding an outlet can be a challenge during your day, never fear. The Air M3 powered through over 15 hours of battery life testing in our lab.

If that’s not enough, you also get a 1080p webcam with Apple's latest software tricks helping to boost the hardware to higher heights. So what are the downsides? If you have a lot of peripherals, the pair of Thunderbolt/USB-C ports may be challenging, but at least you have MagSafe 3 to keep both ports free while charging. Starting at $1,099, the 13-inch MacBook Air M3 isn't cheap but remains a solid value. You may want to pay the extra $200 for 16GB of RAM, though multitaskers will appreciate the extra performance headroom.

If you want to save money, the 13-inch MacBook Air M2 sticks around at a new $999 starting price, and I expect to see it regularly discounted to $899 or less, so look at the best MacBook deals before picking one up.

Need more screen real estate? Look no further than the 15-inch MacBook Air M3. It mirrors all of the strengths of its smaller sibling but with a larger 15.3-inch display. 

See our full 13-inch MacBook Air M3 review.
See our full 15-inch MacBook Air M3 review.
See our full 13-inch MacBook Air M2 review.
More like this: Best Macbook 2024

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Best laptop on a budget

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Acer's Swift Go 14 is the easy choice for the best budget laptop. Starting at $749, the Go 14 isn't the cheapest laptop, but its value is incredible. We reviewed the slightly upgraded $999 configuration, but the main trade-off is moving from an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H to a Core Ultra 5 125H. The performance difference will be negligible if you stick to productivity work, browsing, and other general computing. 

The design remains the same at either price, with the Go 14 coming in at just 2.9 pounds. The metallic all-aluminum chassis gives off a faint sparkle that looks and feels far more premium than its price. Popping it open, the contrasting black chiclet-style backlit keyboard looks and feels excellent. Acer also gives you ports aplenty on this portable laptop with two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB Type-A ports, an HDMI port, a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a Kensington lock slot.

The display lands just below the mainstream average for color at 79.1 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut (85.2 percent is average), but it beats the category average in brightness at 374 nits (354 is average). Again, factoring in the price, these are strong results. You could also opt for the 2.8K display configuration if you value a sharper image.

Performance with our review model was everything we've come to expect from the latest Intel Core Ultra. Our Geekbench 6.2 overall performance test scored 12,434, overtaking more expensive options like the MacBook Air M3 (12,087). It also scorched the competition for our Handbrake video encoding test at 5 minutes and 18 seconds, almost four full minutes under the category average (9:07), again besting the MacBook Air M3 (7:54).

So what are the drawbacks? The battery life isn't bad, at 9 hours and 50 minutes in our testing, but it is well below top options like the MacBook Air M3 (15:21) or the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (15:52). If you frequently travel or otherwise have difficulty plugging in, this could impact your decision. The built-in speakers are also less than stellar, so plan on some wireless headphones or earbuds.

However, these are minor concerns for most users, so if you are looking for the best laptop value, look no further than the Acer Swift Go 14.

See our full Acer Swift 14 Go (Intel Core Ultra) review.
More like this: Best budget laptops 2024

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Best laptop for students

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Asus has been on a roll with the Zenbook 14 OLED line for a few years, so while it is no longer a surprise, this early 2024 Zenbook takes yet another significant leap forward.

This is in no small part due to the new Intel Core Ultra chipset inside, which puts the Zenbook 14 OLED on par with any productivity and light content creation laptops on the market. It also absolutely blew the roof off our battery life test, with 15 hours and 52 minutes in our test. That's the longest a traditional Windows laptop has lasted in recent memory.

Divining into some of the specifics on performance, it overtook the 13-inch MacBook Air M3 in multi-core Geekbench 6.2 (12,707 vs. 12,087). That wasn't its only win against the much-vaunted MacBook. The Zenbook also beat it in our Handbrake 1.6 test by converting a 4K video to 1080p in 6:36, over a minute faster than the Air M3's 7:54. 

The OLED display looks excellent in person, but the benchmarking put it in the middle of the road when it comes to the DCI-P3 color gamut at 79.8 percent, that's below the mainstream average of 85.2 percent and just slightly ahead of the MacBook Air M3 (77.8 percent). It is extremely color accurate with a Delta-E of 0.21, relevant for content creators. Display brightness is a weak point against its competition at 339 nits, which is not a terrible result, but it's something we want to see Asus address for the next model.

The Zenbook weighs 3 pounds, not exactly an ultralight, but not something that will weigh you down too much going from class to class or while commuting. Overall, the Zenbook 14 OLED ticks just about every box we like to see for a student laptop while going above and beyond with its performance and battery life. This laptop should comfortably hold up through four years of college or for a high school student preparing to head to college in the next year or two.

See our full Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Q425M) review. 
More like this: Best laptops for college 2024

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Best ultraportable Windows laptop:

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The LG Gram SuperSlim puts every other so-called ultrabook on notice with its 15.6-inch display, 0.49-inch thickness and unbelievable 2.18-pound weight. It is mind-bending that there is a real functioning laptop inside when you pick this thing up. 

Even more amazingly, it isn't a weak laptop that can't do more than browse the web and generate documents, the Intel Core i7-1360p processor, 32GB of RAM, 512GB of RAM and an Intel Iris Xe GPU give you enough oomph to outperform the competition. Let's not forget that it also features a 15.6-inch OLED display, while coming in lighter than many 13-14-inch ultrabooks.

The Gram SuperSlim proved its mettle in our benchmarks delivering a Geekbench 5 score that cleared the mainstream premium laptop average and even the M2 MacBook Air! The SSD is no slouch either, delivering a file transfer rate of 1,692.4MBps, well above the premium average of 1,362.7MBps.

Thin, light and powerful? You're probably waiting to hear that it has terrible battery life. Think again! Apparently LG also shoved a large battery in the pocket dimension inside the Gram SuperSlim, because it lasted 11 hours and 38 minutes on our battery test.

So what's the downside? There's one magic trick that LG can't manage and creating extra depth for the keyboard, which our reviewer found a little shallow for their liking. It's not a dealbreaker, but worth considering if you are churning out thousands of words a day on the Gram SuperSlim.

That shallow keyboard is a small price to pay for the rest of what you are getting though, which is why the LG Gram SuperSlim earned 4.5 stars and an Editor's Choice award. If you need an ultraportable ultrabook, look no further.

See our full LG Gram SuperSlim (2023) review.
More like this: Best ultrabooks 2024

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Best high performance Windows laptop:

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I'd be remiss if I didn't add the Dell XPS 15 (9530) to the list. This laptop is quietly a beast, which I could put in the creative professional realm. It can also serve as a powerful productivity machine and a passable gaming rig. It’s got a stunning 3.5K OLED touchscreen paired with powerful speakers that just scream multimedia machine. 

Armed with its 2.4-GHz Intel Core i7-13700H processor with 32GB of RAM, the XPS 15 (9350) holds up well against most of its competitors. In the Geekbench 6 test, it hit 12,171, crushing the 7,803 premium laptop average. It's a strong result that is only truly blown away by the M3 Max MacBook Pro 16, which reached 20,863. It's worth noting that the MacBook was $1,200 more than our Dell XPS 15 if the price matters to you. 

Looking at real-world tasks, the XPS 15 sped through transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in 5 minutes and 1 second, again well ahead of the 8:18 category average and competitors like the Vivobook Pro 16 (5:50) and Galaxy Book 3 (5:26). The M3 Max MacBook does come out ahead again though at 2:36. On the Laptop Mag Battery Test, the XPS 15 lasted 8 hours and 58 minutes, which is quite a bit shy of the MacBook Pro’s ludicrous 18:05. 

Along with the below-average battery life, the XPS 15 counts a mushy keyboard as a flaw. The latter is a minor annoyance compared to the battery life. Still, if you ensure that the Dell XPS 15 is always near an outlet, it shouldn't be a problem, especially with all the laptop's power. The Dell XPS 15 is the ultimate jack-of-all-trades system with something for everyone. If macOS, the price, or the weaker gaming support aren't a strike against it for you, the MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max deserves consideration for the high-performance crown as well.

See our full Dell XPS 15 (9350) review. 
More like this: Best 15-inch laptops 2024

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The best gaming laptop overall:

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When it’s time to game, and I mean really game — like obliterate everything in the level with wild abandon — look no further than the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18. This behemoth with an 18-inch, 2560 x 1600 display with 240Hz refresh rate is the way to go for buttery smooth rendering, which in those crucial moments can mean the difference between getting the kill shot or receiving it.

But the destruction you’ll unleash comes from the 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900HX and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU with 16GB of VRAM. Both chips are the latest and greatest and very overclockable so you can squeeze every inch of power out of them. And while we’re here, I can’t overlook the pair of 1TB SSDs in RAID 0 configuration. This treacherous triad destroyed just about every benchmark we threw at it on both the overall and gaming performance. 

Where the Strix Scar 18 hit a bit of a hiccup is the File transfer test and battery life. But about 4.5 hours is still pretty good for a laptop packing this much power. Outside of this, my only complaint about this system is the 720p webcam, sure I can use an external webcam $4,000, I expect 1080p –– hell 4K. But overall, this is the gaming laptop to beat.

Read our full Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 review.
More like this: Best gaming laptops 2024

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Best 2-in-1 laptop:

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The new Intel Core Ultra version of the HP Spectre x360 14 takes everything we've loved about this laptop line in recent years and turns it up a notch. Beyond the useful 2-in-1 form factor, you have a gorgeous 2.8K OLED touchscreen display for creating or viewing content.

The laptop weighs in at 3.2 pounds, pretty light for a 14-inch 2-in-1, but thanks to that power-sipping CPU from Intel it still crushed our battery life test with over 11 hours on a single charge! That's one of the best results we've ever seen from a 2-in-1. Despite it's frugal battery usage, the Intel Core Ultra and Arc GPU blew our reviewer away, putting up better Geekbench and 3D Mark results than many heavier clamshell laptops.

So why isn't it perfect? While the display is bright and colorful, we've seen better benchmarks from competitors. However, the rest of the package makes it impossible to argue with the HP Spectre x360 14 as the best 2-in-1 around, which is why the notebook earned 4.5 stars and our coveted Editor’s Choice award. 

See our full HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) review.
More like this: Best 2-in-1 laptops 2024

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Best Chromebook overall:

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This sub-$500 has a lot going for it, including nearly 13 hours of battery life. Plus, according to our reviewer, it's the most attractive Chromebook they've ever reviewed. That's high praise considering less premium laptops tend to look like unassuming gray or black slabs. 

But let's leave the Spin 714's dark-gray finish with the gold accents for a minute and take a look beneath the chassis. With its Intel Core i5-1335U CPU, don't expect the system to do any heavy data crunching or run AutoCAD, but it can do productivity tasks, web work, or stream as much video as you like. On the Geekbench 6 test, it defeated the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook which costs $300 more — 6,335 vs. 4,263. 

The tables were turned on the JetStream 2.0 benchmark, which tests how quickly large web pages load. The Chromebook Spin 714 achieved a score of 250.2, which beats the Chromebook average (240), but not the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook (256.7). 

The Spin 714 also scored a win on our battery test lasting for 12 hours and 43 minutes, eclipsing the Dragonfly's time of 9:17. From a price-to-battery life standpoint, that's the best result we've ever seen.

As long as you don't need any Windows or macOS software, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is an outstanding and affordable option.

See our full Acer Chromebook Spin 714 review. 
More like this: Best Chromebook 2024

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Best MacBook Pro overall:

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Apple's M3 delivers better performance than the last two generations, while also improving on efficiency. While the next generation of Windows PCs look to catch up, it's still Apple's advantage. Plus, the MacBook Pro 14 M3 starts at $400 cheaper than its predecessor. It's an all-out win for students, mobile professionals, creatives –– just about anyone who calls themselves a MacBook fan. 

Boasting performance that's 20% faster CPU performance than the M1 chip, I saw the MacBook Pro 14 score 11,870 on Geekbench 6, beating the XPS 13 (10,525). But it couldn't top the Acer Swift X 14 (12,118).  But on the Handbrake video transcoding test, the MacBook took 5 minutes and 38 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, blasting past the 7:51 average. It also left the Swift X (7:46) and XPS 13 (8:14) eating its dust. 

Although Apple has been singing the praises of its new processors, the bigger news lies with the GPUs. Each graphics chip in the M3 series has a much larger GPU than past generations and sport Dynamic Caching, a new technology that includes hardware-accelerated ray tracing (a first for Apple) and mesh shading. The MacBook  Pro achieved 51 frames per second at 1200p, on the Sid Meier's s Civilization VI benchmark, surpassing the XPS 13 Plus’ (Intel Iris Xe graphics) 23 fps. It was just short of the 53-fps premium laptop average however, and the Swift X 14’s discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU notched 92 fps (2.8K). 

And while it has mixed performance in some areas, the MacBook Pro 14 still sports a stunning display, excellent audio performance and an ultra-comfortable Magic Keyboard. And with over 17 hours of battery life, the MacBook Pro can do work or play for almost the entire day.

See our full Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M3, 2023) review.
More like this: Best Apple laptops 2024

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The best business laptop:

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