The Best Laptops Of 2024, According To PC Experts

Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED

CPU: Intel Core i7-1355U | RAM: 32GB LPDDR5 | Graphics: Intel Iris Xe | Storage: 1TB SSD | Display: 13.3-inch OLED | Resolution: 2,880 x 1,800 | Refresh rate: 60Hz | Battery: Up to 10 hours | Weight: 2.2 pounds

Best for: Everyday web browsing, office use and watching movies on a brilliant, sharp screen.

Pros:

• Great performance
• Crisp, vivid OLED display
• Extremely light

Cons:

• Lacks an onboard GPU for gaming

The Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED has a thirteenth-generation Intel processor and comes with a boatload of memory—32GB of DDR5 RAM—making it perfect for heavy multi-tasking and having as many browser tabs open as you want. To top it all off, it has a 2.8K OLED screen, so images look ultra crisp with inky blacks and vibrant colors. That makes this laptop the perfect tool for work, entertainment and content creation.

This laptop doesn’t let you down elsewhere, either. Battery life gets you an average of 10 hours of mixed use, and at only two pounds, this laptop is super light and portable.

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Best Dell Laptop

Sleek, Lightweight and Portable

Dell XPS 13

CPU: Snapdragon X Elite | RAM: 16GB | Graphics: Qualcomm Adreno | Storage: 512GB | Display: 13.4-inch | Resolution: 1920 x 1200 | Refresh rate: 120Hz | Battery: Up to 27 hours | Weight: 2.62 pounds

Best for: Everyday web browsing, office use and watching videos.

Pros:

• Long lasting battery
• Thin and lightweight
• Bright display

Cons:

• Limited ports

The Dell XPS 13 has long been one of the company’s most popular models, and this latest iteration proves it can carry on that moniker with its snappy performance and sleek design. At less than three pounds, the XPS 13 is incredibly thin and portable; alongside the Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED, it’s one of the most lightweight models on our list. Design aside, the Dell XPS 13 packs a punch with its Snapdragon X Elite processor, Qualcomm Adreno graphics and 16GB of RAM, offering plenty of power for office use, gaming or creative work. However, one downside is that the XPS 13 only comes with two USB-C ports so if you plan on connecting accessories, you’ll likely need a docking station.

Best Gaming Laptop

A Sleek And Speedy Modern Machine

Lenovo Legion Pro 5

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX | RAM: 16GB DDR5 | Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 | Storage: 1TB SSD | Display: 16-inch touchscreen | Resolution: 2560 x 1600 | Refresh rate: 165Hz | Battery: Up to 8 hours | Weight: 5.45 pounds

Best for: Gaming at high detail and high frame rates.

Pros:

• Excellent gaming performance, with DLSS 3 support
• Fast and responsive display
• Storage and RAM are fast and upgradeable

Cons:

• Heavy
• Battery life could be better

The latest generation of the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 is a lesson in performance and efficiency. It has enough power to drive high-fidelity gaming at 1600p resolution, all while offering impressive battery life for a gaming laptop. It won’t outlast true efficiency kings like Apple’s MacBooks, but for a gaming machine? This laptop goes and goes, and goes hard. It has Ryzen 7 CPU from AMD featuring the latest Zen 4 cores on a tiny 5nm process node, and with eight cores and a high clock speed, there’s nothing this chip can’t handle. Paired with an Nvidia RTX 4060, and it can not only pump out high frame rates in any game you choose, but it supports both DLSS and its new DLSS 3 frame generation feature, which helps mid-range GPUs punch well above their weight in compatible games.

It has a gorgeous 16-inch display with a high refresh rate, above-average brightness and resolution, making it look crisp and vibrant. It’s a touchscreen too, so in compatible games or apps you can enjoy that additional input option. You still won’t get a ton of battery life when gaming at high detail settings, but if you lower the screen brightness and limit the frame rate in casual games, you should be able to get a few hours of of this machine without difficulty. It also comes at an affordable price, making this a gaming laptop that almost anyone can enjoy.

Best Affordable Laptop

Do Almost Anything Without Breaking The Budget

Dell Inspiron 14

CPU: Intel Core i7-1355U | RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 | Graphics: Intel Iris Xe | Storage: 1TB | Display: 14-inch | Resolution: 1,920 x 1,200 | Refresh rate: 60Hz | Battery: Up to 11 hours | Weight: 3.5 pounds

Best for: Budget buyers looking for a capable performer for under $1,000.

Pros:

• Good performance at an affordable price
• Attractive 1080p display
• Lots of fast storage space

Cons:

• No dedicated GPU for gaming

This Dell Inspiron 14 has everything you need for a whole range of simple tasks, whether it’s office work, web browsing and research or even casual gaming. It has thirteenth-generation Intel Core i7 processor with 10 cores. That gives it excellent multi-tasking performance if you’re a heavy web browser or want to run a few different apps at once. The onboard graphics can run older and casual games. And with 16GB of fast memory and a 1TB SSD, the system is snappy and responsive.

At just 3.5 pounds, you can take this light, compact laptop just about anywhere without weighing you down. The battery lasts about 11 hours, which is more than enough for a workday and then some. The 16:10 aspect ratio display makes it more comfortable reading longer documents and web pages, too.

Best 2-In-1 Laptop

Stylish Look, Lightweight Design

Lenovo Yoga 9i

CPU: Intel Core i7-1360P | RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 | Graphics: Intel Iris Xe | Storage: 512GB SSD | Display: 14-inch OLED touchscreen | Resolution: 2,880 x 1,800 | Refresh rate: 60Hz | Battery: Up to 11 hours | Weight: 3.1 pounds

Best for: Laptop and tablet work—and casual gaming, too.

Pros:

• Powerful internal hardware
• Vibrant OLED 2K display
• 16:10 aspect ratio

Cons:

• Lacks high-end graphics for gaming

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 14-inch delivers almost everything you’d want in a modern 2-in-1 laptop, with solid performance from its internal hardware and above average battery life. The Intel Core i7-1360p at the heart of this machine delivers excellent performance in both lightweight and more demanding tasks, partly thanks to its 16GB of high-speed LPDDR5 memory, which offers much greater bandwidth than previous generation 2-in-1s. It lacks dedicated graphics, so this isn’t a 2-in-1 for gamers, but the Intel Iris Xe is enough for older indie and esports games.

The responsive 2.8K touchscreen OLED display produces crisp images, and its taller 16:10 aspect ratio makes it great for browsing longer documents or websites. Like all OLED displays, the Yoga 9i’s screen showcases inky blacks and vibrant colors that make every image, movie and TV show look stellar. Adjust this model to use it in multiple ways, thanks to its 360-degree hinge, which lets you use it as a tablet. It’s heavier than detachable tablets at just over 3 pounds, but it’s still one of the lightest laptops for a 2-in-1 of this size.

Best Laptop For Students

Lightweight But Still Powerful

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS | RAM: 16GB DDR5 | Graphics: Nvidia RTX 4050 | Storage: 512GB SSD | Display: 14-inch | Resolution: 2560 x 1440 | Refresh rate: 165Hz | Battery: Up to 10 hours | Weight: 3.64 pounds

Best for: School work and gaming on the move.

Pros:

• Bright and fast display
• Extremely portable
• Long battery life

Cons:

• Lacks high-end performance

A powerful work and gaming laptop is typically heavy, but it doesn’t have to be. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is both high-performance and pretty lightweight, weighing in at just over 3.5 pounds. That makes it great for lugging around at college, only to whip it out for school work or when you fancy a game. Its battery will last all day, too, which you won’t find on almost any other laptop of its kind. You’ll be able to watch videos and play most games at high detail with the Ryzen 7 CPU and RTX 4050 graphics, especially in games that support DLSS 3 frame generation. However, this isn’t a high-end gaming machine, so while it will make your games look great at 1440p, you might need to lower some settings to maintain high frame rates in AAA titles.

If you can get a high frame rate, you’ll really appreciate how smooth this laptop looks, too. It uses Mini-LEDs, so it gets very bright, helping HDR elements pop off the screen and making colors rich and vivid. It also has plenty of fast storage space, and a wide selection of ports, including USB-A, USB-C (one of which is USB4) and HDMI 2.1. It also has an SD card reader and a headphone jack.

Best 4K Laptop

Fast Hardware And A Beautiful Display

Dell XPS 17

CPU: Intel Core i9-13900H | RAM: 32GB LPDDR5 | Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 | Storage: 1TB | Display: 17-inch touchscreen | Resolution: 3,840 x 2,400 | Refresh rate: 60Hz | Battery: Up to 10 hours | Weight: 5.1 pounds

Best for: Getting a gorgeous picture on a 17-inch display.

Pros:

• Excellent performance
• Big and bright 4K display
• Strong battery life

Cons:

• Expensive
• Not very portable

The Dell XPS 17 bumps the processor to a thirteenth-generation Intel Core i9, memory from 16GB to 32GB, adds a step-up graphics card and doubles the storage to 1TB. This boosts make the Dell 17 up to almost any computing task. Its sleek design looks clean and professional, and though it’s not a light laptop, it’s not as heavy as some of the bulky gaming laptops.

Where this laptop really distinguishes itself is with its 4K touchscreen display. At 17-inches, the display has lots of screen space for multiple windows if you’re multi-tasking. It’s also very bright, hitting as high as 500 nits in HDR movies and games. The battery can run for up to 10 hours of mixed use.

Best MacBook Laptop

Lightweight Yet Powerful MacBook

Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (M2)

CPU: Apple M2 | RAM: 8GB | Graphics: Apple M2 GPU | Storage: 512GB SSD | Display: 13.3-inch | Resolution: 2,560 x 1,664 | Refresh rate: 60Hz | Battery: Up to 18 hours | Weight: 2.7 pounds

Best for: Completing lightweight tasks at blazing speed, or for Apple fans who want to stay in the ecosystem.

Pros:

• One of the most affordable M2 MacBooks you can buy
• Terrific performance
• More than a full work-day of battery life

Cons:

• Can get warm during high-computing tasks

The Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M2) builds on the success of the M1 generation Air with greater performance and a bright 500 nits, 2K display. This model’s aluminum body design presents as a classy and understated look. While you can use this laptop for everyday tasks including image and video editing, it is best suited to more lightweight tasks as the M2 can get warm during extensive, heavy use.

At just 2.7 pounds, the lightweight MacBook Air 13-inch (M2) is the best MacBook available for use on the go. This isn’t the least expensive configuration of the MacBook Air 13-inch (M2), but the 256GB version ($300 less) has a slower SSD, making it less easy to recommend.

Best Laptop For Kids

All They Need To Get Started

Acer Aspire 3

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7520U | RAM: 8GB LPDDR5 | Graphics: AMD Radeon | Storage: 512GB SSD | Display: 15.6-inch touchscreen | Resolution: 1920 x 1080 | Refresh rate: 60Hz | Battery: Up to 11 hours | Weight: 3.9 pounds

Best for: The first laptop you give to your kids.

Pros:

• Great performance
• Lots of storage space
• Decent battery life

Cons:

• A little heavy for younger children

For parents searching for their kids’ first laptop, take a look at the Acer Aspire 3. It’s a relatively lightweight and portable design, with impressive performance from its new-generation Ryzen 5 CPU and 8GB of fast DDR5 memory. This is backed up by 512GB of fast SSD storage, so there’s enough space there for all your child’s applications, games, files and folders. The 15.6-inch touchscreen is only 1080p, but that helps keep the battery life high, and its touchscreen allows for additional interaction options. It’s not a fold-flat 2-in-1, though, so you can’t use this as a tablet.

The battery lasts all day for up to 11 hours of mixed usage, so you won’t always be looking for a charge point or power bank. It charges fast when you do plug it in, though, and it offers excellent connectivity. There’s USB-C and USB-A, with a headphone and microphone jack, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 6 support, and a built-in webcam to help them stay in touch with friends and family.

Why Trust Forbes Vetted

• Forbes Vetted contributor Jon Martindale is a tech journalist with years of experience covering laptops and computers. As a former owner of a PC review site, Martindale evaluates all sorts of computer hardware, from the best business laptops to computer monitors.
• Consumer tech and electronics editor Rebecca Isaacs is an industry veteran who has been covering computer hardware for over four years. She oversees this guide and its updates, as well as our large library of laptop articles.
• We routinely update this guide to make sure our recommendations remain current. It was last updated in June 2024 by tech updates writer Alexandra Garrett to add the Dell XPS 13.

How We Chose The Best Laptops

To find the best laptops of 2024, we tracked down top-rated models from tried and trusted brands, such as Asus, Dell, Apple, Lenovo and Acer.

• We sought out reputable laptop brands and examined the critical features of the most popular models, prioritizing processing power, RAM, graphics, storage, display size, resolution, refresh rate, weight and battery life.
• We leveraged Isaacs and Martindale’s hands-on experience building, testing and reviewing computers when compiling our list of laptop recommendations.
• We pored over customer reviews and made sure each pick had an average rating of at least 3.5 stars out of 5.
• Laptops aren’t one-size-fits-all, so we included options to suit a variety of needs and budgets, like the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 for gaming and ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 for students.

The Best Laptop By Category

Looking for more options? We’ve got a list to help you find the best laptop for your lifestyle. From MacBooks and Chromebooks, to models under $500, we’ve got you covered.