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MacBook Air 13-inch (M3)
Value ★★★★★
Performance ★★★★☆
Battery life ★★★★★
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet
Value ★★★★★
Performance ★★★☆☆
Battery life ★★★★★
Acer Aspire 5
Value ★★★★★
Performance ★★★☆☆
Battery life ★★★☆☆
MacBook Air (M2, 2022)
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★☆
Battery life ★★★★★
Dell XPS 13 Plus
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★★
Battery life ★★★☆☆
Acer Chromebook Plus 515
Value ★★★★★
Performance ★★★★★
Battery life ★★★☆☆
MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Pro/M3 Max)
Value ★★★☆☆
Performance ★★★★★
Battery life ★★★★★
Lenovo Yoga Book 9i
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★☆
Battery life ★★★★★
Razer Blade 14
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★★
Battery life ★★★☆☆
1. MacBook Air 13-inch (M3)
The new MacBook Air 13-inch is now the laptop we'd recommend to pretty much anyone thanks to a great design, excellent performance and relatively affordable price.
What you need to know
The Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) is in our opinion the best laptop overall you can buy right now. Thanks to a stylish new design that makes this thin and light laptop feel more modern, this is a MacBook you can take almost anywhere. Not only is it portable, in our review we found that it offers a very decent 16-hour battery life, and the new screen is a joy to work on. It’s just a shame that a price bump has made it slightly less good value for money than its predecessor.
Design: After years sticking to a safe tried-and-tested design, Apple finally gave the MacBook Air a much-needed makeover with this model. It’s now thinner and lighter than before, making it more portable, and by slimming down the bezels around the screen, it’s allowed Apple to include a larger display without making it bulky. The screen is bright and vibrant, and the new modern look and new color options makes the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) one of the best looking laptops you can buy.
Performance: During our time reviewing the MacBook Air, it delivered incredible performance across the board. It quickly boots into macOS, and apps run smoothly (and look fantastic on the new display). We found even when browsing the web in both Safari and Chrome with lots of tabs open, the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) kept up, though we may soon find the 8GB of memory that comes with the base model a bit too limited. Meanwhile, thanks to the redesigned keyboard, whipping up documents and composing emails feel effortless and comfortable.
Battery life: In our tests, the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) lasted a huge 16 hours on battery while playing a 1080p video – that's a 30-minute improvement over the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022), and five hours longer than the MacBook Air (M1, 2020). This laptop will last you throughout an entire workday or on a long-haul flight, and then some. It's not the longest life you'll find in a MacBook - the new MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max) almost hits 24 hours on a single charge.
Value for money: The MacBook Air starts at $1,199 / £1,249 / AU$1,899, a substantial leap from the older MacBook Air’s launch price of $999 / £999 / AU$1,599. Due to the new design, better display and more powerful M2 hardware, the price rise is understandable, but it also means it won't feel as good in value as its predecessor. Apart from its excellent performance, the best thing about the 2020 MacBook Air was its low price, so Apple raising the price on the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) is a little hard to swallow. The good news is that with the launch of the 15-inch MacBook Air, the price of the 13-inch model has dropped by $100, making it better value for money (though still pricey).
2. Lenovo IdeaPad Duet
An OLED display on a Chromebook is uncommon, so if that's what you're looking for, this is the best choice.
What you need to know
The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook 5 is the best ultra-low price laptop you can buy, and it's a brilliant follow-up to the original IdeaPad Duet. While it’s been out for a while, Chromebooks don’t date as quickly as Windows laptops, and it's still one of the best Chromebooks we've used. If you're a Chromebook skeptic, the IdeaPad Duet Chromebook just might convert you. It can be used as both a laptop and a tablet thanks to its detachable keyboard, while also boasting an impressively long battery life. You're simply not going to find a Windows 11 laptop that can outlast the 20-hour battery life the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook offers – especially at this price. It’s a particularly good choice for students who want something reliable, flexible and affordable.
Design: The Duet 5 Chromebook's keyboard is Ultrabook-worthy in quality and comfort, and it can be easily detached, turning the Duet 5 into a tablet-like device. Meanwhile, the magnetized backplate on the Duet 5 Chromebook has a small clip to house a Lenovo Active Pen stylus, even though the stylus isn't included in the box. The best thing about the design, however, is the gorgeous 1080p OLED display, which offers exceptional image quality - especially considering the price.
Performance: When it comes to general web browsing, video streaming, and basic productivity use, the Duet 5 does exactly what you want it to do without so much as a hiccup. Its CPU is upgraded to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen2 processor, which is a step up from the last model, and the 8GB of RAM is a decent amount for a Chromebook, keeping things running very smoothly.
Battery life: While Chromebooks on average get about 10 hours of life on a fully-charged battery, the Lenovo Duet 5 lasted a huge 16 hours. This is a drop from the previous model (which managed over 20 hours), which is disappointing.
Value for money: As far as Chromebooks and 2-in-1 laptops go, this is hands down the best value you're going to find in a portable device of its kind. When it launched, it was more expensive than its predecessor, but over time, its price has dropped, making it superb value for money.
3. Acer Aspire 5
The Acer Aspire 5 is a no-frills laptop that does the job well for a lot less than other Windows 11 laptops.
What you need to know
As long as you keep your expectations in check, the Acer Aspire 5 remains the best cheap laptop you can buy in 2024. Its design is lightweight yet doesn't feel cheap, its large screen size is comfortable to work on, and you can even configure it to come with an Nvidia GPU. Don't mistake this for a gaming laptop however. But, the GPU can help make the Aspire 5 punch above its weight when it comes to video editing. For the price, you'll pleasantly surprised.
Design: The Acer Aspire 5 won't win any design or innovation awards, but it offers you a solid, dependable laptop design that will at least feel familiar. Weighing 1.7kg and measuring 18mm thick, it's a laptop you can easily carry around with you. We didn't love the L-shaped power connector in our review, however, which sticks out a bit when plugged in.
Performance: The Acer Aspire 5 doesn't wow when it comes to performance - but nor does it disappoint. This is a solid and dependable laptop that you can rely on for your day-to-day needs. However, gaming is out of the question with the base model, which comes with integrated graphics. However, you can buy a model with a dedicated GPU, and this offers improved graphical performance - but don't expect to play demanding games on this thing.
Battery life: In our review we found the Acer Aspire 5 lasted around six and a half hours on battery. While this isn't awful, there are cheap laptops out there, especially Chromebooks, which offer much longer battery life. So, you'll likely want to bring its charging cable with you when you're out and about.
Value for money: As you might expect from a laptop we consider to be the best budget device money can buy, the Acer Aspire 5 offers excellent value for money, going for around $600 in the US and £500 in the UK. Even at that low price you get good performance, a nice design and 1080p screen.
4. MacBook Air (M2, 2022)
The Acer Aspire 5 is a no-frills laptop that does the job well for a lot less than other Windows 11 laptops.
What you need to know
The Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M2) is in our opinion the best laptop for students you can buy right now. Thanks to a stylish design that makes this thin and light laptop feel more modern than previous models, this is a MacBook you can take almost anywhere. Not only is it portable, in our review we found that it offers a very decent 16-hour battery life, and the screen is a joy to work on. Now that a newer model has been release, the M2 MacBook Air has had a big price cut - and you can get a further $100/£100 knocked off if you are a student. This makes it a brilliant laptop for school and university use - it'll easily last your entire course.
Design: After years of sticking to a safe tried-and-tested design, Apple finally gave the MacBook Air a much-needed makeover with this model. It’s thinner and lighter than before, making it more portable, and by slimming down the bezels around the screen, it’s allowed Apple to include a larger display without making it bulky. The screen is bright and vibrant, and the new modern look and new color options makes the MacBook Air (M2) one of the best looking laptops you can buy, even a few years after its launch.
Performance: During our time reviewing the MacBook Air, it delivered incredible performance across the board. It quickly boots into macOS, and apps run smoothly (and look fantastic on the new display). We found even when browsing the web in both Safari and Chrome with lots of tabs open, the MacBook Air (M2) kept up, though we may soon find the 8GB of memory that comes with the base model a bit too limited. Meanwhile, thanks to the redesigned keyboard, whipping up documents and composing emails feel effortless and comfortable.
Battery life: In our tests, the MacBook Air 13-inch (M2) lasted a huge 16 hours on battery while playing a 1080p video – that's a 30-minute improvement over the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022), and five hours longer than the MacBook Air (M1, 2020). This laptop will last you throughout an entire workday or on a long-haul flight, and then some. It's not the longest life you'll find in a MacBook - the new MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max) almost hits 24 hours on a single charge.
Value for money: The MacBook Air launched at $1,199 / £1,249 / AU$1,899, a substantial leap from the older MacBook Air’s launch price. However, with the launch of the M3 MacBook Air, the 13-inch MacBook Air (M2) is now officially on sale for $999 / $999 / AU$1,599 - making it much better value for money, and arguably selling for the price it should have launched at. Even better, if you're a student with an appropriate ID, you can get it for $899 / £899 / AU$1,439. For that price you're not going to get a better laptop.
5. Dell XPS 13 Plus
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is one of the lightest laptops around, and it looks great as well.
What you need to know
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is a premium version of the Dell XPS 13 - a thin and light laptop which was often featured at the very top of this best laptops buying guide. While Apple's reinvigorated MacBook Airs have knocked Dell's offerings from the top spot, the current Dell XPS 13 Plus remains the best Windows 11 laptop money can buy. With a gorgeous thin and light design and stunning OLED screen, plus some of the latest mobile components from Intel, this is a laptop that gives the new MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) a run for its money in most departments - except battery life. Still, it's a great alternative if you want to use Windows 11 rather than macOS.
Design: The Dell XPS 13 Plus features the same design as the previous model, but that's no bad thing - this remains one of the best looking laptops around. Ultra-thin bezels surround the screen, and the silver body, invisible touchpad and touch bar above the keyboard all lead to this laptop feeling impressively premium. The thin and light design does mean there's a lack of ports, however, so you may need to use an adapter.
Performance: The Dell XPS 13 Plus that we reviewed comes with a cutting-edge Intel Core i7-1360P processor, and 32GB of RAM, which led to us being extremely impressed by its performance. The integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics do a good job for day-to-day creative tasks, though you may want a laptop with a discrete GPU for more intensive workloads.
Battery life: In our battery life benchmark, we found the XPS 13 Plus lasted six hours and 20 minutes. These days, we'd expect most modern laptops (apart from gaming laptops) to last around 10 hours at least, so this is certainly disappointing. With a few tweaks, it'll get you through a workday, but we wouldn't want to go too far without a charger.
Value for money: Starting at $1,249 / £1,198.99 / AU$2,398, this is not a cheap laptop, but nor is it outrageously priced, especially when you compare it to the base model of the MacBook Air 13-inch (M3). The Dell XPS 13 Plus base model comed with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage, both twice the amount that the base MacBook Air comes with. For the specs and performance you get, you'll be very happy if you can afford it - and keep an eye out around Black Friday, as Dell often has some of the best price cuts around.
6. Acer Chromebook Plus 515
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is one of the lightest laptops around, and it looks great as well.
What you need to know
If you have found yourself working from home more and need a new laptop, then don't think you have to spend a fortune. While a new MacBook will do everything you need, a great Chromebook like the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 can cope with most day-to-day workloads for a fraction of the price. You get a large screen and comfortable keyboard to work on, and performance is snappy - especially when you boot up the Chromebook.
Design: The design of the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is pretty straightforward, with a gray body and Google logo, and while that might not make it the most interesting of laptops, it's solidly built and dependable. The 15-inch screen makes it comfortable to work on, though it also means the overall size of the laptop is quite large.
Performance: As far as Chromebooks go, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is an excellent performer, with the Chrome OS operating system booting quickly, while apps run impressively smoothly. It feels fast and responsive - something you wouldn't be able to say about many Windows 11 laptops of this price. For day-to-day tasks, including document creation, emails and video calls, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 performs very well - though you are limited to apps built for Chrome OS or Android.
Battery life: Usually the battery lives of Chromebooks are one of their main selling points, but in our tests, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 only lasted a disappointing five hours and 13 minutes. While that's not ridiculously low, it is surprisingly short for a Chromebook, which is a shame.
Value for money: The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 offers exceptional value for money. Selling for $399.99 / £399.99, it's an affordable laptop that punches well above its weight. While we recommend it for working from home, it's also a great choice for students or anyone who wants a budget laptop but doesn't want to make compromises on performance.
7. MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Pro/M3 Max)
You’re guaranteed incredible performance that’ll crush the more demanding workloads, whether it's the M3 Pro or M3 Max model you go for.
What you need to know
The MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Pro/M3 Max) is hands-down the best laptop for creative professionals we’ve ever tested – even though it comes just nine months after the last model. It's powered by the new M3 Pro and M3 Max SoCs, Apple's most powerful chips. There wasn’t a task it couldn’t handle during our testing. It did an impressive job of handling 4K video editing, even with multiple 4K and 8K video files, as well as running the latest and most demanding games. Along with the new MacBook Pro 14-inch, this may be the very first MacBook for gaming.
Design: Design-wise, the MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Pro/M3 Max) doesn't deviate from its predecessor. There is, however, a new color option, called Space Black, that's apparently made with a material with an anodization seal that's designed to minimizes fingerprint retention, helping you maintain a clean laptop.
Performance: Our independent benchmark tests showed a hefty leap in performance between the M3 Max and M1 Max MacBook Pro 16-inches. We saw a good 35% increase in single core and a considerable 69% increase in multi-core CPU performance in Geekbench 6. You should, therefore, see a noticeable time reduction when completing workloads, specifically graphics-intensive ones. The MacBook Pro 16-inch M3 Max's performance makes workloads fast, fluid and incredibly seamless, especially for creatives.
Battery life: Apple promises up to 22 hours of video playback, and 15 hours of web browsing on a single charge for the MacBook Pro 16-inch, with what it says is the "longest battery life ever in a Mac". The good news is that those claims are pretty spot on, as we found that in our battery life benchmark test, where we ran a looped 1080p video until the MacBook Pro turned off, the battery lasted over 24 hours. Considering the power on offer here, that's extremely impressive.
Value for money: The MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Pro/M3 Max) is an incredibly ambitious laptop both in terms of hardware and design, and it’s aimed at creative professionals who need powerful mobile hardware. Yes, it's an expensive laptop - but if you need all that power, it's well worth paying for it.
8. Lenovo Yoga Book 9i
The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i’s dual-screen design means you're able to work in a variety of ways that suit your needs.
What you need to know
One of the best touchscreen laptops – and naturally, among the best 2-in-1 laptops – we’ve tested in 2023 (so far), the Yoga Book 9i is an incredible dual-screen laptop that actually uses the second screen well. The Yoga Book 9i sees you through your productivity and multitasking in a seamless and time-saving way without the extra weight. It’s also a capable piece of kit with cutting-edge mobile components powering it - but it also comes with a very high price.
Design: We completely fell in love with the Yoga Book 9i when we reviewed it. The dual-screen design works brilliantly, and it's one of the few dual-screen laptops that doesn't feel like a gimmick. Instead, it can really help your productivity - either by giving you more space to work on (like a multi-monitor setup on a desk would), and by allowing you to work on it in several modes, so you can choose the most useful and comfortable mode depending on what you're working on.
Performance: The Intel Core i7-1355U processor of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i offers an excellent balance between strong day-to-day performance and efficiency. Efficiency is especially important for thin and light laptops like the Yoga Book 9i, as it means they don't so easily overheat when being used - a worry for some thin laptops due to lack of space in the body for air to circulate. The OLED screens also look brilliant.
Battery life: The efficient processor doesn't just keep the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i cool, it also means that despite having two OLED screens, battery life isn't too bad at all. In our review, we found that it lasted almost nine and a half hours during our battery life tests, and if you turn off one screen, that jumps up to just over 12 hours.
Value for money: Let's be blunt: this is an expensive laptop, with a launch price of $1,999 / £2,299.99 / AU$4,299, and it's unlikely to drop in price any time soon. Its dual screens and premium design does mean the high price is understandable, but there's no escaping the fact that its price could put a lot of people off.
9. Razer Blade 14
We're not talking about performance, but the actual build and design of the Razer Blade 14 is seriously svelte.
What you need to know
This year’s Razer Blade 14 refresh has been outfitted with the latest specs, including the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU, which sports a 5.2 GHz max clock speed and eight cores/16 threads, and up to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU. Despite coming with high-end components, it's a stunningly thin and light laptop - something most gaming laptops just cannot offer.
Design: Razer makes some of the best thin and light laptops on the market, including the Razer Blade 14 (2023). Razer has done a great job of including high-end specs like the Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics card, while keeping the overall weight and thickness down - it weighs just four pounds, and with the 14-inch screen, the Razer Blade 14 proves that gaming laptops don't have to be big and bulky.
Performance: The Razor Blade 14 (2023) offers superb performance when gaming, allowing you to play even the most demanding games, such as Cyberpunk 2077 at their highest settings, while maintaining high frame rates. The 14-inch screen comes with a high 240Hz refresh, and that combined with the RTX 4070 GPU ensures your games feel fast and responsive. We really can't fault the performance of the Razer Blade 14 in any way.
Battery life: According to Razer, the Razer Blade 14 (2023) should offer up to 10 hours of battery life, but in our review, we found it was more like eight hours when using it for day-to-day work. When you start playing games on it, the battery struggles to make it past four hours - so you'll want to have this plugged in.
Value for money: Razer's reputation for expensive laptops is well deserved here. Despite it being a 14-inch laptop, its starting price point of $2,399 / £2,499.99 / AU$4,499 will be far too high for many people, though remember this is a gaming laptop with some of the best components you can currently buy.