Whether you’re looking for portability, performance, or a low price, one of these computers should fit the bill
By Nicholas De Leon
It can be a little overwhelming deciding on a laptop to buy.
Do you need one powerful enough to handle demanding tasks like high-res video editing? Does it simply have to run common apps like Microsoft Word or Google Docs? Or maybe you’d like to use it to play the latest hit games, like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, too?
Whichever bucket you fall into, Consumer Reports is here to help.
Every year we test dozens of laptops in our labs just north of New York City, purchasing each one at retail to prevent manufacturers from trying to influence our findings. Tested samples are scored on processor performance, display quality, and a range of other objective criteria in a way that allows you to compare one model to the next. And all this data lives in our comprehensive ratings, available to CR members.
You’ll find many highly rated laptops from well-known manufacturers like Apple, Dell, HP, and LG on the list. Below, we’ve selected some of the true standouts, helpfully organized by task and purpose.
Best Windows Laptops
Of the nearly 130 laptops in our ratings, these PCs are among the best of the best, boasting powerful performance, high-quality displays, and generous battery life.
LG’s Gram line of notebooks has consistently scored among the top laptops in our labs since it debuted nearly a decade ago. The model is available in several sizes and configurations, with this highlighted option, the 16-inch Gram Pro, offering very fast performance and 17-plus-hour battery life. Of course, given that it’s called the “Gram,” you’d be correct in assuming it’s quite lightweight as well.
Other all-around PC performers worth considering are the 16-inch Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra and the 15.3-inch Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition.
In addition to high-end specs like an Intel Core 7 processor and a dedicated Nvidia graphics card, the Galaxy Book4 Ultra has a touchscreen that can make navigating through social media feeds and photo archives a little more intuitive. The Yoga, meanwhile, reaches nearly 20 hours of battery life and has a display that supports HDR, making it a great way to watch streaming video.
LG Gram Pro 16 (Nvidia RTX)
Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition – Copilot+ PC
Best Laptops for Travel
What good is a laptop if it weighs a ton or has such poor battery life that you’re constantly looking for an electrical outlet? Not very good, if you ask us. That’s why the following laptops should be on your radar if you’re looking for a travel buddy.
Take Apple’s MacBook Air, specifically the latest 13-inch model. (A 15-inch option is also available.) The laptop now has the company’s M3 processor, which delivers strong performance while sipping battery. In our tests, the unit powered on for 14 hours on a single charge. Combine that with the barely there 2.7-pound weight and it’s easy to see why the Air continues to be so popular.
Lenovo and MSI have a couple of laptops in our ratings that make for great travel buddies, too. The 14-inch Lenovo T14s uses a new Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm that, similar to Apple’s M series, is designed to be as power-efficient as possible—here, that translates to an almost-hard-to-believe 32 hours of battery life. It’s safe to say you won’t be fumbling around in your backpack at the local café looking for a power adapter all too often. And MSI’s 13-inch Prestige, meanwhile, weighs a scant 2.1 pounds while still delivering solid performance and 15-hour battery life.
Apple Macbook Air 13-inch (2024, M3 10-Core GPU, 16GB)
Lenovo T14s Gen 6 Snapdragon Laptop 21N10000US
MSI Prestige 13
Best Laptops for Content Creation
If you want your next laptop to have the muscle for demanding tasks like high-resolution photo and video editing, it needs to have a powerful processor, plenty of storage space, and, if possible, a discrete graphics card. A bigger screen is useful, too.
So which laptops in our ratings measure up?
Allow us to suggest the Apple MacBook Pro, the Asus ROG Zephyrus, and the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip.
The MacBook Pro hardly needs explaining, but the long and short of it is it’s the laptop for demanding users who prefer Mac to PC, whether you’re crunching code, editing heaps of photos, or rendering out video for YouTube. The MacBook Pro comes in several configurations, but the model we’re highlighting here was released at the end of October and sports one very interesting feature: the option for a nano texture glass on the display. This texture helps cut down glare you might encounter working with harsh overhead lights or outside in the sun. No more having to adjust the tilt of the display just right to eliminate that pesky glare.
The Asus and HP, meanwhile, sport the latest processors from AMD and Intel, respectively, while each bringing something unique to the table. The 16-inch Asus ROG Zephyrus has two graphics cards, a high-end one from Nvidia and a lower-end one from AMD. When you’re doing demanding tasks like rendering a video in DaVinci Resolve, the higher-end Nvidia card will kick into gear, otherwise the easier-on-the-battery AMD will handle things. The 14-inch HP OmniBook Ultra Flip, for its part, has a touchscreen and includes a stylus, which while not literally unique to this laptop does mean it could be an excellent companion for someone who’s deeply into digital art creation.
Apple MacBook Pro – Nano-texture display
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 OLED 240Hz Gaming Laptop – AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 – 16GB
HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 2-in-1 Laptop Next Gen AI PC – 14t-fh000
Best Budget Laptops
The phrase “budget laptop” may make you think of cheap plastic, slow performance, and disappointing displays. We’re here to say that you can safely put those thoughts aside because the budget-friendly laptops of today often offer solid performance for well under $1,000, sometimes even getting close to $500. They may not be the fanciest picks in our ratings, but if you merely want a laptop that delivers on basic tasks, they’re worth a shout.
A decent laptop in this price range will likely have a midrange Intel Core 5 processor and limited memory and storage capacity but will still score well in our tests. Here are three great examples.
Samsung Galaxy Book4
Acer Aspire 5
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15
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