The best laptop is one that meets all your needs and nothing more. Luckily, in 2023, you’ll have the widest range of brands, styles, prices, and form factors ever to choose from, including MacBooks and laptops from Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft, and HP.
Maybe you travel a lot for work or out and about, and you decide you need a laptop that’s fast, reliable, and durable enough to handle your work without having it slow you down. Or maybe you’re a student looking for the perfect 2-in-1 laptop for work, media, and gaming.
There’s so much competition between the top brands right now, so here I am, we’ve put together a list of the best laptops of 2023 to help you choose the one that’s right for you.
Dell XPS 15 (2022)
This is Dell’s flagship laptop, and it shows that the manufacturer can reasonably cram all the bells and whistles into a machine without melting the whole thing into a hot mess of silicone and plastic. The Dell XPS 15 is one of the best Windows laptops you can buy, combining a minimalist, clean design with top-notch features and performance.
The only downside to this laptop is its low-quality webcam, which can be a big problem for those who rely on video conferencing.
Razer Blade 15
The Razer Blade 15 is a blazingly fast gaming laptop that delivers desktop-class performance and is the best gaming laptop I’ve ever tested. Highly configurable, our test laptop ran the latest 12th generation Core i7 processor with 32GB of RAM, Nvidia’s 3080 Ti GPU and a ridiculously fast 360Hz display.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5
The Surface family showcases Windows 11 at its absolute best, enabling Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 to control both hardware and software to create tablets and laptops that are unified, streamlined and uncompromising.
While most other Windows laptops come pre-installed with sketchy third-party apps and antivirus bloatware, Microsoft’s Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 laptop is closer to an Apple-style user experience. Clean, tidy and easy to use.
It’s a fast and thin touchscreen laptop, and even its slowest and cheapest configuration runs on a reasonably powerful Intel Core i5 processor.
The laptop unlocks with facial recognition, has a keyboard that’s good for hours of typing, has great battery life, and is made from optional fine faux-suede alcantara material.
Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2022)
The performance gap between the MacBook air and the smaller MacBook pro has been closing lately. But Apple’s premium laptops remain the laptops of choice for pro users and editors who need every bit of processing power.
Powered by the latest version of Apple’s proprietary M2 chip, the MacBook pro can handle tasks that would require its slimmer cousin to huff and puff into a brown paper bag. Like the MacBook Air, the power button has a built-in fingerprint sensor, the keyboard is comfortable, and the trackpad is large and responsive.
MacBook pro 13-inch The 13-inch MacBook pro is the best laptop for productivity and creative tasks, and it’s the only one that can legitimately claim to have stylish credentials.
Huawei MateBook X Pro Laptop (2022)
Huawei’s latest Windows 11 flagship is a beautifully designed laptop with a new soft metal finish that’s silky smooth to the touch.
The 2022 Matebook X pro has a rich and vibrant 3:2 ratio display running at 90Hz and 4K resolution with minimal bezels. While last year’s model placed the webcam below the screen, making you look bad in meetings, the latest MateBook X pro puts the camera back above the display.
There’s only one configuration available, and it’s very powerful. The 2022 MateBook X pro is powered by a 12th generation Intel Core i7 processor, paired with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive.
That’s about as high a performance as an ultra-thin laptop can get without adding an expensive dedicated graphics card. The MateBook X pro uses an integrated graphics chip, which is great for light gaming and most creative work, but not suitable for handling more serious and professional applications like video rendering.
Lenovo YOGA Pro14s
Now, the Lenovo YOGA Pro14s is a decent premium Ultrabook and the best laptop you can buy at a budget price.
Lenovo has been quietly churning out laptops and tablets over the past few years that offer smart design and decent specs without breaking the bank, and this model is the culmination of the company’s best work.
This ultra-thin laptop is powered by a laptop-optimized AMD Ryzen processor, giving you enough power to handle CPU-intensive tasks like photo and video editing, and even some low-end gaming.
To keep costs down, Lenovo has opted for a standard HD 1080p display, but it’s a high-quality panel with excellent color reproduction and contrast.
Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022)
Apple’s thinnest and lightest MacBook transcended the tech world, becoming an instantly recognizable design icon that many rival laptops have followed suit.
The 2022 models are powered by Apple’s new M2 processor, an ARM-based chip that offers significantly better performance and greater battery efficiency than older Intel CPUs from previous generations.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio
Microsoft’s line of Surface laptops have always been beautiful. While most Windows laptops are made by third-party manufacturers and are littered with holographic Intel stickers and various company brandings, the Surface line is a shining example of Microsoft’s ideal Windows 11 laptop look.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio solves a problem that has plagued the Surface line for years with a clever articulating design that places the laptop’s touchscreen where it can be used comfortably without completely detaching it from the keyboard.
It’s as powerful and capable as the MacBook Pro in every aspect except battery life, and when combined with the Microsoft Slim Pen 2, it can do more than competing Apple machines. The smooth 120Hz display is also one of the best on any Windows laptop you can buy.
