8 best laptops of 2025: tested and reviewed by our team of experts

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Get straight to the top tech—no junk, just the best.

We’re at a turning point in laptops. Apple’s MacBook train continues to run, all while Windows laptops are undergoing their biggest transition in decades under the banner of Copilot+ PCs.

But which laptop you should actually go out and buy? Well, we’ve reviewed dozens of new models this year already, and whether it’s the best gaming laptops, the best budget laptops, or the best 2-in-1 laptops, we’ve got you covered.

Apple MacBook Air (M4, 2025)

The most perfect laptop you can buy

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$799 Amazon $849 BrandsMart USA $999 Best Buy U.S. More

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition

The best Windows laptop

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$1968 UnbeatableSale.com $1199 Amazon $1603 Office Depot and OfficeMax More

Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 16

Best affordable laptop

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$949 Amazon

Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2025)

The best gaming laptop

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$3146 Amazon $3399 Walmart.com More

Surface Pro 11th Edition

The best 2-in-1 laptop

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$1130 Amazon

Apple MacBook Pro

The best content creation laptop

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$1799 Amazon $1899 Best Buy U.S. $1804 Walmart.com More

Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3

The best Chromebook

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$399 Amazon

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition

Best Lenovo laptop

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$1095 Amazon

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Apple MacBook Air (M4, 2025)

The MacBook Air has morphed into the best 13-inch laptop you can buy, and arguably the most perfect laptop overall. Both in its 13-inch and 15-inch variants, the MacBook Air is incredibly thin, yet surprisingly powerful. Toss in that M4 chip, and you get a laptop with the fastest single-core performance to go with very fast multi-core speeds. The graphics have also gotten a nice boost over the previous generation. Making that performance even more impressive is that it’s accomplished in a completely fanless design, meaning the machine remains silent, regardless of what you’re doing. In that sense, there’s still nothing else quite like it.

That balance of performance and portability is really what makes this laptop so special. For this class of laptop, the screen is high quality, as are the speakers and webcam. Yes, the MacBook Pro is tempting, but for this price, the MacBook Air remains a strong contender. And its build quality is top-notch, with the perfect balance of weight and density. And we haven’t even mentioned the battery life, which is the best you’ll find in a laptop today.

The recent changes to configurations have only increased the value of this laptop in its starting configurations. The MacBook Air M4 now starts with 16GB of RAM rather than 8GB, an upgrade that would have cost $200 in the past! Even better, the most affordable model now includes the latest chipset rather than forcing you to hold onto the older model. That makes it an even more attractive option.

The biggest downsides are the port selection and multimonitor support, which are limited compared to comparable Windows laptops. It can only handle two external displays, and only with the lid closed. Even so, those tradeoffs are worth it for a machine that’s so fast, lasts so long, looks so great, and is so awesome in hand.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition

I have always been rooting for the Surface Laptop. I’ve always liked the taller, 3:2 aspect ratio of the screen and its simple design aesthetic. But over the years, the actual laptop itself has always disappointed me. Performance and battery life weren’t up to par, and it often lagged behind in high-end features.

But those days are over. With the 7th Edition, Microsoft has made the Surface Laptop a true competitor to the MacBook Air by offering a better 120Hz display, more ports, removable storage, and overall faster performance. Most of the improvements are due to the Snapdragon X chip inside, which offers MacBook-like efficiency to the Windows platform. I reviewed the X Elite version, which offers significantly better performance (and better battery life as well), so I’d recommend that model if you can afford the bump in price. Compared to the MacBook Air M3, the Surface Laptop 7th Edition has a cheaper starting price and includes more memory.

In addition to the new chip and super-bright screen, the Surface Laptop 7th Edition also now comes with a haptic feedback trackpad. It really has it all. It’s made transitioning away from the MacBook a lot easier than I would have imagined — and for now, it’s my new favorite laptop.

Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 16

Finding a new laptop for under $1,000 that doesn’t make some significant compromises isn’t easy. But sometimes, a laptop comes along that walks that balance in just the right way. The Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 16 is one such laptop that comes in a convenient 360-degree convertible format. It has solid performance, a good build, and a decent IPS display — but most important, you can get it at sale prices that can reach as low as below $500.

There just aren’t many laptops that can compete at this price. Even then, the Lenovo has the convenience of 2-in-1. It’s not that this laptop stands out in any major way, but rather than when you consider everything you need in a laptop, this is the one that forces the fewest compromises for its attractive price. Speaking of that, Lenovo changes its prices often, so you’ll want to check in before making your selection.

For that low price, you get an AMD Ryzen 5 or 7 chipset that provides excellent productivity performance. Its graphics are good enough for entry-level gaming, and its display is expansive even if its resolution is a little low. Battery life is also surprisingly good, meaning you’ll get most of a day’s work on a charge. Overall, the Yoga 7 2-in-1 16 just offers a lot for the money.

Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2025)

The ROG Strix Scar 18 is, as of right now, our favorite gaming laptop. This thing is a beast, and it’s available in a few different configurations that will suit all kinds of gamers, including those who want the best gaming laptop available.

It’s definitely not cheap, but it’s incredibly solid. You’re getting the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX in the top configuration, which is the one we’ve tested, and your pick of either Nvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, or RTX 5090.

This is a massive 18-inch laptop, so it’s hardly portable, but we enjoyed its display. We found it to be impressively fast in gaming scenarios and synthetic benchmarks alike. If you want the best of the best, this is it.

Surface Pro 11th Edition

The Surface Pro hasn’t changed much over the years, but it hasn’t needed to. The design is rock-solid, and there aren’t many Windows 2-in-1s to choose from these days. But in its 11th version, it’s reached its true potential.

Sporting the new Snapdragon X chip under the hood and a fantastic OLED screen, the Surface Pro finally competes with the iPad Pro in a way it just couldn’t before. And, of course, you get all the benefits of the Windows ecosystem — this is a real PC through and through, not just a tablet.

In my testing of this device, I found so much to like about it. It feels like the Surface Pro we should have always had, especially when it comes to battery life. There’s never been a Windows tablet this long-lasting, which allows it to really give the iPad Pro a run for its money. I also love the fact that you can use the keyboard while detached too, which comes in handy in lots of circumstances.

The only thing I don’t like about it is its lack of a headphone jack. Microsoft also still doesn’t sell it in a bundle with the excellent new Type Cover, which it really needs. That aside, if you like the idea of a 2-in-1 device to travel with, or even just a super-portable laptop, the Surface Pro 11th Edition just might be the best choice there’s ever been.

Apple MacBook Pro

Apple brought the M4 to the MacBook Pro, and in doing so,it made the MacBook Pro better in just about every way. I already adored this laptop, but in my testing of the latest model, I found it to raise the bar in a big way.

The base M4 MacBook Pro, which is only available in the 14-inch size, may have received the biggest bump. Without increasing the cost, the M4 MacBook Pro now starts with 16GB of RAM instead of 8GB, making it a far more attractive offering. The M4 chip itself, meanwhile, provides a meaningful upgrade in terms of both single-core and GPU performance.

Of course, bumping up to the M4 Pro or M4 Max greatly expands the power of the GPU even further, adding more and more cores. We tested both the M4 Pro and M4 Max chipsets, both of which were extremely impressive in terms of performance. The M4 Pro is more than enough power for most users, while the M4 Max meets the needs of demanding creators. The M4 has the fastest CPU cores available today, by a long shot, and combining so many together provides incredibly fast performance for tasks like video edit. The GPU cores are also improved, and the laptop makes for a competed gaming machine.

All of the M4 MacBook Pros also have a screen that’s able to range up to 1,000 nits of brightness in SDR when under harsh lighting. These MacBook Pros also have the option for the fantastic nano-texture screen, which deflects glare and reflections without losing image quality.

All in all, these are the most premium laptops that exist, and they’re the perfect companion for content creators of all kinds. They certainly rank highest among the best laptops for video editing.

Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3

Laptops that cost $300 shouldn’t be this good. Seriously. Most laptops you can buy at that price have serious deficiencies, like pitiful performance or awful 720p screens. That’s often true, even on Chromebooks.

But the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 manages to deliver a great laptop experience, albeit on a very small device. But this little 10.9-inch laptop is perfect for students or anyone who just needs a compact device to take on the go. The screen resolution is even better than 1080p, reaching up to 2000 x 1200. That’s very sharp for a screen of this size, making it excellent for writing and reading text. It even gets up to 400 nits of brightness, meaning working near windows isn’t an issue. Again, this is unheard of for a laptop at this price.

When our veteran laptop reviewer, Mark Coppock, tested this device back in 2022, he found it to be a “great secondary computer or starting tablet,” and he observed that “you’ll spend hundreds of dollars more for a similar setup that won’t gain you much additional functionality.”

One of the features mentioned is the 5-megapixel camera for solid videoconferencing, which is still better than many laptops that cost $1,000 more. This little tablet has just about everything it needs to compete with the iPad (especially with the recent price jump). The iPad is undoubtedly a better tablet, though. It’s lighter and has a wide range of gestures and apps to support touch-only controls. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 will disappoint you in that regard, even with support for Android apps. But that’s nothing new for ChromeOS tablets.

The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 excels, though, as a work or school device, and is one of the best laptops for college. As good as iPads have become at doing work, if you’re needing to do actual work or school work, having a normal desktop browser and a full keyboard goes a long way toward being more efficient. There is a newer model out there that we tested, but our reviewer found that it actually takes a step backward in terms of performance, despite costing more — so stick with the old model if you can find it.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition

Lenovo has lots of great laptops in its lineup, whether under the Yoga, ThinkPad, or Legion brands. Its latest Yoga is a real winner, though. It features a very thin design, a larger 15.3-inch screen, and thanks to the integration with Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 chips, some really impressive battery life.

It got over 14 hours of web browsing battery life in our testing of the device, putting it among the longer-lasting laptops you can buy right now — except for the MacBook Air. But the overall package is here, especially since the starting configuration comes with not only 16GB of RAM, but also 512GB of storage. That’s important to keep in mind when you consider the starting price.

It’s true that it’s missing a couple of high-end features that are often reserved for top-end models, such as a haptic feedback trackpad or an OLED display. You’ll find some of those scattered on other laptops on this list that are priced more affordably, but if you’re partial to Lenovo laptops, the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition comes recommended.

What to consider when buying a laptop

What size laptop is best?

There are three main laptop sizes to choose from: 13-inch, 14-inch, and 16-inch. As always, it’s a balance between portability and performance — although, increasingly there’s less compromises to make as larger laptops gets thinner and smaller ones get more powerful. The best 14-inch laptops are the definitely the default happy-medium, so if you’re unsure about where to start, a 14-inch laptop is offers the best balance, providing a powerful laptop that’s still portable and travel-friendly. There are configurations with powerful discrete GPUs and high-end display options, as well as super-thin models that prioritize portability.

The best 13-inch laptops, however, are best for those who value portability above all, and plan to consistently carry their laptop to classrooms, coffee shops, and on airplanes. There are very few 13-inch laptops with discrete GPUs and a less thermal headroom, but options like the Dell XPS 13 or MacBook Air 13-inch still have plenty of performance for the average person’s work.

Meanwhile, 16-inch laptops are good in two demographics. The first is for those who need the most powerful laptops, whether for PC gaming or for running heavy applications in video editing, AI training, data science, design, or more. You’ll often find the most high-end configurations available in this size, whether that’s maxing out the RAM or pumping up the graphics. The other demographic that’s good for 16-inch laptops is those who just need a large display. Whether that’s due to restricted eye sight or just for multitasking, having a larger screen can be beneficial, even for those who don’t need the extra performance. Lastly, the best 15-inch laptops are more rare, but they also fit this demographic well, such as the Surface Laptop 15-inch or MacBook Air 15-inch.

Intel, AMD, or Qualcomm?

That’s never been a tougher choice to make. The rise of Qualcomm with the Snapdragon X chip has made a permanent change to the PC landscape that’s forced both Intel and AMD to respond with more efficient CPUs that produce better battery life. We’ve tested most of the available Snapdragon X-based laptops, as well as the latest models powered by Core Ultra Series 2 (also known as Lunar Lake) to see how the latest from Qualcomm and Intel stack up.

Both are quite good, producing excellent battery life and solid performance. The main difference right now is that Intel Core Ultra Series 2 laptops are priced a bit more expensive right now without lower-tier configurations being offered. The primary benefit of Intel right now is its strong integrated GPU performance and guaranteed compatibility. The Snapdragon X chip is an Arm processor, meaning if your application isn’t compiled for that system infrastructure, it’ll have to be emulated, which can result in lower performance. Increasingly, however, this isn’t nearly as big of a problem as it used to, thanks to wider adoption by developers, the increased performance of the chip itself, and a much more efficient emulation layer.

All that to say, for basic thin and light laptops, I do think most people should be buying Snapdragon X laptops at this point. They’re a better value, with lower starting prices and a wide variety of options. If you want something with discrete graphics right now, though, you’ll want to look to AMD or Intel, as the Snapdragon X laptops all rely only on the fairly weak integrated graphics.

How much RAM does your laptop need?

When considering how much RAM you need, most people will want get 16GB. In the past, 8GB would cut it, but outside of the most basic computers these days should have 16GB. This was a big change that happened in 2024, where both Windows laptops and MacBooks made the jump to 16GB as the starting configuration. You’ll still find 8GB Windows laptops out there, but Microsoft made it requirement to be a part of the Copilot+ PC program, and that has incentivized most of the new high-end laptops to move to 16GB as the default.

This is great news, not only for running all the AI models in the background (which was the reason for the requirement), but also just for handling something like an instance of Google Chrome with dozens of tabs open. Chromebooks and lower-end Windows laptops are still fine to get 8GB for, but people will want to start with 16GB.

From there, 32GB (or more) should be reserved for the most powerful gaming laptops and workstations. If you’re editing video all day, you’ll absolutely benefit from the jump to 32GB.

Does your laptop need a discrete GPU?

Not unless you have a specific need where it’s necessary. For basic web work, you won’t need anything beyond the integrated graphics. Not even light photo editing or video editing require anything too intense, just know that if you start attempting more intense workflows in those applications, you may face some bad slowdowns.

While integrated GPUs have improved quite a lot over the past few years, if you’re doing a lot of PC gaming or video editing, opting for a more powerful system with an integrated GPU is a good idea. Even the RTX 4050 represents a solid step up from modern-day integrated graphics, and allow you to much more with your laptop.

How we test laptops

We extensively handle every laptop we review and use them in a variety of real-world conditions. We’re looking for how well a laptop is built, how it feels in hand, and hold it generally holds up to the uses for which it’s designed. We describe our experiences and discuss the materials and concepts used in a laptop’s design to provide an informative hands-on impression.

On all laptops, we test the keyboard and touchpad to make sure that both are comfortable to use for extended periods of time. For keyboards, we consider the key spacing, keycap size, travel distance, and overall feel to determine how precise and comfortable it is to use — all of which are important factors when considering the best laptops for writers, for example. For touchpads, we test for how smooth the surface is and how responsive it is to taps and clicks. We’re sticklers on touchpads with a click that is too loud or stiff.

We give the display both an objective test with a professional colorimeter, judging it based on color width and accuracy, brightness, and contrast. We also provide our subjective viewpoint – is the display pleasant to use, is it sharp enough, and does it support advanced capabilities like high dynamic range (HDR) video. We also listen to the speakers, giving an impression of its volume and clarity and its suitability for more than just playing system sounds.

And, of course, we run every laptop through a suite of benchmarks, both synthetic and real-world, to provide an indication of how it performs relative to other similar machines. That includes Geekbench and Cinebench, but also Handbrake, 3DMark, and Pugetbench to test both the CPU and the GPU. During those high-stress tests, we evaluate internal and external temperature, as well as fan noise. And lastly, battery life. We conduct three battery tests on every laptop to get a sense of how long it lasts in different workflows, including video loop, web browsing, and an all-core stress test. With these three scores, we can get a good sense of how long battery life lasts compared to other models.

Why you should trust us

Our expert laptop reviewers have tested and reviewed more than 500 laptops over the years, searching for the best of the best. We’ve reviewed every kind of laptop available, from traditional clamshell laptops to a variety of 2-in-1s to gaming laptops to unusual and innovative machines. We’ve applied a consistent and reliable formula to each of our reviews, pulling from a massive database of performance testing to make it possible for you to compare laptops with confidence.

More than that, our reviewers are laptop enthusiasts. We love these devices, and are set out to find the absolute best options for people. We make the same recommendations to readers as we do to family members and friends, and always keep budget front of mind.