I reviewed a ton of laptops in 2023, and a handful stood out. Whether you're looking for value, innovation, or performance, one of these five laptops will suffice.
With the advent of the new M3 MacBook Pros, there are some important things to keep in mind when configuring your machine. Here are five of the most important.
The 2023 HP Pavilion Plus 14 uses fast, efficient AMD processors and offers a spectacular OLED display. Buy it from the right place and it's a great value, too.
Not everyone wants to haul around a massive, obnoxious gaming laptop. That's why there are a number of excellent thin and light options with good performance.
The Lenovo ThinkVision P49w-30 is an extreme example of the ultrawide monitor, and it's quite expensive. But its image quality and features are very good.
The HP Spectre Foldable PC is one of the most innovative laptops around, with a quality build and great attention to detail. But it's incredibly expensive.
The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is less expensive than the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 at the low end, and a better value overall thanks to a superior OLED display.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is a very good laptop with good performance and a ton of flexibility. But the Apple MacBook Pro 14 remains best of class.
The Surface Laptop Studio 2 seriously ups the performance -- on paper. That makes it a stronger competitor to the excellent Dell XPS 15, at least in theory.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 got a price increase, putting it in competition with two excellent laptops in the Apple MacBook Air M1 and MacBook Air M2.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go started out as an attractive budget laptop. In its third generation, its price has creeped up and it's largely lost its appeal.
The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 6 is an incredibly expensive portable workstation that doesn't offer much compared to laptops costing thousands of dollars less.
The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus and the HP Envy 16 are both attractively priced 16-inch powerhouses. But the Envy 16 is a more elegant and configurable laptop.
The Acer Swift Edge 16 and Apple MacBook Air 15 are both excellent examples of thin and light laptops with large displays. But the MacBook is more refined.
The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus is priced like a premium laptop but built like a midrange machine. It provides good performance, but its display leaves me wanting.
The Acer Swift Edge 16 is a fast 16-inch laptop for productivity users with a beautiful OLED display. It's incredibly thin and light, and it's nicely priced.
The MSI Modern MD271UL is confusing to configure, but once you get it right, it provides excellent colors, brightness, and contrast at an affordable price.
Both the Dell XPS 15 and MacBook Pro 16 offer exceptional performance, lovely displays, and great build quality, but which of these laptops is the better value?
The Dell UltraSharp 38 Curved USB-C monitor has a long name, but it's worth it with a ton of connectivity and convenience. If only the image quality was better.
The Envy x360 15.6 is an OK laptop with decent performance and battery life. But its old-school 16:9 OLED display isn't sharp enough. It just doesn't stand out.
The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i 14 tries its hardest to keep up with the class-leading MacBook Pro 14. But poor battery life and an inconsistent display hold it back.
