As much as smartphones have become the central tool for many aspects of our lives, there are some things you can only do on a PC or laptop. To me, buying a new laptop is always an incredibly exciting experience (keep in mind, though, I'm a tech writer), and choosing the right one is incredibly important.

However, there are a lot of factors that go into choosing the right laptop, including screen size, form factor, performance, and overall design. The choices we've rounded up below cover a good range of use cases, and you're sure to find something you like on this list. Let's get right into it.

Our top laptops in 2023

• Lenovo Yoga 9i (2023)

  Best overall

  $1700 at Lenovo

• Apple MacBook Air (2022)

  Runner-up

  $1199 at Amazon

• Dell XPS 13 Plus

  Best 13-inch laptop

  $1249 at Dell

• Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro

  Best 15/16-inch laptop

  $1450 at Samsung

• Dell XPS 17 (2023)

  Best 17-inch laptop

  $2949 at Dell

• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10

  Best business laptop

  $1164 at Lenovo

• HP Spectre x360 13.5

  Best convertible

  $1250 at HP

• Apple MacBook Pro (2023)

  Best for creators

  $1799 at Amazon (14 inches)

• Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8

  Best gaming laptop

  $2300 at Lenovo

• HP Pavilion Aero 13

  Best budget laptop

  $500 at HP

• Microsoft Surface Pro 9

  Best detachable

  $900 at Best Buy (Wi-Fi model)

• Acer Chromebook Spin 714

  Best Chromebook

  $729 at Best Buy

Lenovo is mostly known for its phenomenal ThinkPad business laptops, but the latest Lenovo Yoga 9i is here to make Lenovo a household name for consumers. It's a phenomenal laptop in almost every way.

Starting with performance, the Lenovo Yoga 9i is powered by a 13th-generation Intel Core i7-1360P processor with integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics, delivering terrific performance for all kinds of day-to-day tasks. It also includes 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to a 1TB PCIe 4 SSD for storage, so it's a premium experience all around.

Something else that's fantastic about the Lenovo Yoga 9i is the display. It's a 14-inch panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio, which makes it a great laptop for productivity. Even better is that this is an OLED display, starting with a 2.8K 90Hz configuration, with the option to go up to a 4K 60Hz panel. Atop the display, there's also a 1080p webcam with Windows Hello facial recognition, great to see on any premium laptop.

The Lenovo Yoga 9i also looks beautiful, with smooth curved edges that look great and make the laptop comfortable to hold. The premium aluminum chassis weighs in at 3.09 pounds, so it's fairly portable, too. As for ports, you get three USB Type-C ports — two of which support Thunderbolt 4 — plus one USB Type-A port and a headphone jack. More ports would have been nice, but this is fairly standard for premium laptops of this size.

All in all, the Lenovo Yoga 9i is easily one of the best laptops you can buy in 2023, even if it's not perfect. You can read our review of the 2022 Lenovo Yoga 9i if you'd like to learn more. That model is nearly identical to the new one.

Not everyone is a Windows fan, and the latest MacBook Air is one of the best laptops for Apple fans. It's one of the best laptops on the market period, coming very close to the Yoga 9i in terms of features and performance.

It's powered by the latest Apple M2 processor based on Arm technology, which delivers fantastic performance while offering great battery life, far beyond anything you'd find in a comparable Intel laptop. You can also configure it with up to 24GB of unified memory (RAM) and a 2TB SSD for storage, so you have everything you need for a superb experience.

The display on the MacBook Air is a 13.6-inch Retina panel, coming in a very sharp 2560 x 1664 resolution that results in an aspect ratio slightly taller than 16:10. This is a great panel with up to 500 nits of brightness and support for P3 Wide Color and True Tone. There's only one configuration available, but it's a great one. One thing you may not like is the notch at the top of the screen, but it houses the upgraded 1080p webcam, which is always nice to have.

The 2022 MacBook Air also has a brand-new design featuring a flat unibody construction that's 11.3mm thick and weighs 2.7 pounds. The chassis is entirely made of aluminum, and it comes in four color options, including Silver, Space Grey, Midnight, and Starlight. There aren't a ton of ports in this design, which includes two Thunderbolt / USB4 ports, a headphone jack with support for high-impedance headphones, and a MagSafe connector for charging. It needs to be noted that the MacBook Air only natively supports one external display, however, due to limitations with the Apple M2 chip.

Still, if you don't need more than one external display, this is a phenomenal laptop. It's got great performance without sacrificing battery life, a sharp and bright display, a great webcam, and a beautiful new design.

Dell's XPS lineup is well known for its compact designs, but the latest Dell XPS 13 Plus goes one step further with a super modern design and boosted performance.

Performance-wise, the Dell XPS 13 Plus is packing Intel's 12th-generation P-series processors, up to an Intel Core i7-1280P, which delivers fantastic performance for day-to-day tasks and more demanding workloads. It also has integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics. Plus, you can get it with 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to a 2TB SSD for storage.

The display is also fantastic on the Dell XPS 13 Plus, being a 13.4-inch panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The base configuration is a Full HD+ IPS panel, but you can go up to a 3.5K (3465 x 2160) OLED panel or an Ultra HD+ (3840 x 2400) IPS display, complete with 100% coverage of Adobe RGB. All of these display options are fantastic, including the base configuration. The webcam is, unfortunately, still 720p resolution, but it is improved from previous models. The webcam itself is now a separate sensor from the IR camera used for Windows Hello, which improves image quality.

The highlight of the Dell XPS 13 Plus is its design. It's a super-modern laptop with an invisible touchpad and touch-based function keys above the keyboard. This is amazing visually, but it might take some getting used to. The clean design is made of aluminum and weighs just 2.71 pounds, so it's very portable for what it offers. However, this compact and modern design only has two Thunderbolt 4 ports and nothing else. Dell ships adapters for USB Type-A and a headphone jack in the box, but you may also want a Thunderbolt dock.

Despite a couple of downsides, though, the Dell XPS 13 Plus is one of the best laptops anyone can buy, particularly if you don't want a convertible.

The 15-inch form factor is one of the most popular for laptops, but as we move to 16:10 displays, 16-inch sizes become much more common (and better). Coincidentally, the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro is easily the best laptop in this category.

For one thing, the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro is powered by 13th-generation Intel Core processors, up to a Core i7-1360P, including Intel Iris Xe graphics. That means performance is great for most common tasks you'd do on a laptop. It has great battery life, too, as we found in our Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro review. Otherwise, you can get up to 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD with this laptop.

Arguably, the best thing about this laptop is the display — a large 16-inch AMOLED panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio. AMOLED means you get true blacks and vivid colors, and on top of that, this screen has a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. All of that is included by default. You also get a 1080p webcam, which will ensure you look clear on video calls, though it lacks Windows Hello facial recognition. There's a fingerprint reader for that, though.

Design-wise, the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro uses an all-aluminum build that's surprisingly thin, at 12.5mm, but it's a bit heavy at 3.4 pounds, though that's to be expected at this size. Samsung makes good use of this large chassis to include a huge trackpad, which is also great to see. This large design also gets you two Thunderbolt 4 ports, USB Type-A, HDMI, a headphone jack, and a microSD card reader, which is a good setup all around.

Samsung has quickly cemented itself as one of the best laptop brands, and the Galaxy Book 3 Pro just reinforces that. It's an easy recommendation.

The Dell XPS 17 has always been one of the very best 17-inch laptops on the market, and the latest iteration manages to keep that up while also kicking things up a notch.

Firstly, it includes a 13th-generation Intel Core i9 processor, which can be paired with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU. This is far and away the most powerful XPS 17 yet, and it can rip through any task, including gaming and video rendering, without any issues. You can also configure it with up to 64GB of RAM and a massive 8TB SSD.

The 17-inch display is no slouch, either. Coming in a 16:10 aspect ratio, the base resolution is Full HD+, and while that's already solid, you can go up to a 4K panel with touch support. That 4K panel also covers 100% of Adobe RGB, making this an absolutely terrific display for content creation, whether you're doing video editing or even digital illustration. Unfortunately, the laptop still has a 720p webcam, though it at least includes Windows Hello facial recognition.

Despite the powerful specs, the Dell XPS 17 comes in a fairly compact package, measuring under 20mm thick and weighing 5.1 pounds. The design also looks great, mixing a silver exterior with a black carbon fiber interior. For ports, this design offers four Thunderbolt 4 connections along with a headphone jack and an SD card reader. There are also adapters for USB Type-A and HDMI in the box, so you get most needs covered, though it's a shame adapters are required with such a big laptop.

Despite some downsides, the Dell XPS 17 deserves to be among the best laptops on the market. You can read our review of the 2022 Dell XPS 17 — the latest model is very similar but much more powerful.

Lenovo's ThinkPad family is easily the most well-known family of business laptops, and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is pretty much the quintessential business laptop.

Performance-wise, of course, it's packing 12th-generation Intel Core processors up to a Core i7-1280P, so it's more than fast enough for all kinds of business workloads. Plus, you can get it with up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. The best part about this is that customization is very flexible, so you can mix and match these specs to fit your needs. However, the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard, so it's not upgradeable.

The display on this laptop is a 14-inch panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The base configuration is a Full HD+ IPS display, but there are multiple upgrade options available, including a touchscreen, Privacy Guard, a sharper 2.2K IPS panel, a 2.8K OLED display, or an Ultra HD+ IPS option at the top end. The webcam is a 1080p sensor, and it can also be configured with Windows Hello support and Computer Vision.

The plain black and red design of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon may be a bit boring to some, but it's a perfect fit for business environments. Plus, you get classic ThinkPad features like the pointing stick and buttons above the touchpad many business users still appreciate. It's a very light laptop, too, at 2.48 pounds. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon also has excellent connectivity, with two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB Type-A ports, HDMI, and a headphone jack. There's even an option for cellular connectivity, so you can stay online wherever you go.

Like many business laptops, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon offers many configuration options for all its components, and it's just a great laptop. Just note there is a newer model on the way.

HP's Spectre x360 series is one of the most recognizable laptops, and the Spectre x360 13.5 shows why. With high-end specs and a premium design, this is a fantastic convertible.

Starting off with performance, the HP Spectre x360 13.5 is powered by Intel's 12th-generation processors, specifically from the U15 series. You can go up to an Intel Core i7-1255U, which is a very capable processor with Intel Iris Xe graphics. These 15W processors aren't as powerful as the P-series, but they're better for battery life, so this is a great choice if you care about that. Plus, the laptop still comes with up to 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD for storage.

The display is one of the big highlights, being a 13.5-inch display with a rare 3:2 aspect ratio, taller than 16:10, complete with touch and pen support (the pen comes in the box, too). The default configuration comes in Full HD+ resolution and there's an option for a privacy guard, but you can also opt for a stunning 3K2K OLED panel, with super-sharp resolution and even more vibrant colors. HP also has some of the best webcams on the market, with a 5MP sensor supporting Windows Hello facial recognition.

As far as looks go, the HP Spectre x360 13.5 is beautiful, featuring a dual-tone design with accented edges in both Nightfall Black and Nocturne Blue models (with gold or light blue accents, respectively), or a plain natural Silver option if you prefer that. The laptop is also decently light, at 3.01 pounds. As for ports, you get two Thunderbolt 4 connections, USB Type-A, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack, so it's a solid setup for such a small laptop.

For anyone looking for a portable and versatile machine, the HP Spectre x360 13.5 is an excellent choice in almost every way.

Content creators and creative professionals often prefer working on Mac, and with the 2023 MacBook Pro, it's easy to see why.

Indeed, the MacBook Pro is powered by Apple's latest M2 Pro and M2 Max processors. These are based on Arm technology, just like the MacBook Air, but way more powerful, both in terms of the CPU and GPU, so you can easily work on demanding workloads like video editing. But because it's based on Arm, the processor is also very efficient, and you'll get much better battery life than on any comparable Windows laptop. What's more, you can go up to a massive 96GB of RAM and 8TB of storage.

In terms of the display, the MacBook Pro comes with a 14.2-inch or 16.2-inch mini-LED panel, which are both fantastic. The screen has hundreds of individual dimming zones, delivering high contrast and brightness up to a whopping 1,600 nits, making for a terrific viewing experience. The resolution varies depending on the size, but both are equally sharp, and to go along with that, you get a six-speaker system, resulting in one of the best media experiences on any laptop. The webcam is also a great 1080p sensor, though there's no facial recognition support. You can use Touch ID, though.

The design of the MacBook Pro is fairly standard, being an all-metal laptop with a clamshell design and starting at 4.7 pounds, which is reasonable considering how powerful it is. As for ports, you get three Thunderbolt 4 connections, along with HDMI 2.1, a headphone jack with support for high-impedance headphones, an SD card reader, and MagSafe 3 for charging.

There's no doubt that the 2023 MacBook Pro is the most powerful MacBook yet, but it's also one of the best and most powerful laptops in general. The efficiency and performance of Apple Silicon is unrivaled, and everything else is great, too. You can learn more about it in our MacBook Pro (2023) review.

Gaming is one of the most popular use cases for a PC, and the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 is the machine you should pick if you want a new gaming laptop.

Performance is essential for gaming, and with a 24-core Intel Core i9-13900HX processor, paired with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 (not yet available), the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i delivers. It's an incredibly fast machine, even with lower-tier GPUs, and it also comes with up to 32GB of RAM plus a 1TB SSD. We were very impressed by it in our review of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8. However, this kind of performance also means battery life is terrible.

The display is also great, being a large 16-inch panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio, great for both work and play. It comes in a sharp Quad HD+ resolution, and it has a super-smooth 240Hz refresh rate, so whether you're gaming or working, you'll have a great time. We want to see more vibrant colors, but this is already great. Additionally, the laptop includes a 1080p webcam, though there's no Windows Hello support at all.

Of course, since it's a gaming laptop, there's RGB lighting, with a per-key RGB keyboard, plus a light strip on the front of the laptop that lights up in multiple colors. The overall design is very premium, too, and the aluminum build comes in at 6.17 pounds, so portability won't be great. On the flip side, you get a ton of ports, including Thunderbolt 4 and USB-C, three USB Type-A ports, HDMI, Ethernet, and a headphone jack.

Everything about this laptop is high-end and premium, but it's reasonably priced considering what it offers. It's a fantastic choice for any gamer, as long as you have the money for it.

Affordable laptops don't get much better than the HP Pavilion Aero, and in many ways, it's surprising that this is part of HP's budget Pavilion family. Officially, it's a little pricy at $800, but you can often find it discounted to much less than that.

Let's start with performance, which is great, starting with an AMD Ryzen 5 5625U, though you can go up to a Ryzen 7 5825U for even more performance. You start with a solid 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, though you can go up to 16GB and 1TB, respectively, if your budget allows for it. All of this is great for such a cheap laptop.

It gets even better with the 13.3-inch IPS display, which comes in a 16.10 aspect ratio, similar to most premium laptops. The base model comes in Full HD+ resolution, but if you want an even better experience, you can upgrade to a Quad HD+ panel, too. However, there is a downside to this laptop, and that's the 720p webcam, which also doesn't have facial recognition support. You can use the fingerprint reader for Windows Hello, though.

Affordable laptops are rarely light or sleek, but the HP Pavilion Aero comes in at just 2.2 pounds, or under one kilogram. What's more, the laptop comes in four colors to choose from, such as Natural Silver, Ceramic White, Warm Gold, and Pale Rose Gold, so you can choose your preferred look. It's also got a solid port selection with one USB Type-C port, two USB Type-A ports, HDMI 2.0, and a headphone jack.

The HP Pavilion Aero is already a great deal for its base price, but on top of that, you can often find it with a big discount. In fact, it's just under $540 at writing time, and at that price, it's an absolute steal.

Typical laptops may work well for many people, but a tablet gives you more versatility and portability, and the Surface Pro 9 is the best option you can get right now.

Starting with performance, the Surface Pro 9 comes in two major variants. The Wi-Fi model comes with 12th-generation Intel Core processors, up to a Core i7-1255U. If you want cellular connectivity, the Surface Pro 9 with 5G, which we reviewed, is available with a Microsoft SQ3 chipset, based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. This is an Arm-based processor, so it's very efficient, but not as fast as the Intel model. On top of that, you get up to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD for storage, though the 5G model maxes out with just 16GB and 512GB, respectively.

The display is the same for both models, which means you get a 13-inch panel with a very sharp resolution of 2880 x 1920. Not only that, but it also has a 120Hz refresh rate, so everything moves much more smoothly on the screen. Plus, it supports touch and pen input, even including tactile signals on the Surface Slim Pen 2, simulating the feel of writing with a pen on paper.

Because it's a tablet, the Surface Pro 9 also has great cameras. The front-facing webcam is a 5MP sensor, complete with Windows Hello support, while the rear camera uses a 10MP sensor, and it can even record videos in 4K.

In terms of design, the Surface Pro 9 is one of the lightest devices on this list, as you'd expect, considering it doesn't have a keyboard. It comes in at around 1.9 pounds and it's just 9.3mm thick. If you go with the Intel model, there are also four beautiful colors: Platinum, Graphite, Forest, and Sapphire, but the 5G model only comes in Platinum.

Rounding things out, the Surface Pro 9 only has a couple of USB Type-C ports and nothing else. On the Intel models, those ports support Thunderbolt 4, but that's not the case with the 5G version. There's no headphone jack, but this setup is about what you would expect out of a tablet.

While it's not a perfect device, the Surface Pro 9 is easily the best Windows tablet you can buy right now. You can find the Wi-Fi and 5G models below.

We've focused mostly on Windows laptops so far, but if you're keener on Google's Chrome OS, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is easily one of the best Chromebooks on the market.

For starters, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is packing 12th-generation Intel Core processors, specifically, a Core i5-1235U, which is faster than most Chromebooks on the market. On top of that, the laptop has 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, a very strong combination for a Chromebook.

The display on the Acer Chromebook 714 is a 14-inch IPS panel, which is slightly larger than its predecessor, and it comes in a 16:10 aspect ratio. This model also comes in Full HD+ resolution, though you may also be able to find a Quad HD+ version in some markets. Of course, it's a convertible, which means touch and pen support is available by default, and a pen is even built right into the laptop. Above that display, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 comes with a Full HD 1080p MIPI webcam for some great quality calls, though it lacks any kind of biometric authentication, which is a bummer.

Design-wise, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is a metal laptop, and it comes in a dark Slate Blue colorway. Like many of Acer's Chromebooks, it's also designed to meet MIL-STD-810H standards for durability, and it weighs 3.09 pounds, so it's decently portable. As for ports, you're getting two Thunderbolt 4 ports, USB Type-A, HDMI, and a headphone jack, so it's a well-rounded setup overall, better than most premium Windows laptops.

If you're in the market for a Chromebook, you can't do much better than the Acer Chromebook Spin 714. It has a combination of specs, display, and design that puts almost every competitor to shame, all for a relatively affordable price.

The best laptops in 2023: The bottom line

Those are what we'd consider the best laptops you can buy right now, and some of the best choices as gifts for someone who might be looking to upgrade. The Lenovo Yoga 9i is the best overall offering because it offers a blend of high-end performance for day-to-day tasks, two beautiful OLED display options, and a stunning design that looks better than a Yoga ever has. It's a great laptop for almost anything, with that great speaker setup also making for a phenomenal media experience, too. Laptops don't get much better than this.

If you can't afford to spend much money on a laptop, though, then the HP Pavilion Aero may just be for you. It has great performance and a great display, especially considering how often you can find it for less than $600. You definitely won't regret buying it at that price. Otherwise, any of the options on this list are fantastic, it's just a matter of choosing what suits your needs the best.