Dell often has some kind of online voucher code or discount active, so it pays to wait for one before buying.

The latest mainstream Wi-Fi standard is 802.11ax (also dubbed “ Wi-Fi 6”) and it’s an important feature to look for in a laptop to ensure fast Wi-Fi connectivity in the future. Steer clear of the older 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5), though, as it’s now being phased out, with the highest-end Wi-Fi 6E standard appearing in more premium laptop options. (Credit: Molly Flores) Multitasking: If you always end up with dozens of tabs or programs open at once, you'll want to consider a laptop in this price range so you avoid slowdown.Creative powerhouses: Into creative tasks such as photo and video editing or music creation? Many laptops in this price range – especially MacBooks – are designed with those tasks in mind so will excel in those areas.

At the other end of the size spectrum are 17-inch laptops. They mostly appeal to hardcore gamers, but you can find the occasional 17-inch productivity machine or workstation if you happen to like a larger screen for other reasons. A 17-inch laptop can closely mimic the experience of a desktop, at the expense of size and weight. Most laptops above entry-level come with solid-state drives (SSDs), which use memory cells instead of a spinning platter (the classic hard drive) to store data. Since information stored in cells is much faster to access, SSDs are the best and most common drive configuration. They’re also immune to jolts and bumps that might crash a spinning platter’s heads.

Whether the screen is OLED, IPS, or TFT, people who plan to use their laptops in brightly lit rooms or outdoors will want to make sure that the panel has a maximum brightness level of at least 500 nits. If your current machine is nearly out of storage space, chances are you can nearly double or even quadruple your available storage with a 1TB hard drive, which is pretty easy to find these days. As for your peripherals, most modern laptops offer primarily USB-C inputs, and many will also have a HDMI connection for a second monitor. If you’re using your laptop only at home, you can probably get away with less battery life. But if you need something that’ll last a while before recharging, you can find machines with enough power to get through nearly a full day of nonstop operation. As for other physical connections, you’ll want to examine the edges of a given laptop carefully and take count. If you have an external storage device like a thumb drive, you’ll want to pay attention to the type and quantity of USB ports. Look for laptops that have both USB Type-A and Type-C ports. Type-A is the familiar rectangular connector that has been around for decades, while Type-C is smaller, oval-shaped, and sometimes doubles as a receptacle for the laptop’s charging cable. This is where PC Labs’ battery testing comes in. We evaluate battery life by playing a locally stored video file nonstop with no wireless connections active and 50% screen brightness. An excellent result on our test suggests that the laptop is adept at adapting its power use to the task at hand, and you can use the results to compare the potential of the machines you are considering. We evaluate all laptops using this test, and at the preceding link, you can see an extended summary of the best performers on our battery test. You use a lot of web applications: Storage space on these laptops is limited, but that's less of an issue if you use Google Docs or Microsoft 365 as productivity apps and rely more on cloud storage for files and photos.

For people with similar needs but larger budgets, an Apple MacBook might be the way to go, assuming you’re cool with running your day-to-day computing life on macOS. You won’t find a “cheap” MacBook anywhere in the Apple family, but you will find solid industrial design, universally excellent battery life, and a ton of built-in apps to manage your multimedia collection and sync with your iCloud account and the rest of your Apple devices.

The best that Apple has to offer in its MacBook portfolio, the 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2023 doubles down on a return to form that arguably turned public perception around regarding the company's laptops writ large. If you're looking for the absolute highest-end MacBook experience for personal use, or you need serious power behind professional apps that work only for (or best on) macOS, this is the one to buy. We largely have Microsoft to thank for the current design of detachable 2-in-1 Windows tablets, and the company continues to lead in this category with the Surface Pro 9. Focused here on the Intel variety, this update largely improves on its internal components with more current and faster hardware. We generally recommend the 12th Gen Intel version over the ARM version of the Surface Pro 9 for its increased power and broader compatibility with all Windows apps. Since many gaming laptops have matte displays, touch support is much harder to find among their ranks. Many gaming laptops above budget-level do offer high-refresh-rate screens, though. Hardcore gamers or esports hounds who are looking for silky-smooth visuals to give them a competitive edge will want to maximize the number of frames per second that their screen can display, and can do so by opting for a screen with a 120Hz or greater refresh rate. Note that not all laptop SSDs are created equal. SSDs that use the more modern, generally faster PCI Express NVMe standard, as opposed to the older, slightly slower SATA interface, are preferable. (PCI Express SSDs are slowly taking over the field, in any case.) Either of these, however, is far better than a third type, which is a not-quite-SSD: the much slower eMMC, a kind of flash storage drive found in budget machines. (If your budget laptop has 32GB, 64GB, or possibly 128GB of local storage, it is probably using eMMC.) All of them are better than a traditional spinning hard drive unless you simply need sheer capacity for the least money. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado) Chromebooks: Our Chromebooks are a budget friendly choice if you are in the market for something that prioritises productivity and web-based tasks. Take advantage of Chrome OS's affordability and simplicity. Key Features to Look For

RAM and Storage: Opt for sufficient RAM to ensure smooth multitasking and select the appropriate storage capacity to store your files, documents, and multimedia content.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3402)

A long-term investment: Buy a cheap laptop and you may have to replace it in a couple of years. Buy one of these and you've got a modern device that will last five years or more with ease. Convertible Laptops/2-in-1s: Experience versatility with our convertible laptops and 2-in-1 devices. These laptops seamlessly transform into tablets, giving you the flexibility to work or enjoy entertainment in various modes. We’ve found Apple laptops are very often cheaper, and available for faster delivery, when you don't buy direct from Apple. The main reason you’d buy directly is if you wanted a specification, such as a processor, Ram and storage combination, that isn’t available anywhere else. But you’re less likely to bag a bargain this way.