1. The list in brief
2. Best overall: MacBook Air (M3)
3. Best budget: Lenovo IdeaPad Duet
4. Best value: Acer Aspire 5
5. Best student: MacBook Air (M2)
6. Best Windows 11: Dell XPS 13 Plus
6. Best working from home: Acer Chromebook Plus 515
7. Best creative: MacBook Pro 16
8. Best 2-in-1: Lenovo Yoga Book 9i
9. Best for gaming: Razer Blade 14
10. Best large screen: Dell XPS 17
11. Best OLED screen: Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro
12. Best cheap gaming: MSI Katana 15
13. How to choose
14. How we test
Looking for the best laptops of 2024? Then we're here to help. Each year, we review a huge amount of laptops across every category, and we're constantly updating this guide to give you the very latest buying advice, no matter what your budget is.
If you want to know what the best laptop you can buy right now is, then our choice is the brand-new MacBook Air (M3), which is available in both 13-inch and 15-inch models. This standout in the best MacBook category merges a sleek, contemporary design with an impressive screen, stellar performance, and exceptional battery life.
However, if you don't fancy a MacBook, we also have a huge range of other options, from Windows 11-powered laptops, to budget Chromebooks, powerful gaming laptops and everything in between. Every laptop on this page has been fully tested by our experts, so we can give you independent buying advice that you can trust.
Recent updates
This page has been updated as of 13/3/2024 with new easier-to-understand rankings, plus the latest models of the Dell XPS 17, MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) and Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro have been added.
Matt has been reviewing laptops for the best part of 15 years, and has been using them for a lot longer. That means he knows the essential ingredients that make the perfect laptop – long battery lives, dependable performance, solid designs and above all value for money. He’s personally reviewed and used most of the laptops on this page.
The quick list
Want to cut to the chase and find out what the best laptops are? Below, you’ll find a roundup of our choices, and you can jump to a more detailed review of every pick, along with our price comparison tool to help you find the best deals.
Value ★★★★★
Performance ★★★★☆
Battery life ★★★★★
Apple's latest version of the MacBook Air proves that you can improve on perfection. It retains the stunning design of the last model but with a cheaper price and more powerful hardware.
Value ★★★★★
Performance ★★★☆☆
Battery life ★★★★★
This 2-in-1 Chromebook offers incredible value for money, with a stunning OLED display and detachable keyboard making it perfect for students.
Value ★★★★★
Performance ★★★☆☆
Battery life ★★★☆☆
If you're after a great value Windows 11 laptop then this is the one to get, offering good performance, a stylish design and a low price.
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★☆
Battery life ★★★★★
The 13-inch MacBook Air with M2 chip now has a cheaper price tag, making it a brilliant laptop for students.
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★★
Battery life ★★★☆☆
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is the best Windows 11 laptop you can buy right now thanks to its gorgeous 13-inch OLED screen and thin and light design.
Value ★★★★★
Performance ★★★★★
Battery life ★★★☆☆
As an entry in what Google calls the 'Chromebook Plus' category of more powerful Chrome OS laptops, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is a fantastic affordable device for working from home.
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Value ★★★☆☆
Performance ★★★★★
Battery life ★★★★★
Want the best laptop for productivity and creative work? The new 16-inch MacBook Pro gives you a choice of M3 Pro and M3 Max chips for incredible performance.
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★☆
Battery life ★★★★★
Thanks to its unique dual-screen design, the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is an innovative take on the 2-in-1 that's especially useful for productivity.
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★★
Battery life ★★★☆☆
Modern gaming laptops don't need to be big and bulky, as the Razer Blade 14 proves with aplomb. If you want a portable gaming device, get this.
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★☆
Battery life ★★★★☆
Looking for a huge screen to boost your productivity? The Dell XPS 17 combines the slim design of other XPS laptops with a 17-inch screen.
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★☆
Battery life ★★★★★
OLED screens looks gorgeous on laptops, and the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro is a top example of the difference it makes. It's slim, light and portable, too.
Value ★★★★☆
Performance ★★★★☆
Battery life ★★★☆☆
The MSI Katana 15 is ideal if you're looking for a machine that can play games, but doesn't blow a hole in your bank balance thanks to solid performance and decent price.
The best laptops in 2024
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the best laptops in our list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.
The best laptop overall
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Apple has lowered the starting price for the latest MacBook Air making it much better value | ★★★★★ |
| Design | No new design, but it remains one of the best looking laptops in 2024 | ★★★★★ |
| Performance | Performance is great thanks to the M3 chip, but it's not a huge leap over the M2 version | ★★★★☆ |
| Battery life | You can work on this laptop for a whole work day on a single charge | ★★★★★ |
✅ You want the best laptop in the world: The new MacBook Air 13-inch is now the laptop we'd recommend to pretty much anyone thanks to a great design, excellent performance and relatively affordable price.
✅ You want a laptop for traveling with: The stylish thin and light design, plus the long battery life, makes this an excellent laptop for going out and about with.
✅ You want power - but not too much: The new M3 chip powering the MacBook Air is great at day-to-day tasks, as well as video editing and AI.
❌ You only have the budget for the cheapest MacBook: The MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) comes with a new, lower price, but the M2 model (also in this list) has also dropped in price, making that the cheapest MacBook you can buy.
❌ You want a lot of ports: The MacBook Air (M3) once again comes with only two Thunderbolt ports. If you need more ports, consider the MacBook Pro 16-inch below instead.
❌ You want a bigger screen: The 13-inch screen of the new MacBook Air makes it nice and portable, but some people may find it a bit too small to work on - in that case, you should consider the 15-inch model instead.
💻 The MacBook Air (M2, 2022) boasts a fantastic new design alongside a larger display and an impressive battery life of 16 hours. It costs more than its predecessor, but the jump in performance the newer M2 chip provides goes some way to justifying that. ★★★★½
What you need to know
The Apple MacBook Air (M3, 2024) is the best laptop overall you can buy right now. Thanks to a stylish new design that makes this thin and light laptop feel more modern, this is a MacBook you can take almost anywhere. Not only is it portable, in our review we found that it offers a very decent 16-hour battery life, and the new screen is a joy to work on. It’s just a shame that a price bump has made it slightly less good value for money than its predecessor.
Design: After years sticking to a safe tried-and-tested design, Apple finally gave the MacBook Air a much-needed makeover with this model. It’s now thinner and lighter than before, making it more portable, and by slimming down the bezels around the screen, it’s allowed Apple to include a larger display without making it bulky. The screen is bright and vibrant, and the MacBook Air (M3, 2024) remains one of the best looking laptops you can buy.
Performance: During our time reviewing the MacBook Air, it delivered incredible performance across the board. It quickly boots into macOS, and apps run smoothly (and look fantastic on the new display). We found even when browsing the web in both Safari and Chrome with lots of tabs open, the MacBook Air (M3, 2024) kept up, though we may soon find the 8GB of memory that comes with the base model a bit too limited. Meanwhile, thanks to the redesigned keyboard, whipping up documents and composing emails feel effortless and comfortable.
Battery life: In our tests, the MacBook Air (M3, 2024) lasted a substantial 16 hours on battery while playing a 1080p video – that's a 30-minute improvement over the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022), and five hours longer than the MacBook Air (M1, 2020). This laptop will last you throughout an entire workday or on a long-haul flight, and then some. It's not the longest life you'll find in a MacBook - the new MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max) almost hits 24 hours on a single charge.
Value for money: The MacBook Air starts at $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,799, a bump from the older M1 MacBook Air’s launch price of $999 / £999 / AU$1,599. Due to the new design, better display, more powerful M3 hardware, and a slight price drop from the M2 MacBook Air 13-inch's launch price, it also feels like a better value than its predecessor.
Read the full review: Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3)