When you choose the right laptop, it all comes down to what you are willing to spend and what you plan to use it. If the idea of navigating the innumerable options is disconcerting, we have you covered. After watching some of the best devices this year and analyzed dozens of professional reviews and user reviews, we present you the best of the best in a handful of popular categories.
Best ultraportable notebook
This is a really tricky category to pick a winner because there are so many high quality ultraportable laptops on the market today. Every company, from Dell to Asus, Lenovo, Apple and HP and many others, all have an excellent high end laptop option, and to be honest, for the most part, you can not get yourself to deceive with these flagship models. ] In the past, I've always been a big fan of the Dell XPS 13, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the Razer Blade Stealth, and these three options have been seriously considered in this category, but in terms of features and performance, the featured option in our opinion is the Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UN. The ZenBook offers something that other laptops do not have: a discrete GPU. It may not be a powerful GPU capable of hardcore gaming, but the GeForce MX150 included in this notebook is much faster than Intel's built-in graphics, even though 39; is the 1D12 "slower" variant of this GPU. As for the CPU? We only recommend something with at least a quad-core in 2018, and in the case of most premium ultraportables, it's the 8th generation Kaby Lake Refresh of Intel. The ZenBook 13 is equipped with either the Core i5-8250U or Core i7-8550U based on price, with RAM and storage options starting at 8GB and 256GB respectively. These are standard specifications for a top-of-the-line notebook. range and we would not expect anything less. Other than that, you get a 13.3-inch 1080p touchscreen, which we prefer over the high resolution options for the extra battery life that it provides. Speaking of battery, the 50 Wh battery included is not the biggest we've seen, but the reputable reviews suggest that it's comparable to the other laptops we've envisioned for this category, at know the XPS 13 9370 and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 6th-gen. We would never settle for a short battery and this is not something you should worry about with the ZenBook 13. Although a really solid choice and we particularly like the discrete GPU, the ZenBook 13 is not perfect. It lacks Thunderbolt 3, and the keyboard is not as good as what you would get with something like a ThinkPad. That said, it offers a very competitive set of hardware starting at $ 1,000, which makes it more affordable than similarly configured options from Dell's and Lenovo's high-end ultraportable lines. Factor in the attractive value proposition and the UX331UN is an excellent choice. Configured correctly and for a little more money (from $ 1,150), the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a good candidate in this category. A more serious business notebook that is just as portable (2.5 pounds) with a 14-inch IPS display, excellent connectivity, including two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a better keyboard and faster storage than the ZenBook. you are lucky, you can catch one of the many Lenovo offers offered throughout the year. At the time of writing, I have configured a high-end black X1 Carbon Carbon with a Core i7-8550U processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD for a total of $ 2,093.00, after discounts , the system dropped to $ 1,569.75. I have not added any display options that include a 4K or multitouch resolution screen that is available on 1080p or 4K display. We recognize that Mac users are outnumbered here on TechSpot, but be aware that we expect Apple to refresh the current lineup of MacBooks in the coming days and weeks. We do not expect major design changes, but it remains to be seen how aggressive Apple is with specs bumps, keyboards and pricing. We do not recommend to buy Macs before the arrival of new models (early June). Our best Mac computer for the most part, the 13-inch MacBook Pro competes in the premium ultraportable category. Apple is a quality laptop, usually more expensive, but very well built and running macOS of their own. 
For a little more money
A side note for Mac users
Best convertible notebook
Our choice for the best convertible notebook was almost on the list of the best ultraportables, but with a starting price of nearly $ 2,000 for a proper configuration (a less powerful version running with a Core i5), this It is not the most affordable option for everyone. However, the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Book 2 offers a set of extremely compelling features, including the best hardware you can get with a 13-inch form factor, combined with a screen that stands out from the base. When you choose the Core i7 model, you get Intel's top-of-the-line Kaby Lake Refresh processor, the Core i7-8650U, but in addition, you also get a discrete GPU GeForce GTX 1050, which is a lot more powerful than the MX150 we usually see in this kind of devices. And this extra power helps drive the gorgeous 13.5-inch, 3000x2000 high-resolution LCD display, with a 3: 2 aspect ratio, ideal for productivity applications. The list of features does not stop there. The touch screen supports the company's best active stylus, the Surface Pen, which is an optional $ 100 surcharge, but is well worth it for those who like to annotate and draw them. The magnesium chassis is one of the best you can get on any laptop, and it now includes USB-C, but there is no support for Thunderbolt 3. Life Battery is also very good for a laptop that is so powerful. Our preferred configuration of the Surface Book 2 would be the 13-inch model at $ 2,500, which provides the Core i7, GTX 1050, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD. It's a very expensive laptop - there are certainly cheaper convertible laptops going around - but you will not find anything more powerful. The race is not so close in our opinion: the Surface Book 2 is what you buy when you want the best.
Best Productivity Power of 15 inches
Just a few months ago, Intel released its new line of six-core Coffee Lake CPUs for laptops. Until now, most of these processors have ended up in gaming laptops, but sometimes you may be looking for a more professional, portable, productivity-oriented, less expensive, but which nevertheless offers a powerful material. Check all these boxes is the Dell XPS 15 9570, which is our current choice for those who need productivity power on the go. The Dell XPS 15 has been one of our favorites for some time, but the new 9570 model offers such a combination of performance, portability and price. For about $ 1,700, you get a six-core Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a 15.6-inch 1080p display with super slim goggles, and a discrete GeForce GTX GPU 1050 Ti, plus a whopping 97 Wh Battery and Thunderbolt Connectivity 3. Now, this is not the cheapest laptop to include this kind of hardware; you can easily find a chunky gaming laptop for about $ 1200 like the Asus ROG Scar Strix that will satisfy your hardware craving. But the key aspect of the XPS 15 is its portability and longevity: the notebook clutter is smaller because of the thinner glasses, it is lighter than a notebook. kilo and the thickness is 15mm instead of 24mm. While providing a battery that is over 50% larger and lasts considerably longer. There are other lightweight and lightweight gaming notebooks like the MSI GS65 and the Gigabyte Aero 15, which both provide an equivalent processor and a faster GPU. But even though they are thin and light gaming machines, the Dell XPS 15 is even more portable and several hundred dollars cheaper while preserving the key features focused on productivity. Of course, the discrete GPU is just a GTX 1050 Ti rather than a GTX 1060 as you will have it with a portable notebook, but the 1050 Ti will be more than enough for tasks like the one you want. video editing, code compilation, simulations, and so on. Plus, if you want to do more than just casual games, a gaming laptop might be a better option for you anyway.
Best budget notebook
I have recommended this laptop before and I will recommend it again because it offers excellent value for money. If you have a limited budget and just want to get the best possible hardware, look no further than the Acer Aspire E 15, which costs around $ 600. Much of the material provided by this laptop is also found in high-end devices, but you save up to $ 400 and this is not a trivial matter for a low-budget buyer. The Aspire E 15 has everything you need from a hardware point of view: a quad-core i5-8250U Core, a discrete GeForce MX150 GPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSDs, both of which are inclusions in a product level entry We do not recommend buying a laptop without SSD and with less than 8GB of RAM, but this Acer machine includes both. The display is a basic LCD screen of 15.6 inches 1080p and the battery life is decent, but not exceptional. The main thing you do not get with this budget laptop that you get with the more expensive ultraportables that we mentioned earlier, is a fancy design. The Aspire E 15 has a basic chassis that does not have the thinness, light weight and metal class of the best laptops. At 2.4kg, this is not the most 15-inch portable laptop that is flowing, but what's missing in the design and construction, is that the performance is much better . Surprisingly, though, the Aspire E 15 includes a USB-C port, although it is limited to USB 3.1 gen 1 speeds, and there is also a Wi-Fi 802.11ac solution with the MU-MIMO support. There is even a DVD player, something you do not see often in laptops these days. This is not the cheapest laptop on the market - you can get Atom-equipped Windows devices and, of course, Chromebooks at a lower price - but the combination of hardware and value makes the Aspire E 15 incredibly difficult to use. The Asus ZenBook UX330 may be less performing than the Aspire E 15, but it's also more portable with only 2.6 pounds on a 13-inch chassis, so it's more pleasant to carry. If you are less concerned about performance for your money, and simply want an inexpensive ultraportable that will handle everyday tasks without a lot of stories, this Zenbook is a great choice. For $ 699, the UX330 offers you an elegant aluminum construction, Kaby Lake R Core i5 internal components, a decent 1080p display, 8 GB of RAM, a backlit keyboard, a fingerprint reader Integrated digital and a 256GB SSD. Asus has continued to refresh the specifications of this laptop at the same price for a few generations now, it is a great portable alternative that also offers good battery life. We do not test a lot of Chromebooks here at TechSpot, but understandably you want to buy one on a Windows 10 machine if all you use for a laptop is web browsing and other tasks light. At less than $ 500, the Asus Chromebook Flip C302 is what we recommend, offering decent performance from its Core m3 processor and a fairly strong battery life. It also includes a 12.5 inch 1080p screen in a respectable chassis, which is not bad for a budget system. Recently, the Samsung Chromebook Pro receives many recommendations. It adds a QHD display and stylus support, but we would not pay $ 600 for a Chromebook unless you have one before and you're sure it's what you want to do. a portable computing experience. Something more beautiful, thinner, less than $ 1,000
What about a Chromebook?
Best gaming laptop
Game laptops are such a vast subject that we could write a complete buying guide ... so we did. Check out TechSpot's Best Gaming Laptops feature not only covering the most powerful and expensive models on the market, but also convenient options that offer value for money, a slimmer profile, or an excellent ultrabook that doubles as A decent game machine. Here is our favorite category of gaming laptops: wearable models with tons of power. We have already reviewed a handful of these devices in recent years, but a few stand out with the latest Intel Core i7-8750H. The best of the band so far is the MSI GS65 Stealth Thin. We were fans of MSI's previous thin gaming laptop in the GS63, but the GS65 is an improvement in every way. It has thinner frames surrounding a faster 1080p display of 144Hz, and that helps to reduce the footprint of the laptop. It is still very thin and light for this category of device, and the new design with golden highlights looks better than ever. This is the most refined laptop construction of MSI yet. For gaming performance, the GS65 comes with two GPU options, a GTX 1060 or a GTX 1070 Max-Q. The one or the other option is a wise choice at their respective prices, although the GTX 1070 Max-Q model is better suited for gaming on high resolution 1080p display, and gives you more of power in the same form factor. Other features like 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD are standard for this laptop and its competitors. We opted for the GS65 on the Gigabyte and Asus rival laptops for several reasons. The GS65 is quieter than the similar Gigabyte Aero 15X during the game, and the build quality is superior, with both laptops arriving at the same price. This was a difficult choice between the GS65 and Asus ROG Zephyrus M GM501; The Zephyrus is more powerful with a GTX 1070 inside rather than the Max-Q variant, but it is also more powerful, warmer and more expensive. The GS65 has a bigger battery and lasts longer, which is important for a gaming laptop. Either the GS65 or the Zephyrus would be our choice depending on what you were looking for, but if we had to pick one, the rounder GS65 would get our vote in that category.
Best MacBook for the most part
Choosing the best Mac laptop is relatively simple, and in fact there has been no update to the list of Apple laptops since the last update of this list. At the time of writing, we expect Apple to refresh the current lineup of MacBook in the coming days and weeks, while the WWDC will be closer. We do not expect major design changes, but it remains to be seen how aggressive Apple is with specs bumps, keyboards, and pricing. We do not recommend buying Macs before the arrival of new models (early June). As this is generally the case with Apple's notebook offers, there are only a few options and the best for your needs boils down to whether you want a smaller or larger machine. The 15-inch MacBook Pro is more powerful and therefore more expensive, but the 13-inch model is more portable and high-performance. There is also an ultra-thin but weaker 12-inch MacBook for those who want something small. It's a great little machine, but we would not recommend it as your main machine unless you're a casual user - you know, the kind that could also survive with an iPad as their main computing device. After considering all three options, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is best suited for most consumers. It is the most versatile notebook of the offer, and essentially replaces the old MacBook Air by providing the power of a dual-core Intel Kaby Lake processor in a chassis only 15 mm in thickness and 1.4 kg in weight (3 lbs). It also has a high resolution 2560 x 1600 retinal display, which is a feature that has never done in the air. MacBooks are expensive for what you get on the datasheet. The basic 13 "model is $ 1,299, and for that price, you only get a Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. This variant, which does not include Touch Bar controls, is the only way to get the most out of it. Apple, also has a very limited selection of ports., Just two ports Thunderbolt 3. Touch Bar models are more expensive, we do not really like what the Touch Bar offers, but it's the only way to get better specs. For example, the $ 1799 MacBook Pro TouchBook 13 offers you a more powerful Core i7 port and four Thunderbolt 3 ports, as well as better graphics and more storage. The 15-inch MacBook Pro is also a decent option if you're ready to support the $ 2,399 starting price. It's much more powerful than the 13-inch model, thanks to quad-core Kaby Lake processors and discrete AMD Radeon Pro graphics. The 15-inch Pro is designed for high productivity workloads such as video editing, which is why 16 GB of RAM is also standard. Again, we would not buy a MacBook Pro before the arrival of the new models. In the worst case, you can get a huge discount on any of the current models.
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