Top 15 Laptops to Purchase in 2023: The Best Laptop Options

We test a wide variety of laptops each year here at The Verge, and many of them are very good. But you can’t buy them all. So to help with your purchasing decisions I’ve done the very difficult (very difficult, trust me) task here of selecting 15 of the most exceptional devices out there for this Best Laptop of 2023 page. Whether you’re looking for a Chromebook, a gaming laptop, a 2-in-1 convertible, an ultralight notebook, or something that’s a little bit of each, I’ve got multiple options for you here. These aren’t necessarily the best laptops of all time, but they are, in my opinion, the best laptops you can buy right now. My current pick for the best laptop of 2023 is the MacBook Air. It’s a device that does just about everything right. While it’s certainly not perfect, there are no major flaws. It’s a great pick for productivity, browsing, and even light gaming. It’s getting harder to buy a bad laptop, but what separates the best laptops from good laptops is how they balance power, efficiency, portability, and comfort. The top laptop should have a fantastic keyboard and trackpad — after all, those are the two biggest reasons you’d choose a laptop over a smartphone or tablet. Its display should be easy on the eyes, bright, and sharp enough that you aren’t distracted by jagged edges and visible pixels. It should be powerful enough for most anything short of intensive video editing and advanced gaming. It should be easy to carry around from place to place, and it should be able to last all day without needing to be plugged in.Our other picks for the best laptops, Chromebooks, and 2-in-1s include the the MacBook Pro 16 and the HP Spectre x360 14. Check out the full list of best laptop picks below or our roundup of the best gaming laptops, if you’re looking for a powerful machine that doesn’t sacrifice portability.What we’re looking forValue: Price is a very important factor in evaluating devices for this page. We’re seeking laptops that offer great value for their asking price, and that are the best of the best compared to other laptops in their price category. The more expensive a device, the more exceptional it has to be to make it on here.Performance: We want laptops with enough power to accommodate their target audience. An ultraportable laptop should be able to handle a standard office workload without excessive heat or fan noise. A gaming laptop should run today’s popular games. Screen: We like displays that are color-accurate and bright.Design: We’re looking for laptops with a solid, durable build that can handle a standard amount of briefcase wear-and-tear. Battery life: Battery life is much more important in some categories than it is in others. That said, in general, we assume that most shoppers are choosing a laptop over a desktop because they value some ability to work away from a plug. Battery life gives a user more freedom and makes a device more reliable for travel, so we consider it here.Port selection: The more ports, the better.We try to keep our picks as current as possible, but we may include an older device over its newer generation if we feel that the newer generation is a significant downgrade. We rarely recommend devices that are more than two years old.1. Apple MacBook Air (M2)The best laptop of 2023The redesigned MacBook Air is a thin, lightweight device powered by Apple’s latest chip. The M2 model also touts a 1080p webcam and a better display than its predecessor, while retaining features like long battery life and MagSafe charging.CPU: M2 / GPU: M2/ RAM: 8GB, 16GB, 24GB / Storage: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB / Display: 13.6-inch IPS display, 2560 x 1664, 60Hz, no touch option / Dimensions: 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches / Weight: 2.7 poundsThe latest MacBook Air, powered by Apple’s M2 processor, is the best laptop for most people. The base model, which includes 8GB of memory, 256GB of storage, an 8-core CPU, and an 8-core GPU, starts at $1,199. A model with 512GB of storage, which is what we recommend for most people and will let you keep using the laptop for longer, costs $1,399.The Air has lost the wedge-shape design that was its calling card for years but retains many of the other excellent features of years past, including MagSafe charging, Touch ID, and the scissor-switch keyboard, and adds a new 1080p webcam and two new color options.The Apple MacBook Air is the best laptop of 2023. Photo by Becca Farsace / The VergeThe M2 processor inside isn’t as fast or powerful as the M1 Pro or M1 Max you get in the larger (and more expensive) MacBook Pro models, but it’s still mighty fast. In our testing, it was able to handle intense office workloads with little to no heat or slowdown. Given how thin and light this device is, it delivers a combination of power and portability that you’ll be hard-pressed to find in many other machines out there. The M2 Air didn’t give us quite as much battery life as the 16-inch M1 Pro MacBook did in our rundown testing, but we would still expect it to last most people a full day of continuous use. Apple is continuing to sell the M1 MacBook Air, which was released in 2020. If the M2 MacBook Air is out of your price range, we recommend that you consider the M1 model.Read our MacBook Air review.2. MacBook Pro (14-inch and 16-inch)The best Macbook for creators$1999The new 16-inch MacBook Pro is a creative powerhouse equipped with Apple’s latest silicon. Configurable with either the M1 Pro or M1 Max, the 16-inch screen can be lent out to up to three external displays and a 4K TV simultaneously thanks to its vast array of ports.CPU: M1 Pro, M1 Max / GPU: M1 Pro, M1 Max / RAM: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 96GB/ Storage: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB / Display: 14.2/16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR, 3024 x 1964/3456 x 2234, adaptive refresh up to 120Hz, no touch option / Dimensions: 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61/14.01 x 9.77 x 0.66 inches / Weight: 3.5/4.7 pounds (M2 Pro), 3.6/4.8 pounds (M2 Max)It may be confusing to see both the 2021 MacBook Pro models (with the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips) and the 2023 MacBook Pro models (with the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips) on this list. The 2023 models are more powerful devices — but because of their high price, they’re also more niche devices, and we recommend them mostly to professionals who need every ounce of power. We see the 2021 models, which can now be found at much lower prices, as better purchases for a more mainstream audience. That’s why they’re higher on this list. In our benchmarks, which test a variety of creative tasks including encoding, playback, and export time, the MacBook Pro 16 did better than any laptop we’ve ever used — the only other machines that have come close to matching this thing in some of our benchmarks are high-end desktop PCs. The battery life is also record-shattering. The 16-inch configuration with the M1 Pro processor lasted 16 hours in my testing — making it the longest-lasting laptop we’ve ever reviewed. (The M1 Max configuration doesn’t last quite as long, but still got us through a work day.)Elsewhere, we have basically no complaints about the 2021 MacBook Pro. It has a gorgeous display that can reach 1,000 nits when playing HDR content. It pairs that with the best set of speakers we’ve ever heard from a laptop. And these Pro models can output to multiple external displays, while the Air is limited to one.If you’re looking for a machine that can accommodate a demanding workload while also serving as an excellent multimedia device when you’re off the clock, you’ll likely be satisfied with what the M1 Pro and M1 Max can do.The 14-inch MacBook Pro is a stellar laptop in many ways, with a brilliant display, a great keyboard, fast specs, and several useful ports.If you’re a creative professional who doesn’t quite want to pay the price of the MacBook Pro 16, or you’re looking for something more compact, you’re probably better suited to the 14-inch MacBook Pro. This device is smaller, lighter, and less expensive than its 16-inch counterpart, but it comes with the…

FOLLOW US ON GOOGLE NEWS

Read original article here