Let’s be real—picking a laptop in 2025 is a headache. There are just so many choices. The MacBook Air M4 stands out as the best overall laptop for most folks, with a killer combo of performance, almost 16 hours of battery, and a starting price of $999. This year, laptops have leveled up across the board, whether you’re after something budget-friendly or a gaming beast.

In 2025, even cheap laptops feel surprisingly premium. Big brands have managed to squeeze more battery life, sharper displays, and beefier processors into affordable machines. Whether you’re a student, a creative pro, or a gamer, you don’t really have to compromise anymore. There’s a solid pick at every price.

This guide breaks down the best laptops for different needs and budgets. We’ll look at everything from featherweight ultrabooks to gaming monsters, and try to help you figure out what actually matters for your daily grind.

Key Takeaways

• The MacBook Air M4 nails the balance of speed, battery, and value in 2025
• Budget laptops now pack features and performance that used to cost a fortune
• New CPUs and displays have raised the bar for all laptops, not just the pricey ones

Best Laptops of 2025: Top Picks by Category

This year’s laptop lineup is wild—there’s something for everyone. The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED leads the pack for most people, but if you want a gaming rig, a budget machine, or a pro workstation, you’re covered. Every category has a standout that fits a different kind of user.

Best Laptop Overall

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Touch is the best all-around laptop for 2025. It’s light (just 2.82 pounds), slim, and comes with an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS, 16GB RAM, and a punchy OLED screen. The Jade Black aluminum finish looks sharp, and you don’t have to empty your wallet to get it.

Why it’s great:

• Almost 20 hours of battery life (seriously)
• 1920×1200 OLED touchscreen with full sRGB color
• AMD Radeon 780M graphics for light gaming or creative work
• Military-grade toughness (MIL-STD 810H)

The Zenbook 14 OLED breezes through office work, web browsing, and even some creative projects. Its AI-ready chip can handle basic AI stuff during video calls or editing. Sure, the Dell XPS 14 and Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge are solid, but the Zenbook’s mix of speed, battery, and price is tough to beat for most people.

Best Gaming Laptop

Gaming laptops in 2025? They’re all about raw power and smooth screens. The best ones run RTX 40-series GPUs and CPUs built for long gaming sessions. Razer Blade 16 stands out this year, blending a clean design with enough muscle to play anything at high settings.

What matters for gaming?

• RTX 4060 or better graphics
• 144Hz or 240Hz displays for buttery visuals
• At least 16GB RAM
• Serious cooling (no one likes a hot lap)

Modern gaming laptops also double as creative workhorses, thanks to those powerful GPUs. You can edit video, render 3D, or stream without breaking a sweat. They’re not just for games anymore.

Best MacBook and macOS Laptops

The MacBook Air M4 13-inch is Apple’s sweet spot for most users in 2025. Apple dropped the price, threw in the zippy M4 chip, and upgraded the webcam. It’s light (2.7 pounds), super slim, and runs silently thanks to the fanless design.

Why pick the Air M4?

• Cheaper than last year’s model
• M4 chip brings more AI muscle
• More RAM out of the box
• Two Thunderbolt 4 ports for all your gadgets

If you need more firepower, the 16-inch MacBook Pro brings the M4 Pro or Max chips and active cooling for heavy creative work. MacBooks still rule for editing, music, and coding, and if you’re deep in the Apple ecosystem, the workflow is just seamless.

Best Chromebook

Chromebooks are perfect for basics—web, email, school, and streaming. In 2025, they’re faster and get updates longer than ever. The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is a standout with a roomy 15.6-inch screen and Intel chips that zip through Chrome and Android apps.

Why go Chromebook?

• Boots in seconds
• Always up-to-date security
• Google services built-in
• Long battery life

Higher-end Chromebooks now come with OLED screens and metal bodies, going toe-to-toe with Windows laptops. They’re ideal if you mostly use web apps and Google tools, but they’re not built for heavy software or gaming.

Best Budget Laptop

If you’re on a tight budget, you’re not stuck with junk anymore. The Acer Swift Go 14 is a prime example—modern chips, enough RAM, and it doesn’t feel cheap.

What to look for in a budget laptop:

• 8GB RAM (don’t settle for less)
• SSD storage for quick booting
• 1080p screen
• Decent build—no creaky plastic, please

Budget models used to cut corners on screens and build, but now many offer features you’d expect from pricier machines. They’re great for browsing, docs, and streaming, but don’t expect them to handle big creative projects or new games.

Best Windows Laptop

Windows laptops are everywhere, and the variety is wild. The Microsoft Surface Laptop is still the poster child for premium Windows design—clean looks, great keyboard, and it just feels good to use.

Why Windows still wins:

• Runs pretty much any software
• Tons of hardware choices
• Gaming support is unmatched
• Enterprise features for work

Windows laptops are still the go-to for business and gaming. They’re the most flexible—want to upgrade? Go for it. Need obscure software? No problem. Gamers and pros love that flexibility and huge library of apps and games.

Best 2-in-1 and Convertible Laptops

2-in-1 laptops are for people who want a laptop and a tablet in one. The best convertibles have sharp touchscreens, sturdy hinges, and stylus support for drawing or jotting notes.

What sets them apart:

• 360-degree hinges or detachable keyboards
• Stylus support for creativity
• Sharp, responsive touchscreens
• Battery that lasts in tablet mode

They usually cost a bit more than a regular laptop, but if you actually use the tablet features—say, you’re a student, artist, or you give lots of presentations—they’re worth it. You get the best of both worlds: laptop productivity and tablet flexibility.

Key Laptop Features and Innovations in 2025

Laptops in 2025 are packed with next-gen processors (think M4, Intel Core Ultra 7), stunning OLED displays with up to 120Hz refresh, and all the latest ports—Wi-Fi 7, Thunderbolt 4, you name it. Battery life is better than ever, and manufacturers keep making them lighter and nicer to use.

Performance: CPU, GPU, and RAM

This year’s CPUs are wild. Apple’s M4 is super efficient and fast, powering the latest MacBooks. Intel’s Core Ultra 7 258V and Ultra 9 285H run the show in high-end Windows laptops, with built-in Intel Arc graphics. AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 pushes hard for top performance and adds AI smarts for stuff like editing and video calls. Snapdragon X Elite is making ARM-based Windows laptops way more viable, especially for battery life.

Most decent laptops now start at 16GB RAM, and gaming rigs can easily hit 32GB or more. Graphics-wise, you’ll find Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5090 Laptop GPUs in high-end models. Entry-level systems stick with integrated graphics like Intel Arc 140V, which can handle light gaming or creative work. Pretty much everything now uses NVMe SSDs—256GB to 2TB is the norm, and no one misses spinning hard drives.

Display Technology and Screen Options

OLED screens have finally gone mainstream, at least in premium models. They deliver perfect blacks and punchy colors, with resolutions up to 2880×1800. Mini LED is another option for folks who want a super-bright screen. Most new laptops offer 120Hz refresh rates, making everything from scrolling to gaming feel smoother. Touchscreens are everywhere, especially on convertibles.

Screen sizes range from 13.6” to 18”, but 14-16” is the sweet spot for most. You get enough space without lugging around a brick. Text and images are super crisp now, with pixel density usually over 200 PPI. Color accuracy is also way better—pro displays cover all of sRGB and even DCI-P3. Anti-glare coatings help, but you’ll still get some reflection if you’re sitting in direct sunlight.

Connectivity and Ports

Thunderbolt 4 rules the high-end, offering 40Gbps speeds and support for charging, data, and displays through one port. USB-C has mostly replaced USB-A on thin laptops, which is both a blessing and a curse depending on your dongle situation.

Wi-Fi 7 is blazing fast if you can actually find it, but Wi-Fi 6E is still everywhere and works great. Bluetooth 5.3 keeps wireless gear connected without hiccups. HDMI 2.1 lets you run 4K displays at high refresh rates, and gaming laptops usually still include ethernet ports for lag-free connections. SD card readers are back in style for creators who move lots of photos and video.

Port selection really depends on the laptop type. Ultrabooks keep things minimal—mostly USB-C and Thunderbolt—while gaming laptops throw in everything, including the kitchen sink. If you need lots of connections, pay close attention to the specs before you buy.

Battery Life and Efficiency

Battery life really depends on which processor you get and, honestly, how you use your laptop day-to-day. If you grab an ARM-based machine with a Snapdragon chip, you might see it last well over 15 hours on a single charge. Apple’s M4 MacBook Air isn’t far behind—users regularly squeeze out more than 12 hours, even with pretty heavy multitasking.

Intel Core Ultra laptops, especially those that just stick with integrated graphics, usually land somewhere between 8 and 12 hours if you’re just browsing, writing, or streaming. Gaming laptops, though? That’s a different story. Even if you’re just doing light work, most gaming rigs with dedicated GPUs tap out after 3 to 6 hours. Most ultrabooks pack batteries around 50Wh, while bigger, beefier systems sometimes go above 90Wh, which helps a bit but can’t work miracles.

Fast charging is a real lifesaver if you’re always on the move. Plenty of newer laptops can hit 80% battery in less than an hour, so you can top up during a coffee break. USB-C Power Delivery means you can often use the same charger for your phone, tablet, and laptop—finally. Laptops now manage power a lot smarter, automatically dialing things back when your battery dips low, so you get a little extra time before scrambling for an outlet.

Efficiency keeps getting better, mostly thanks to smaller, smarter processors and display upgrades. OLED panels, for example, sip less power when showing darker images or videos—great if you like dark mode. Some screens now adjust their refresh rate on the fly, using less juice when you’re just reading or typing.

Build Quality, Keyboard, and Trackpad

When you pick up a high-end laptop, you can usually feel the difference. Premium machines use aluminum or magnesium alloy, which helps them shrug off bumps and keeps things cool. Ultrabooks can weigh as little as 1.1kg, so you barely notice them in your bag, while gaming laptops sometimes tip the scales at over 3kg—your shoulders might not thank you. Thickness goes from razor-thin 11mm models to chunky 30mm beasts built for performance.

Keyboard feel is something you only really notice after a few hours of typing. The best ones offer just the right amount of key travel and a satisfying, quiet click. Backlighting is basically standard now, and some laptops let you tweak the brightness or even pick your favorite color. Most follow familiar layouts, so you don’t have to re-learn where everything is—nobody wants to hunt for the arrow keys in the middle of a deadline.

Trackpads have gotten huge—honestly, sometimes they feel comically large, but it works. Newer models use glass surfaces for that smooth, gliding feel, and palm rejection finally means you can type without the cursor jumping all over the place. Multi-touch gestures are a given, and if you try Force Touch on certain laptops, you might get hooked on those pressure-sensitive tricks.

Hinges matter more than you’d think. A well-built hinge keeps your screen steady and lasts for years, while a wobbly one just ruins the experience. Convertible laptops use 360-degree hinges so you can flip them into tablet mode, which is surprisingly handy for watching movies or sketching. And if you’re into digital art or just like to jot notes, stylus support opens up a whole new set of possibilities.

Value and Buying Advice

Laptop prices in 2025 swing pretty wildly. You’ll see entry-level systems starting around $800, but if you want a premium gaming rig, you could be looking at $5,000 or even more. Most folks, though, will find the sweet spot lies somewhere between $1,200 and $2,000. That’s where you usually get a solid mix of features and speed without feeling like you’re overpaying. If you’re open to it, refurbished laptops can get you high-end features for a lot less cash, although it’s smart to check the warranty and return policy first.

Think about what you actually need. If you’re doing creative work—editing photos, videos, or maybe dabbling in design—then you’ll probably want an OLED display and a powerful GPU. Those make a real difference. For business users, battery life and build quality usually matter more, along with security features like fingerprint readers or TPM chips. Students? They just want something that won’t crash during a Zoom call or die halfway through a lecture. Affordability and reliability come first, maybe with a bit of style thrown in.

When you’re comparing laptops, performance benchmarks like Geekbench scores offer a decent starting point. Still, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Real-world stuff—like how fast it encodes video or how long the battery actually lasts—matters more in daily life. If you’re spending serious money, especially for work, an extended warranty can save you from headaches down the road. It’s not glamorous, but when you need it, you’ll be glad you have it.

Honestly, timing matters. If you can wait until just after a big product refresh, you might snag last year’s model for a bargain. Manufacturers often drop prices fast when new versions hit shelves. Don’t forget about educational discounts or business pricing, either. If you qualify, those can make a real dent in the total cost.