Best laptops to buy in 2022

A laptop won’t revolutionize the minutiae of your life the way a smartphone can. You can’t easily whip one out to kill time in the elevator, capture a breathtaking sunset, or pay for a cup of coffee.

But in the years since smartphones took on all these jobs, laptops have honed their own talents. Amazing battery life and breathtaking screens are now common, if you look in the right place for them. The graphics muscle to play games at full HD is affordable. And those basic old-guard features that you won’t find on any mobile device, such as touchpads and full-size keyboards, tend to get better with almost every generation.

With great features, though, has come great fragmentation. Amazon, Newegg, and even your local electronics megamart have a dizzying array of cheap laptops, gaming laptops, 2-in-1 laptops, Chromebooks, and ultraportables. Here at PC Labs, we review as many laptops as we can—hundreds each year—so we’ve seen pretty much every remix of laptop you can buy.

Buying one by looking at specs and speed feeds alone can be maddening, though. Which specific features, and which laptop class, are best for you depends on your budget and how you plan to use your laptop. It’s better to take a systematic approach when shopping. Let’s run through how to make a smart pick.

1. MacBook Air. The best laptop of 2022. …
2. MacBook Pro (16-inch) The best creator laptop. …
3. MacBook Pro (14-inch) A great choice for Mac power users. …
4. HP Spectre x360 14. The best Windows laptop. …
5. Asus ROG Zephyrus G15. The best gaming laptop in 2022. …
6. Asus Chromebook Flip CX5. …
7. LG Gram 17. …
8. HP Envy x360 13.