Laptops are an ubiquitous device now. They are found everywhere: in all offices, businesses, hospitals, and homes. While traditional PCs may be powerful, laptops have also caught up in terms of performance over the years. But most importantly: laptops have a battery and are portable. Laptops come in several screen sizes, the most popular of them being 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 inches.
Gaming laptops are built differently than business laptops, with gaming laptops having much higher display refresh rates, less premium design, and big cooling systems. No matter what kind of laptop you want, we have got them all here. Thanks to Reddit, where people can discuss every aspect of a laptop and vote for them, we’ve got this extensive list of the best laptops in each segment that you can find in the market. Let’s dive right in:
Best Laptop Reddit
1. Macbook Air M2 (2022) – Best Laptop acc. Reddit Overall
Highlights:
- New design
- Notched, bezel-less display
- MagSafe charger
- 720p camera
- Excellent battery life
The Macbook Air M2 is extremely powerful and will work for you no matter what task you throw at it. However, it’s also more expensive than the previous model, with a fairly noticeable price bump. It comes with a bezel-less display, indeed with a notch that easily gives off iPhone vibes. The display has an appreciable amount of brightness, standing at 500 nits. It’s a 13.6 inch IPS LCD display, with True Tone technology that slightly tints your display according to ambient light conditions, so that the display remains color-accurate.
The Macbook Air M2 has also seen the biggest design refresh in the Macbook Air lineup since it was launched back in 2008. It has lost its iconic wedge shaped design, and now has a chassis with uniform thickness all around. It comes in four colors: Midnight, Space Gray, Silver, and Starlight. The display size has increased from 13.3 inches to 13.6 inches.
The Macbook Air M2 also comes with a MagSafe 3 charger, which easily connects or detaches from the laptop, ensuring that your laptop doesn’t get pulled along if you or someone else trips on your charging cord accidentally. It also comes with 2 Thunderbolt 4 or USB type C ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The camera has been upgraded from a 720p camera found in the earlier models, to a 1080p camera. The weak 720p camera used in the previous models was heavily criticized: it was awful for Zoom meetings and video conferences. The Macbook Air M1 received a lot of heat for this, especially because online video conferences had become a universal need in the light of the pandemic and worldwide lockdowns. The 13-inch M2 Macbook Pro continues to use the awful 720p camera, making it a terrible value. But even more importantly, it makes the Macbook Air M2 seem like a very good value for money laptop in comparison.
One thing to note, however, is that the base model of the Macbook Air M2 isn’t a very good value for money. It comes with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage. Getting a laptop with 256 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM, in the Windows market, costs you as low as $500. With the base model of Macbook Air M2 though, not only do you get a small 256 GB SSD storage, you actually get a slower 256 GB SSD compared to the 256 GB SSD version of the Macbook Air M1. This is because the base model of Macbook Air M2 uses only a single NAND flash storage, as opposed to 2 chips each of 128 GB used in the Macbook Air M1. All this for a premium price of $1,199. If you want a better bang for your buck, it’s a much better (and safer) option to just pay 200 dollars more and go for the 512 GB version.
Reddit reviews:
“for what it’s worth, I’m fucking loving my M2.
I really like the design, the battery is incredible, magsafe is amazing, and the screen is gorgeous. my main reasoning for not shelling out a couple extra hundred for the 14” were primarily the battery life (14” Pro has the lowest battery life of any of the computers Apple sells right now) and the fact that I simply do not need all those cores. the most I ever push the computer is when I’m playing Civ V on high settings and it handles that beautifully.” -u/evaxuate
“I bought a maxed out midnight in pre-order. Took like 3 weeks to get here from China. It’s just crazy. Faster than anything I’ve worked on in 45 years. Weighs next to nothing and gets about 15 hours on battery. I do mostly audio work, a little video, and some dev.
Couldn’t be happier. That’s my official review. Lol…” -u/MrRobot-00
2. HP Spectre x360 13.5 (2022) – Best Windows Laptop Acc Reddit
Highlights:
- Convertible 2-in-1
- 13.5 inch OLED display
- Stylus support
- Decent battery life
- 1080p camera
The HP Spectre x360 is just the best convertible 2-in-1 laptop you can find in the market. The display of the HP Spectre 13.5 is, as the name suggests, 13.5 inches diagonally. This is an upward trend from the 13.3 inch displays used in the previous (2021) model. It comes with a beautiful OLED display and a 3:2 aspect ratio, which is great if you use your laptop for reading or browsing for long periods of time. The display is a pretty good level of brightness, standing at 400 nits max brightness. The display is touchscreen and also supports stylus input. The laptop comes with a detachable pen included in the box, which is a plus.
It has a long battery life, and will easily last you an entire day of average use. This is partly because of HP choosing to put a U-series Intel processor, which isn’t really the best in terms of performance, but uses less power and saves battery.
The HP Spectre x360 13.5 comes in two variants based on the processor used: one with an Intel Core i5 1235U, and another with an Intel Core i7 1255U. It has 2 USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports, a headphone jack, a microSD slot, and one USB-A port.
The laptop features a 1080p camera with a resolution of 5 MP. This is not the best of the cameras out there, but it definitely is better than what you get in the Macbook Air M1 or even the Dell XPS 13 OLED 2022, which pack in only 720p cameras. Moreover, it supports HP’s Auto frame feature, which makes sure you don’t get cut out of the frame when you’re in a video call by zooming in your face a bit.
Reddit reviews:
“Congrats!
I’d say a wise decision might be to try out those technologies if you haven’t already. I was about to pull the trigger on an Ipad myself but then my friend let me borrow his and I hated it. So I stuck with a HP Spectre 2-in-1 and a desktop computer.” -u/Brockelley
“I have a Surface Pro 9 and an HP Spectre x360 13.5. They are both very good for using the pen. In fact, the pens ae interchangeable.
Do you plan to use it while holding it? The SP is thinning and lighter, but only slightly over the 13.5 HP. I’d be concerned about the 16″ laptop being too large and heavy to hold for very long. if you only use it while sitting at a desk, the larger screen will be much better.” -u/MaplewoodGeek
3. Macbook Pro M2 Max (2023) – Performance Beast
Highlights:
- Two sizes: 14 inch and 16 inch
- Not a significant upgrade from M1 Max
- ProMotion Display
- MagSafe
- 1080p camera
- Expensive
The 2023 Macbook Pro M2 Max is the fully maxed out Macbook you can buy right now. It isn’t a dramatic improvement from the previous M1 Max Macbook Pro released in 2021, but it’s still one of the best laptops you can get if you want to get a high performance device for content creation or other heavy work. The design remains the same from the last Macbook Pro, only with a new chip inside that’s just marginally better than the M1 Max. The laptop comes in two different display sizes: 14 inch and 16 inch. You can also choose how much unified memory you want, from 32 GB to 96 GB. You also get up to 8 TB of SSD storage.
The display is beautiful with a great contrast ratio. No matter which model you buy, the pixel density remains the same: 254 ppi. The display supports ProMotion, which upscales the display refresh rate up to 120 Hz and downscales it according to what is being shown on the display. The display is very bright, with a maximum brightness of 1600 nits.
It has an SD card slot, a MagSafe 3 port, three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, an HDMI port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The chassis is the same as the last Macbook Pro, with no major design tweaks. Why fix it if it ain’t broke, after all?
The newer chip is also better at power management. As advertised by Apple, the battery on the 16 inch Macbook Pro provides up to 22 hours of video playback, and that on the 14 inch Macbook Pro provides up to 18 hours of video playback. The webcam is 1080p: same as the M1 Macbook Pro from 2021.
With all that said, the Macbook Pro M2 Max is incredibly expensive. If you’re not a professional, there’s not much of a reason for you to buy it. If you’re not a creator or some other professional trying to do very heavy work on your laptop, you should probably consider the 13 inch Macbook Pro M2 or the Macbook Pro M2 Pro, which are also fantastic machines at a considerably lower price.
Reddit reviews:
“If you’re planning to hold onto it for several years, I’d go with the newest, best you can comfortably afford without feeling concerned you’ve spent irresponsibly or sacrificed other priorities (like, you know, rent). It may be overkill, but it’ll help stave off buyer’s remorse … so you’re not wondering if stretching a little more would have been worth it.
And if HDMI 2.1 or Wifi 6e are priorities, your choice is made for you.
That said, if you’re working within a particular budget, and you find you can meet a priority that matters to you via the M1 MBP series (say, a certain amount of RAM or SSD size) that you’d have to otherwise sacrifice that to step up to the M2 … don’t feel bad about sticking with M1. They’re fantastic machines and will feel zippy for years to come.” -u/Accomplished-Lack471
4. HP Pavilion Aero 13 – Best mid-range laptop
Highlights:
- 2 processor variants
- Up to 1 TB SSD
- Up to 16 GB RAM
- 13.3 inch display
- Magnesium chassis
- 2.2 lbs light
Not all people want the best-of-the-best laptop with extreme processing speeds and power. For a large number of people, an everyday laptop that can handle Word documents, light gaming, and web browsing is just enough. If your budget cannot go beyond a thousand dollars, you don’t need to worry. The HP Pavilion Aero 13 delivers great performance and reliability at a fraction of the price of the ultra-premium laptops in the market.
On one side of the laptop’s super light magnesium chassis, you get a HDMI port, a USB type A port, a USB type C port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. On the other side, you get a proprietary charging input jack and another USB type A port. The laptop weighs just 2.2 pounds, thanks to the magnesium build. You also get a fingerprint reader in the laptop, present right below the keyboard.
The HP Pavilion Aero 13 comes in two variants based on the processor. There’s a cheaper AMD Ryzen 5 5625U model, and a more expensive model powered by AMD Ryzen 7 5800U. The base model, powered by AMD Ryzen 5 5625U and 8 GB of RAM, is priced at just $699 at the time of writing, which is a great price. You can max out the RAM up to 16 GB, and the SSD up to 1 TB. The laptop comes in 4 colors: Pale Rose Gold, Warm Gold, Ceramic White, and Natural Silver.
The display is 13.3 inches diagonally and has an aspect ratio of 16:10. This aspect ratio makes it a bit taller than 16:9 displays, and therefore enables you to see more content on websites at once. The display has a decent level of brightness, maxing out to 400 nits. Not bad, but nothing to write home about either.
Reddit reviews:
“Hey, I would recommend getting the: HP PAVILION AERO LAPTOP 13-BE1097NR; AMD Ryzen 5 5625U CPU, 16 GB RAM, 13.3″ WUXGA (1920 x 1200)- IPS 400 nits 100% sRGB display, 512 GB SSD.
This will be great for general computing, word processing, student tasks like involving CS, running software apps, and more. It is portable, fast and will give quality performance for years to come.” -u/fifa2003
“pavy aero 13 could be option for you
thin and light, 1kg ish, offer good battery life, 400 nits fhd screen
only complain is wifi card being bad, but it is replaceable ( find ax210 on frame.work store for 18$ )
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-pavilion-aero-laptop-13-be1097nr” -u/Trungpham98
5. Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook – For those who need a basic laptop
Highlights:
- Cheap
- Limited options in the U.S.
- 13.3 inch display
- Display is dim
- 720p webcam
- Up to 8 GB RAM
- Up to 256 GB SSD storage
If you just need a laptop for basic use at home or just simple activities like browsing, you’re probably in the market for a Chromebook: ultra cheap, low-power laptops running ChromeOS. Speaking of Chromebooks, the Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook is a great Chromebook featuring an 11th Gen Intel Core i3 processor (i3 111G4 to be specific), up to 8 GB RAM, up to 256 GB storage, and a touchscreen display. However, names can be messy. The Ideapad Flex 5i is a different laptop than the Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook. This in turn is also different from the Ideapad Flex 5 Chromebook. So be a bit careful while buying.
The display is 13.3 inches diagonally, with a 16:9 aspect ratio. It’s a full HD display and supports touchscreen. However, it is quite dim, with a maximum brightness of only 250 nits. And while it’s quite obvious at this price point, it’s still important to mention that this display is a standard LCD display. You don’t get great contrast ratios or a vibrant, color-accurate display. This laptop is definitely not meant for outdoor usage, so you may want to keep that in mind.
It has a backlit keyboard, something often cut off from cheaper laptops for being more “premium.” It features a 720p webcam. This is definitely not the best webcam you can get in the market, but considering the price, it’s good. It has two USB type C ports, one USB type A port, an HDMI 2.0 port, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a microSD card slot. The laptop is a 2-in-1 convertible, which is a plus. The battery life is decent, and it would last you around 6 to 8 hours of average use on a single charge. The laptop weighs 3 pounds, which is fine.
Starting at just $299, the Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5i packs in a great value in the Chromebook market. You get three storage options: 64 GB eMMC, 128 GB SSD and 256 GB SSD. You also get two RAM options: 4GB and 8 GB. Your options increase if you buy this laptop outside the U.S., with Intel Core i5 variants and a 2K OLED display option available in the European version.
Reddit reviews:
“the lenovo ideapad flex 5i chromebook (chromebook flex 5 in north america) is really good too. same ram, same storage, bigger 13.3″ form factor, convertible laptop, great keyboard and a full on core i3. Even better in the uk because you can get it with core i5, 128 ssd, 8gb ram for £629 on currys” -u/MetellaGustatNutella
“Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5, hard to find one with 8G RAM and 128 GB of storage but if you can, get it.
So your best bet is the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook supported till Jun 2029.” -u/uaos
6. ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 (2022) – Made for gamers
Highlights:
- 15.6 inch display
- 240 Hz refresh rate
- Weighs just 4.19 lbs
- 720p camera
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 comes in two colors: Black and White. The laptop comes with either AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS or AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS depending on what configuration you select. There are three graphics card configurations: NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti, NVIDIA RTX 3060, and NVIDIA RTX 3080. There are multiple RAM configurations, ranging from 8 GB all the way up to 48 GB.
The display is 15.6 inches diagonally. The laptop packs an IPS panel with a 240 Hz refresh rate, which is an improvement from the previous year’s model that offered a refresh rate of only up to 165 Hz. The brightness of the display, however, is not very impressive. It stands at a maximum brightness of about 300 nits, which is quite dimmer than a lot of other gaming laptops in the same price segment.
On the sides of the laptop’s chassis, you get a 3.5 mm headphone jack, an HDMI 2.1 port, 2 USB type A ports, an ethernet port, two USB type C ports, a microSD card slot, and a charging port.
The webcam is a 720p camera with an IR sensor for Windows Hello. Paying two grands for a laptop and still getting a bad quality 720p camera may make you feel cheated, but that’s just how it is on a lot of gaming laptops, if not most of them. So don’t expect any high quality video calls from this laptop.
Even though the laptop is a full-fledged gaming laptop with a 15.6 inch display, two fans, two tweeters, two woofers, and advanced discrete graphics cards, it weighs just over 4 pounds, which is a pretty impressive feat for a gaming laptop. The laptop delivers more than 8 hours of battery life on a single charge.
The keyboard lighting has been changed from the boring white lights to the RGB ones. The keyboard, overall, has great key travel. Below the keyboard lies a huge touchpad that is 5.1 inches across and 3.3 inches vertically.
Reddit reviews:
“16 gb on Laptop and I run every single map. Streets is the only one that gives me any decrease in performance but it loads, runs, and maintains from start to finish. Definitely playable.
Edit – FYI it’s a 2021 Asus Zephyrus G15, literally my first ever gaming pc other than some juiced up Optiplex 9020. So I can’t really speak for any other machines running 16gb. But for me, it works great. 1440p @ 70-90 fps on all maps, except streets where I drop to between 55 – 65ish. Idk if running 1080 would boost it by much. I haven’t really messed around with my graphics settings since I have no fkn clue what I’m doing most of the time lol” -u/_Doggmatik
7. Lenovo Legion 5/5i Pro 16 inch – A solid alternative to the Zephyrus G15
Highlights:
- Multiple configurations
- Up to 240 Hz refresh rate
- Up to NVIDIA GTX 3070 Ti graphics
- Up to 32 GB RAM
- Plenty of ports
The Lenovo Legion 5/5i Pro comes with a lot of configurations. Just to clear things up first, the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro comes with AMD processors, while the Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (“i” stands for Intel) comes with Intel processors. The AMD model, Lenovo Legion 5, comes in three versions: AMD Ryzen 5 6600H, AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, and AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX. The Intel version, Lenovo Legion 5i Pro, comes in three configurations: Intel Core i5 12500H, Intel Core i7 12700H, and Intel Core i9 12900H. For any processor configuration you take, there are 2 RAM configurations: 16 GB and 32 GB. In both cases, you get a fast LPDDR5 RAM. There are two storage based variants: 512 GB SSD and 1 TB SSD. The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro comes with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, while the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro comes in three graphics card configurations: RTX 3060, RTX 3070, and RTX 3070 Ti.
The display is 16 inches diagonally, which is pretty large. Moreover, the display comes with an aspect ratio of 16:10, which is great for scrolling through webpages. The base model has a refresh rate of 165 Hz, but you can pay more to get the maxed out model, which has a refresh rate of 240 Hz. Similarly, the base model has a display of resolution 1920 x 1200, with a maximum brightness of 300 nits. However, you can pay more to get 2560 x 1600 display, with a maximum brightness of 500 nits.
You get a 720p webcam, but it lacks a privacy shutter: something Lenovo laptops usually have. The absence of a 1080p webcam may make it look like a poor value, especially when you’re paying well over a grand for a laptop. However, keep in mind that this is a gaming laptop. Your basic video conferencing needs would be handled just fine by this camera, but don’t expect this laptop to double as a work device too.
The laptop weighs 5.4 pounds: not surprising for a gaming laptop with a 16 inch display. One the sides of the chassis, you get an HDMI port, two USB-C ports (without Thunderbolt support), four USB Type-A ports, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, an Ethernet jack, and a charging port.
Reddit Reviews:
“For me, I just bought the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with AMD Ryzen 6800H/ RTX 3070Ti graphics and love it. It runs through all my my games great! Jarrod’s Tech channel on YouTube has everything gaming laptop related, though there are plenty of others out there as well.” -u/Drunkentiger98
8. Macbook Air M1 (2020) – Best laptop for students
Highlights:
- 720p camera
- 13.3 inch display
- 2.8 pounds light
- Up to 16 GB RAM
- Up to 2 TB storage
- IPS panel
The Macbook Air M1 is nearly three years old at the time of writing: it was released in 2020. However, the big leap in performance is still very impressive today, and the laptop has stood the test of time. The Macbook Air M1 marked the departure of Intel-based Macbooks in favor of Apple’s own Silicon chip, the M1, which was far more powerful and efficient than the Intel processors of that time. Even today, the Macbook Air M1 packs in a great battery life that should easily last you a day on average use, on a single charge.
The laptop starts at $999, although students can get a $100 discount and get the base model at just $899. The base model has a 256 GB SSD storage and 8 GB of RAM. This base model is, in fact, better than the base model of the newer Macbook Air M2, which has the same 256 GB SSD storage but has only a single channel, which makes it noticeably slower than the Macbook Air M1. Paying more would give you up to 2 TB of SSD storage and 16 GB of RAM. The laptop is available in 3 colors: Gold, Space Gray, and Silver.
The display is an IPS LCD panel that measures 13.3 inches diagonally. The resolution of the display is 2560 x 1600, which is very sharp and crisp. The display has a pixel density of 227 pixels per inch. It has a maximum brightness of 400 nits, which is great.
The Macbook Air M1 has a 720p camera, which is pretty disappointing for a thousand-dollar laptop. You won’t get studio-quality videos on the webcam. The laptop finally sets a farewell for Apple’s infamous Butterfly keyboard, and finally brings back the Magic keyboard based on scissor mechanism. The laptop weighs just 2.8 pounds, which is quite light. Overall, this laptop packs in great performance and portability at a sweet price, making it the top choice for students.
Reddit reviews:
“Agree. I have two trash can Mac Pros and an M1 MacBook air. Despite having fever threads available and no active cooling, the M1 is leaving my Mac Pros in the dust even in multi core loads. The only reason I haven’t yet replaced them entirely is the RAM. I need at least 32gb for daily work, better 64gb. But that’s just me. In terms of performance the M1 is just insane. Plus that ridiculous battery life.” -XTJ7
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