Best Laptops (2026): My Honest Advice Having Tested Hundreds

Photograph: Christopher Null

Asus

ZenBook S16 (UM5606)

Finally, I would point you towards the Asus Zenbook S 16. I have always appreciated this laptop for its great design. That all-white aesthetic, the oversized trackpad, and the thin bezels make it stand out. There’s also the fact that it’s only 0.48 inches thick, which is as thin as the MacBook Air. My only problem with this laptop has been that it hasn’t dropped in price for most of the last year. It was hard to justify the over $1,500 price tag, no matter how great it sounded. These days, the price is hovering around or below $1,000, making it a lot easier to swallow. What you get is an absolutely stacked laptop, with more memory and twice as much storage as the MacBook Air. The OLED display is also very beautiful. Its high-resolution is 2880 x 1800 and it has a 120-Hz refresh rate. It doesn’t get any more high-end than that.

Buy one of those three laptops, and you’ll find very little to complain about. But not everyone has $1,000 or more to spend on a laptop. And even though a good discount will never make a good addition to the range of the three laptops listed above, you’ll be surprised at how good laptops priced under $800 have become.

cheap laptops that are actually good

Everyone has a different idea of ​​”cheap,” but traditionally, these are laptops that cost $750 or less. This is where Windows laptops really shine these days, as they often offer great specifications for less money. And in case you haven’t been paying attention, the latest silicon from Qualcomm and Intel has dramatically improved battery life, and can now operate in the same ballpark as Apple’s. The best deal of all is the HP OmniBook 5. For just $500, this little laptop offers a Snapdragon X processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. It even has an OLED screen! While it would be a little hard to recommend it at its full retail price of $800 (if only because the screen’s resolution is only 1920 x 1200), it’s an unbeatable deal at $500.

The Dell 14 Plus is a step up from there, with a current starting price of $650. The features are comparable, as well as battery life and performance. You’ll get slightly higher graphics due to the switch to Intel, but they otherwise seem similar in quality. The major upgrade you get with the Dell 14 Plus is the display, which is higher-resolution at 2560 x 1600. It’s not OLED like the OmniBook 5, but the brighter screen results in a better experience overall, which is worth the $150 in my book.

When it comes to a better display, this is where the MacBook Neo really shines. This is Apple’s new entry-level device, with prices starting at $599. It has the best display on a laptop you can buy at this price, and it gives you the macOS experience at a phenomenal price. Apple made it a priority to give its front-to-screen experience a premium feel, whether it be the display, build quality, or even the keyboard. 8GB of RAM is a big drawback, as well as slow ports and SSD performance. As I said above, the MacBook Air is the better choice for most remote workers. But for students, travelers, or anyone whose laptop usage is limited, the MacBook Neo is the most premium-feeling laptop you can buy at this price.