Best laptops (2026): My honest advice after testing hundreds

Photo: Christopher Noll

Asus

ZenBook S16 (UM5606)

Finally, I’ll point you towards the Asus Zenbook S 16. I’ve always appreciated this laptop for its stunning design. The trackpad’s all-white aesthetic, and those thin bezels make it stand out. There’s also the fact that it’s only 0.48 inches thick, which is very close to the thickness of a MacBook Air. My only issue with this laptop is that prices have refused to drop for most of the past year. It was hard to justify for more than $1,500, no matter how refined it was. These days, the price hovers around or below $1,000, which makes it much easier to swallow. What you get is a perfectly stacked laptop, with twice as much memory and storage as the MacBook Air. The OLED display is great too. It has an HD resolution of 2880 x 1800 and features a 120Hz refresh rate. It doesn’t get much more than that.

Buy one of these three laptops, and you’ll find little to complain about. But not everyone has $1,000 or more to spend on a laptop. And while a good discount will never get you a decent upgrade to the three laptops above, you’ll probably be surprised at how good laptops under $800 are.

Cheap laptops that are actually good

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

The Dell 14 Plus is one step up from there, currently starting at $650. The specifications are comparable, as are battery life and performance. You’ll get more graphics thanks to the switch to Intel, but otherwise they seem similar in quality. The main upgrade you get with the Dell 14 Plus is the screen, which has a higher resolution of 2560 x 1600. It’s not OLED like the OmniBook 5, but the sharper screen results in a better overall experience that’s worth $150 in my book.

Speaking of better displays, this is where the MacBook Neo really shines. This is Apple’s new entry-level device, which starts at $599. It has the best laptop display you can buy at this price, and gives you the macOS experience at an unprecedented price. Apple has prioritized its in-screen experience to give it a premium feel, whether it’s the display, the build quality, or even the keyboard. The 8GB of RAM is a major drawback, as is the slow ports and SSD performance. As I said above, the MacBook Air is the best option for most remote workers. But for students, travelers, or anyone who uses a laptop infrequently, the MacBook Neo is the most premium laptop you can buy at this price.