Best Laptop 2025: High performing laptops tested and ranked

The best laptop we’ve tested is the Asus ProArt P16 (2025), which blends a gorgeous OLED screen with heaps of power and decent endurance among other things to cement its place at the top.

It’s a large-screen behemoth that packs in a 16-inch 3K (or 2880×1800) resolution 120Hz OLED screen that impresses with its blend of detail and responsiveness, as well as the deep blacks, vibrant contrast and impeccable colour accuracy we’d expect from an OLED. This also helps its suitability for the creative tasks Asus’ ProArt line products are usually designed for.

The ProArt P16 (2025) also isn’t lacking in power, coming with a potent combo of the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and RTX 5070 that aided in it trading blows with the M4 MacBook Pro in our testing. The beefy, modern Nvidia GPU also makes it suitable for some gaming loads, too.

The little things also matter to Asus, with this laptop coming with one of the most tactile laptop keyboards we’ve tested and a brilliant port selection with a range of USB-C, HDMI and USB-A ports for heaps of connectivity. The 10 and half hours of battery life is fine for a laptop with this spec, although you will get better longevity further down the list with other options.

Nonetheless, the Asus ProArt P16 (2025) is a gorgeous, powerful laptop that rightfully has pride of place at the top of our list.

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Asus’ Zenbook S range has been charting an impressive course for ultrabooks for some time now, but it’s in the Zenbook S 16 that it feels as though Asus has truly hit its stride.

The highlight feature of this 2024 iteration is the use of Asus’ all-new material known as ‘Ceraluminum’. This is a combination of ceramic and aluminium, which now comprises the upper chassis and makes for a quite lightweight yet durable presence. Plus, best of all, it’s not a fingerprint magnet.

The trackpad has seen a 40% increase over the last generation, making gestures a bit easier to enact. The 65% keyboard is also incredibly tactile with pleasing travel, making this a delight to work on.

What cements the S 16 as an outstanding ultrabook is the powerful Ryzen 9 AI HX 370 processor which, in our testing, was able to outdo the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H-toting Dell XPS 14 (2024), and even show off comparable results with the MacBook Air M3. Pair that with a long battery life of just over 13 hours from our testing and you’re looking at the ideal workstation for those on the go.

In previous versions of this list, we’ve recommended the MacBook Air as the best MacBook out there for most people, although that title now goes to the MacBook Pro M4.

It is in a slightly odd position in terms of power, coming with the same processor as in the MacBook Air M4, Mac Mini M4 and even the iPad Pro M4, where Apple’s Pro laptops have usually shipped with the equivalent Pro or Max models. Coming with this processor as a base configuration makes it cheaper though, which is why it sits in this spot.

The M4 chip is more than sufficiently powerful for everything from more basic web browsing tasks and can be fully loaded up for more creative workloads without breaking too much of a sweat with its 10-core GPU, 10-core CPU and 16-core neural engine. It also blitzed the Geekbench 6 and Cinebench R23 tests with high-riding scores that few laptops have surpassed.

The Pro also benefits from a wider port selection than the Air, with three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, a MagSafe dock for charging, HDMI and an SD card slot. It makes it a lot more versatile than the Air for the kinds of workflows that most people are likely to encounter without the need to reach for a dongle.

You can also pay an extra £150/$150 for a Nano Texture display, which provides hefty gains if you’re working outside or in environments with particularly bright surroundings by reducing glare a significant amount. Being a Pro model also means you get the benefit of Apple’s ProMotion tech with up to 120Hz refresh rate for a crisp and responsive experience.

The M4 MacBook Pro is easily the best MacBook out there for most folks, hitting all the right notes for potent internals, a sublime screen and a functional port selection above all of its other excellent traits.

At this point in time, the 2-in-1 tablet/laptop concept is almost synonymous with Microsoft’s Surface Pro line, and while it has been home to some great devices, more recent picks have felt a tad iterative. Not so with the Microsoft Surface Pro 11.

Making the jump to ARM architecture (correctly this time) via the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite or the mid-range X Plus chipset (we tested the version sporting the former), the Surface Pro 11 now runs buttery smooth in everyday tasks. Admittedly, you will find faster performance on the Surface Laptop 7, but it’s now at the level where general slowdown is a thing of the past, and you’re free to crack on with your work unencumbered (so long as it’s Arm compatible of course).

While it’s still outrageous that consumers are expected to buy a keyboard separately from the Surface Pro 11, the new Surface Flex Keyboard does open up the versatility of the device via a wireless Bluetooth connection. This means that you can have the keyboard on your lap whilst the Pro 11 is propped up on a table, and type away as normal.

If your budget can stretch to accommodate it, we also recommend picking up the OLED version of this device. Not only does it make your most used apps pop on-screen, but it also lets the Surface Pro 11 work great for entertainment when in tablet mode, although you’re best pairing it with a set of headphones as the built-in speakers aren’t the best out there.

The Acer Aspire 14 AI is also the ‘best laptop for most people’ as it prioritises function over form, and for a reasonable price, too.

The chassis may be a little dated with larger bezels around the screen and less classy than a lot of the slender ultrabooks we’ve seen, but the Aspire 14 AI makes up for it with a much stronger port selection, as well as a functional 1920×1200 OLED screen with good colours, solid detail and exemplary black levels and contrast.

The Intel Core Ultra 7 256V chip inside provides ample performance for basic productivity tasks and can push on to more intensive loads, while the uprated Arc 140V integrated graphics perform remarkably well for a laptop at this price, making it well-suited if you want to dabble in creative tasks such as photo or video editing.

With just over 18 and a half hours on a charge, the Aspire 14 AI is also a seriously strong choice for battery life, although it isn’t the longest we’ve tested. The keyboard and trackpad are also a bit of a mixed bag, although for the price, it’s only a minor complaint.

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus jumps up to claim the crown of the best Chromebook out there for its gorgeous ultrabook-style design, more than ample power for basic tasks and typically great battery life.

It proves that Chromebooks aren’t just cheap, incapable laptops in their price segment these days, coming with a 10-core Intel Core 5 120U processor that blitzed the Geekbench 6 test and was in line with more expensive Windows laptops such as the Asus Zenbook A14. There is also a decent set of 256GB storage, and while the 8GB of RAM might seem stingy in 2025, it’s fine for the workloads you’re likely to undertake.

ChromeOS remains a slick and lightweight OS for using Google’s G Suite of apps for word processing and web browsing. Being a Chromebook Plus laptop also means this Samsung option has some nifty AI features, bringing over the Magic Eraser tech from Google’s Pixel phones as well as live translated captions and auto-framing and background blur tech for the webcam when in Google Meet scenarios.

This Chromebook, in spite of weighing just 1.17kg, feels especially lightweight and durable for its price, while also coming with a larger 15.6-inch AMOLED screen. It also sports a competent set of ports, snappy keyboard and slick trackpad for making work a breeze.

If you’re after a laptop that’s especially well-suited to being configured and repaired, then the Framework Laptop 13 (2025) is ideal for what you’re after.

It’s a laptop you can either purchase fully configured, or as a DIY kit that needs you to install the RAM, storage, and attach the keyboard tray and screen bezel, as well as its modular ports, before setting it up as you would a Windows desktop. The whole process takes around 20 minutes in our testing, and is rather fun. It also has the benefit of making this laptop virtually infinitely repairable, especially as it only needs a T5 screwdriver to take apart. 

This isn’t just a gimmick either, as the Framework Laptop 13 (2025) is a genuinely strong laptop. It comes with an eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 AI 350 processor that we found to offer surprisingly excellent performance against both premium ultrabooks and modern MacBook Airs, too. RAM and storage are your choice from Framework’s configurator, or you can provide your own.

You get a choice of operating systems, with either Windows 11, Arch or Fedora Linux distros. Going with Windows with the new Ryzen AI 300 model means you have to use Rufus to create a bootable Windows installer and set it up that way – it took longer for Windows to work than to build the laptop! It means you have an operating system that you can configure though, which is nice.

As with the MacBook Pro M4, you can choose to pay an extra £130/$130 to upgrade this laptop’s base 2256×1504 resolution matte IPS screen with a 60Hz refresh rate up to a 2880×1920 120Hz IPS option for more detail and smoother on-screen action. We’d argue it’s a price worth paying for a screen with punchy brightness, excellent colour accuracy and decent black levels and contrast.

The 10 and a half hours measured in our battery life test might not set the world alight, but it means the Framework Laptop 13 (2025) will go all day before you need to plug it into the mains. 

The only other small issue is its price at nearly £2000/$2000 for the spec we were sent, which can buy you ultrabooks with innovative materials, OLED screens and longer endurance. However, none of them have the infinite repairability and customisation that this Framework option does.

If it’s battery life that matters most to you in a laptop, the option that wins in our testing is the business-centric Dell Pro 14 Premium.

It managed to last for nearly 23 hours in our battery test, essentially working out to three working days away from the mains, which is some serious endurance. It’s the longest battery life we’ve tested in a laptop, and is ideal if you’re someone who is away from a plug for a lot of the day.

The Pro 14 Premium isn’t short of overall power, coming with an Intel Core Ultra 7 268V processor with eight cores and threads with strong single-core performance, even if its multi-core performance is behind rivals that cost a bit less. There is also 32GB of RAM and a fast 1TB SSD inside.

You may not get an OLED screen, but the 1920×1200 resolution IPS option here is respectable for the kind of workloads this laptop is likely to be used for. It’s bright and crisp with good colours and excellent contrast and black levels for the panel type.

At just 1.14kg, the Pro 14 Premium is also seriously lightweight and portable without skimping too much on ports, while it also sports one of Dell’s new ‘Zero Lattice’ keyboards that had previously been a part of their XPS line for an immensely positive and tactile typing feel.

The big drawback with this Dell candidate is its price tag at £2383.98/$2679.27, which makes it pricier than the competing Lenovo ThinkPad candidate and than a lot of other premium ultrabook options. However, if it’s battery life that’s most important, you won’t get better than the Pro 14 Premium.

The Asus Zenbook Duo (2025) is more of an iterative upgrade over its predecessor, but it nonetheless makes for the best dual screen laptop we’ve tested.

A dual screen laptop in any guise has the advantage of giving you virtually double the real estate of a conventional laptop, and the Zenbook Duo (2025) features a pair of gorgeous 14-inch 3K resolution 120Hz OLED touchscreens for ultimate versatility. They’re sharp, detailed and offer some sublime image quality, along with surprisingly responsive touch inputs using the included stylus.

This is also an immensely versatile laptop, working with both its screens when on its kickstand and the included keyboard attachment, and can also be used as a more conventional laptop with the keyboard attachment over the bottom screen. Ports are also pretty good if connectivity is a top priority, while the magnesium aluminium alloy chassis ensure a solid build. At 1.35kg, the Zenbook Duo (2025) is surprisingly light for a laptop that carries two screens.

The 2025 model is also bestowed with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor, the most powerful in Intel’s Arrow Lake-H lineup with 16 cores and 16 threads. It blitzes our benchmarks, providing a healthy uplift over the previous generation Zenbook Duo, and has a much stronger set of integrated graphics for making creative work even more of a breeze and even allowing you to dabble in some gaming, too. Some thermal constraints are being hit with the form factor, meaning it can get on the warmer side.

It also managed to exceed Asus’ quoted battery life figure, lasting for 12 or so hours in our battery test, and an endurance result that’s a third higher than last year’s model.

If it’s the absolute pinnacle of gaming performance you’re after in a gaming laptop, then the Medion Erazer Beast 16 X1 Ultimate (RTX 5090) is the finest option we’ve tested.

Packing a beefy core of Intel’s 24-core Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and Nvidia’s most powerful laptop GPU in the RTX 5090, it predictably leads to some serious gaming power in our testing in Cyberpunk 2077 and Returnal.

Adding in powerful ray-tracing also didn’t cause this laptop too much trouble, leading games to look sublime at 1440p. You also get the powers of Nvidia’s new Multi-Frame Gen tech with the new 50-series GPU inside. It adds in up to three ‘fake frames’ with AI for every traditionally generated one to yield higher FPS figures without much of a penalty in latency – very handy for a perceivably smoother experience and to take advantage of the laptop’s 16-inch QHD+ 300Hz Mini LED screen.

The Erazer Beast 16 X1 Ultimate (RTX 5090)’s screen is also a highlight, with ridiculously high peak brightness along with OLED-class black levels and contrast for genuinely fantastic output. Colour accuracy is also rather good, while the blend of a high resolution and refresh rate keeps images sharp and beautifully smooth.

The design of this Medion option is a bit more grown up with little in the way of the brash styling that has characterised gaming laptops in recent times. It feels solid with a metal frame, although at nearly 3kg in weight and 30mm thick is quite unwieldy for taking on the go. The port selection here is far-reaching, while the keyboard is snappy and the trackpad is pleasantly responsive.

For such a powerful laptop, the Erazer Beast 16 X1 Ultimate (RTX 5090) has surprisingly good endurance, lasting for 7 hours or so in our testing, meaning gaming on battery power for a few hours is theoretically possible. This is an expensive choice, but if you want serious gaming power, this Medion laptop is the best out there in our view.