CNET

TechnologyCNET·Jul 1, 2026·23 min read

Check out our favorite Windows laptops and MacBooks for work, tested and reviewed by CNET's laptop experts

Most people don't get to choose their company laptop. Or at least, you likely don't have much choice; it's simply whatever business laptops your IT department has available. However, if your employer is bring-your-own-device-friendly, or you're a contractor or self-employed, you may want to invest in a business laptop. Business laptops, while a bit pricier than average consumer laptops, generally offer better security, specialized features for office work, more tech support options and a stronger build to withstand frequent travel. Most models can also be repaired or upgraded for increased longevity, so spending a little more up front could cost less in the long run.

8.5/10 CNET Score

If you love the sleek look and great portability of a MacBook Air but need a Windows laptop for work, then HP’s flagship EliteBook Ultra is a great alternative.

Pros

Excellent 2.8K OLED display

Beautiful design that's also compact and lightweight

Competitive application and AI performance from Intel Lunar Lake CPU

Cons

Very expensive when not on sale

Battery life is good but not great

8.3/10 CNET Score

This little laptop is extremely light and long-running, making it a great pick for road warriors, but this flagship ThinkPad comes with a premium price that might be beyond most office budgets.

Pros

Exceptionally lightweight yet sturdy build

Lengthy battery life

Stellar 2.8K OLED display

Best-in-class ThinkPad keyboard

Cons

Upgrades are pricey, particularly the OLED display

Aura Edition features aren't likely to be of any interest or use

1080p webcam is disappointing given the price

7.8/10 CNET Score

The Surface Laptop for Business, eighth edition, is available in two sizes and comes with either Intel Core Ultra Series 3 or Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 processors. I tested the 13.8-inch model with a Core Ultra X7 processor and integrated Intel B390 graphics.

Pros

Strong overall performance from Intel Core Ultra X7

Privacy screen feature is actually useful

Sleek, sturdy chassis

Cons

High price that rarely, if ever, goes on sale

Battery life is merely average

1080p webcam disappointing for biz laptop

8.6/10 CNET Score

Apple's latest update to its 16-inch MacBook Pro delivers M5, M5 Pro and M5 Max processors, and they suddenly cost after Apple increased pricing on many of its products, including every MacBook line. Still, the latest M5 MacBook Pro models offer big jump in GPU performance with the same excellent Liquid Retina XDR display and tank-like build quality. For professional creative work, they are hard to beat.

Pros

Fast

Excellent screen

Same solid design as previous model

Cons

Can get loud and hot

Heavy

Big drop in performance in low-power mode

8.6/10 CNET Score

Centered on a gorgeous 16-inch OLED display, this Yoga laptop provides the performance and build that graphics pros demand.

Pros

Gorgeous 16-inch, 2.8K OLED display

Capable CPU and discrete GPU combo

Runs quietly, even under heavy load

Premium feel and finish

Priced less than $2,000

Cons

Overall look lacks aura

Six-speaker array produces tinny, hollow sound

Slightly awkward keyboard placement

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Best Business Laptop for 2026

What is the best business laptop overall?

Best business laptops for 2026

Best overall business laptop

Best business laptop for C-suite execs

Best business laptop when privacy is paramount

Best laptop for creative pros

Best Windows laptop for creative pros

Other laptops we've tested

How we test laptops

Factors to consider

Laptop FAQs

What is the best business laptop overall?

With its trim design, excellent build quality and high-res OLED display, HP's EliteBook Ultra G1i is our pick for the best business laptop. It boasts a spectacular 14-inch, 2.8K OLED display powered by an Intel Lunar Lake CPU and comes wrapped in an elegant and compact enclosure. (It's currently out of stock, so you will need to wait for its return or HP to refresh it with Intel Panther Lake processors.)

The HP EliteBook Ultra G1i is a great pick for traveling execs but we also have picks for creative pros who need a high-quality display and high-powered graphics. At CNET, we test all kinds of laptops, from budget models for everyday tasks to high-performance laptops for gaming and content creation and everything in between. Each member of our team has decades of experience testing and reviewing laptops. We conduct performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use to assess the design, features and performance of each laptop we review.

You'll find a good number of recommendations here, but we also have more specific picks in different laptop categories, starting with the best overall laptop and also the best budget laptop, best Windows laptop and best two-in-one laptop. If you are looking for a laptop not for work but for play, check out our picks for the best gaming laptop and the best cheap gaming laptop. If you have narrowed your choice to a specific brand, check out our favorites for the best Dell laptop and the best HP laptop. Beyond Windows, we have recommendations for the best MacBook and the best Chromebook.

Best business laptops for 2026

Pros

Excellent 2.8K OLED display

Beautiful design that's also compact and lightweight

Competitive application and AI performance from Intel Lunar Lake CPU

Cons

Very expensive when not on sale

Battery life is good but not great

If you love the sleek look and great portability of a MacBook Air but need a Windows laptop for work, then HP’s flagship EliteBook Ultra is a great alternative.

Why we like it

With a spectacular 14-inch, 2.8K OLED display wrapped up in an elegant and compact enclosure, the EliteBook Ultra G1i is befitting of its Ultra label. It definitely has a premium look and feel that’s on par with a MacBook Air in terms of being thin and light yet rigid and sturdy. Its Intel Lunar Lake CPU is a well-rounded performer with great efficiency for good battery life that will get you through almost any workday on a single charge.

Who it’s best for

With its compact chassis and deluxe design, the EliteBook Ultra G1i is well suited for traveling executives or anyone who appreciates a small, lightweight OLED laptop for work.

Who shouldn’t get it

Anyone who can’t wait for it to go on sale or isn’t purchasing at a quantity that qualifies for a volume-pricing discount. At its sale price of $1,899 or $1,999, the EliteBook Ultra G1i is an excellent value and a great choice for your next work laptop, but it’s harder to recommend at its full price of nearly $3,000.

Pros

Exceptionally lightweight yet sturdy build

Lengthy battery life

Stellar 2.8K OLED display

Best-in-class ThinkPad keyboard

Cons

Upgrades are pricey, particularly the OLED display

Aura Edition features aren't likely to be of any interest or use

1080p webcam is disappointing given the price

This little laptop is extremely light and long-running, making it a great pick for road warriors, but this flagship ThinkPad comes with a premium price that might be beyond most office budgets.

Why we like it

Its 14-inch display and 2.2-pound weight are the sweet spot of enough screen space to work long stretches without needing to connect to an external display, while also being light enough for daily travel. With an industry-best keyboard, long battery life and greener construction, the X1 Carbon Gen 13 is a near-perfect business laptop.

Who it’s best for

The X1 Carbon Gen 13 starts at a reasonable $1,679, but the price can quickly escalate. With only a few upgrades, my test model comes out to $2,474, making it a fit for only the most well-heeled business execs.

Who shouldn’t buy it

If your job doesn’t have you on the road regularly, the mainstream ThinkPad T series offers a similarly solid build quality that’s a bit chunkier for a lot less.

Pros

Strong overall performance from Intel Core Ultra X7

Privacy screen feature is actually useful

Sleek, sturdy chassis

Cons

High price that rarely, if ever, goes on sale

Battery life is merely average

1080p webcam disappointing for biz laptop

Why we like it

It has a sleek, sturdy design and strong performance with both Intel and Qualcomm options, but we like the Surface Laptop for Business for its integrated privacy screen that keeps nosy neighbors from peeping at your display. It's really effective in narrowing the horizontal viewing angles while leaving the vertical viewing angles alone, so you, sitting directly in front of the laptop, can still see everything on the screen.

Who it’s best for

Anyone who works on airplanes, crowded coffee shops and other public places near potential onlookers.

Who shouldn’t buy it

If a privacy screen isn’t a priority, then you can get a lighter laptop at a lighter price from Lenovo or HP.

Pros

Fast

Excellent screen

Same solid design as previous model

Cons

Can get loud and hot

Heavy

Big drop in performance in low-power mode

Why we like it

The design remains unchanged from the previous version but under the hood the M5 Pro and Max chips offer improved overall performance especially in the areas of AI and graphics workloads. Although the design didn't receive an update, it's still solid and offers a reasonable weight given the roomy display.

Who it's best for

Graphics pros and creators who need the power and big screen of the 16-inch MacBook Pro will be best served by this laptop. But be prepared to pay up for Apple's biggest, baddest MacBook. The 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro processor starts at $2,999, and the M4 Max model starts at $4,399. If you need the speed, it's worth the dough.

Who shouldn't get it

Obviously, if you have Windows programs you need for your work then a MacBook is not the pick. And if you will be commuting or traveling frequently, then the smaller 14-inch MacBook Pro is the better choice. Lastly, at this point you might want to hold out to see if the rumored OLED touchscreen MacBook Pro materializes later this year.

Get it now

Pros

Gorgeous 16-inch, 2.8K OLED display

Capable CPU and discrete GPU combo

Runs quietly, even under heavy load

Premium feel and finish

Priced less than $2,000

Cons

Overall look lacks aura

Six-speaker array produces tinny, hollow sound

Slightly awkward keyboard placement

Centered on a gorgeous 16-inch OLED display, this Yoga laptop provides the performance and build that graphics pros demand.

Why we like it

The Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition is thoughtfully designed to serve creators and productivity users, while simultaneously providing enough horsepower for gamers, all in conjunction with a gorgeous OLED. Getting this level of performance in a fairly compact package that is also able to operate in near silence for less than $2,000 makes it a great buy.

Who it’s best for

The Yoga Pro 9i 16 Aura Edition is a great pick for creators seeking a high-performance laptop with a roomy 16-inch screen that remains thin and fairly portable.

Who shouldn’t buy it

If you don’t need RTX graphics power, then you can find a similarly svelte, even longer-lasting laptop with integrated graphics for less.

HP OmniBook Ultra 14: Windows users get a true MacBook Pro alternative with HP's top-end consumer laptop.

HP OmniBook 3 16: Powered by a Snapdragon X chip, HP's budget 16-inch laptop can run for nearly a day and a half on a single charge. It's also fairly portable for its size and elegant for its price.

Lenovo Yoga 7A 2-in-1 16: This 16-inch two-in-one pairs Ryzen AI performance with a gorgeous OLED touchscreen, but integrated Radeon graphics and some cut corners keep it firmly in "prosumer" territory.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x: For its portability and daily productivity, it's a winner. Potential Windows-on-Arm issues and modest graphics chops, however, keep it from being a true all-arounder.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Gen 11: This slender laptop's second-gen Snapdragon X2 chip has truly impressive performance, but you'll need to keep looking if you're after strong graphics performance.

Dell XPS 16: It costs as much as Nvidia RTX models but lacks RTX graphics. Still, the XPS 16 is a strong overall performer with a thin-and-light design.

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: It’s a sleek and solid OLED laptop but forces some compromises.

Asus Zenbook A16: It’s a true AI laptop among artificial imitators and also impossibly thin and light for its size.

Alienware 18 Area-51: It's a dazzling and heavy-duty (emphasis on "heavy") showcase of laptop technology for deep-pocketed gamers.

M5 MacBook Air Review (13-inch, 2026): Go big or go Neo.

MacBook Neo Review: It’s an absolute banger of a budget laptop, but life's too short to live without Touch ID.

Dell XPS 14: It's great to see Dell bring back the XPS and do so with such style.

GeekBook X14 Pro: Geekom’s first laptop is impressively thin and light but battery life disappoints. And I detest the touch pad.

Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 16 2-in-1 Gen 10: Lenovo's low-cost, 16-inch two-in-one is a versatile machine, but it forces you to live with more than a couple of compromises in the design.

Microsoft Surface Pro (12-inch): The 12-inch version of Microsoft's detachable two-in-one will suffice for most users, but getting nickel-and-dimed by optional accessories that feel quite necessary is annoying.

HP OmniBook 5 14: Record-setting battery life is only part of its charm. It also has a pleasing design, OLED display and ample RAM and storage -- all at an affordable price.

The review process for laptops consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our reviewers. This includes evaluating a device's aesthetics, ergonomics and features relative to price. A final review verdict is a combination of both objective and subjective judgments.

We test all laptops with a core set of benchmarks, including Primate Labs Geekbench 6, Cinebench, PCMark 10, a variety of 3DMark benchmarks (whichever can run on the laptop), UL Procyon Photo and Video (where supported), and our own battery life test. If a laptop is intended for gaming, we'll also run benchmarks, including Guardians of the Galaxy, The Rift Breaker (CPU and GPU) and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

For the hands-on, the reviewer uses it for their work during the review period, evaluating how well the design, features (such as the screen, camera and speakers) and manufacturer-supplied software operate as a cohesive whole. We also place importance on how well they work given their cost and where the manufacturer has potentially made upgrades or tradeoffs for its price.

The list of benchmarking software and comparison criteria we use changes over time as the devices we test evolve. You can find a more detailed description of our test methodology on our How We Test Computers page.

There are a ton of laptops on the market at any given moment, and almost all of those models are available in multiple configurations to match your performance and budget needs. If you're feeling overwhelmed with options when looking for a new laptop, it's understandable. To help simplify things for you, here are the main things you should consider when you start looking.

Price

The search for a new laptop for most people starts with price, and laptop pricing is on the rise. If the statistics that chipmaker Intel and PC manufacturers hurl at us are correct, you'll be holding onto your next laptop for at least three years. If you can afford to stretch your budget a little to get better specs, do it. That stands whether you're spending $500 or more than $1,000. In the past, you could get away with spending less upfront and look to upgrade memory and storage in the future. Laptop makers are increasingly moving away from making components easily upgradable, so it's best to get as good a laptop as you can afford from the start.

Generally speaking, the more you spend, the better the laptop. That could mean better components for faster performance, a nicer display, sturdier build quality, a smaller or lighter design from higher-end materials or even a more comfortable keyboard. All of these things add to the cost of a laptop. I'd love to say $500 will get you a powerful gaming laptop, for example, but that's not the case. Right now, the sweet spot for a reliable laptop that can handle average work, home office or school tasks is between $700 and $800 and a reasonable model for creative work or gaming upward of about $1,000. The key is to look for discounts on models in all price ranges so you can get more laptop features for less.

Operating system

Choosing an operating system is part personal preference and part budget. For the most part, Microsoft Windows and Apple's MacOS do the same things (except for gaming, where Windows is the winner), but they do them differently. Unless there's an OS-specific application you need, go with the one you feel most comfortable using. If you're not sure which that is, head to an Apple store or a local electronics store and test them out. Or ask friends or family to let you test theirs for a bit. If you have an iPhone or iPad and like it, chances are you'll like MacOS too.

When it comes to price and variety (and, again, PC gaming), Windows laptops win. If you want MacOS, you're getting a MacBook. While Apple's MacBooks regularly top our best lists, the least expensive one is the M1 MacBook Air for $999. It is regularly discounted to $750 or $800, but if you want a cheaper MacBook, you'll have to consider older refurbished ones.

Windows laptops can be found for as little as a couple of hundred dollars and come in all manner of sizes and designs. Granted, we'd be hard-pressed to find a $200 laptop we'd give a full-throated recommendation to, but if you need a laptop for online shopping, email and word processing, they exist.

If you are on a tight budget, consider a Chromebook. ChromeOS is a different experience than Windows; make sure the applications you need have a Chrome, Android or Linux app before making the leap. If you spend most of your time roaming the web, writing, streaming video or using cloud-gaming services, they're a good fit.

Size

Remember to consider whether having a lighter, thinner laptop or a touchscreen laptop with a good battery life will be important to you in the future. Size is primarily determined by the screen -- hello, laws of physics -- which in turn factors into battery size, laptop thickness, weight and price. Keep in mind other physics-related characteristics, such as an ultrathin laptop isn't necessarily lighter than a thick one, you can't expect a wide array of connections on a small or ultrathin model and so on.

Screen

When it comes to deciding on a screen, there are a variety of considerations: how much you need to display (which is surprisingly more about resolution than screen size), what types of content you'll be looking at and whether you'll be using it for gaming or creative work.

You want to optimize pixel density; that's the number of pixels per inch the screen can display. Although other factors contribute to sharpness, a higher pixel density usually means sharper rendering of text and interface elements. (You can easily calculate the pixel density of any screen at DPI Calculator if you don't feel like doing the math, and you can also find out what math you need to do there.) We recommend a dot pitch of at least 100 pixels per inch (ppi) as a rule of thumb.

Because of the way Windows and MacOS scale for the display, you're frequently better off with a higher resolution than you'd think. You can always make things bigger on a high-resolution screen, but you can never make them smaller -- to fit more content in the view -- on a low-resolution screen. This is why a 4K, 14-inch screen may sound like unnecessary overkill, but may not be if you need to, say, view a wide spreadsheet.

If you need a laptop with relatively accurate color that displays the most colors possible or that supports HDR, you can't simply trust the specs. Manufacturers usually fail to provide the necessary context to understand what the specs they quote mean. You can find a ton of detail about considerations for different types of screen uses in our monitor buying guides for general-purpose monitors, creators, gamers and HDR viewing.

Processor

The processor, aka the CPU, is the brains of a laptop. Intel and AMD are the main CPU makers for Windows laptops, with Qualcomm as a new third option with its Arm-based Snapdragon X processors. Both Intel and AMD offer a staggering selection of mobile processors. Making things trickier, both manufacturers have chips designed for different laptop styles, like power-saving chips for ultraportables or faster processors for gaming laptops. Their naming conventions will let you know what type is used. You can head to Intel's or AMD's sites for explanations so you get the performance you want. Generally speaking, the faster the processor speed and the more cores it has, the better the performance will be.

Apple makes its own chips for MacBooks, which makes things slightly more straightforward. Like Intel and AMD, you'll still want to pay attention to the naming conventions to know what kind of performance to expect. Apple uses its M-series chipsets in Macs. The entry-level MacBook Air uses an M1 chip with an eight-core CPU and seven-core GPU. The current models have M2-series silicon that starts with an eight-core CPU and 10-core GPU and goes up to the M2 Max with a 12-core CPU and a 38-core GPU. Again, generally speaking, the more cores it has, the better the performance.

Battery life has less to do with the number of cores and more to do with CPU architecture, Arm versus x86. Apple’s Arm-based MacBooks and the first Arm-based Copilot Plus PCs we’ve tested offer better battery life than laptops based on x86 processors from Intel and AMD.

Graphics

The graphics processor (GPU) handles all the work of driving the screen and generating what gets displayed, as well as speeding up a lot of graphics-related (and increasingly, AI-related) operations. For Windows laptops, there are two types of GPUs: integrated (iGPU) or discrete (dGPU). As the names imply, an iGPU is part of the CPU package, while a dGPU is a separate chip with dedicated memory (VRAM) that it communicates with directly, making it faster than sharing memory with the CPU.

Because the iGPU splits space, memory and power with the CPU, it's constrained by the limits of those. It allows for smaller, lighter laptops, but doesn't perform nearly as well as a dGPU. There are some games and creative software that won't run unless they detect a dGPU or sufficient VRAM. Most productivity software, video streaming, web browsing and other nonspecialized apps will run fine on an iGPU, though.

For more power-hungry graphics needs, like video editing, gaming and streaming, design and so on, you'll need a dGPU; there are only two real companies that make them, Nvidia and AMD, with Intel offering some based on the Xe-branded (or the older UHD Graphics branding) iGPU technology in its CPUs.

Memory

For memory, we highly recommend 16GB of RAM (8GB absolute minimum). RAM is where the operating system stores all the data for currently running applications, and it can fill up fast. After that, it starts swapping between RAM and SSD, which is slower. A lot of sub-$500 laptops have 4GB or 8GB, which in conjunction with a slower disk can make for a frustratingly slow Windows laptop experience. Also, many laptops now have the memory soldered onto the motherboard. Most manufacturers disclose this, but if the RAM type is LPDDR, assume it's soldered and can't be upgraded.

Some PC makers will solder memory on and also leave an empty internal slot for adding a stick of RAM. You may need to contact the laptop manufacturer or find the laptop's full specs online to confirm. Check the web for user experiences, because the slot may still be hard to get to, it may require nonstandard or hard-to-get memory or other pitfalls.

Storage

You'll still find cheaper hard drives in budget laptops and larger hard drives in gaming laptops, but faster solid-state drives (SSDs) have all but replaced hard drives in laptops. They can make a big difference in performance. Not all SSDs are equally speedy, and cheaper laptops typically have slower drives. If the laptop has only 4GB or 8GB of RAM, it may end up swapping to that drive and the system may slow down quickly while you're working.

Get what you can afford, and if you need to go with a smaller drive, you can always add an external drive or two down the road or use cloud storage to bolster a small internal drive. The one exception is gaming laptops: We don't recommend going with less than a 512GB SSD unless you really like uninstalling games every time you want to play a new game.

How much does a good business laptop cost?

Business laptops typically cost more than consumer models because they usually feature more rugged enclosures and additional security and remote-management features to protect your data and help your company’s IT department manage your organization's fleet of laptops. You can expect to spend around $1,500 for a good business laptop and more if you are looking for a high-powered model with discrete graphics for content creation.

Which is better: MacOS or Windows?

Deciding between MacOS and Windows laptops will come down to personal preference and budget for most people. Apple's base model laptop, the M1 MacBook Air, starts at $999. You can sometimes find it discounted or you can get educational pricing from Apple and other retailers. In general, it'll be at least $1,000 for a new MacBook, and the prices just go up from there.

For the money, you're getting great hardware top to bottom, inside and out. Apple recently moved to using its own processors, which resulted in across-the-board performance improvements compared to older Intel-based models. The company's most powerful laptop, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, still hasn't been updated to Apple silicon.

Again, that great hardware comes at a price. Also, you're limited to just Apple laptops. With Windows and Chromebooks (more on these below), you get an amazing variety of devices at a wide range of prices.

Software between the two is plentiful, so unless you need to run something only available on one platform or the other, you should be fine to go with either. Gaming is an advantage for a Windows laptop.

MacOS is also considered to be easier and safer to use than Windows, especially for people who want their computers to get out of the way so they can get things done. Over the years, Microsoft has done its best to follow suit and, with Windows 11 here, it's trying to remove any barriers. Also, while Macs might have a reputation for being safer, with the popularity of the iPhone and iPad helping to drive Mac sales, they've become bigger targets for malware.

Are Chromebooks worth it?

What's the best laptop or home or work or both?

The pandemic changed how and where a lot of people work. The small, ultraportable laptops valued by people who regularly travel may be woefully inadequate for working from home. Instead of needing long battery life, perhaps you'd rather have a bigger display with more graphics power for gaming.

If you're going to be working on a laptop and don't need more mobility than moving it from room to room, consider a 15.6-inch laptop or larger. In general, a bigger screen makes life easier for work and is more enjoyable for entertainment, and it also is better if you're using it as an extended display with an external monitor. It typically means you're getting more ports too, so connecting an external display or storage or a keyboard and mouse is easier without requiring a hub or dock.

For travel, stay with 13- or 14-inch laptops or two-in-ones. They'll be the lightest and smallest while still delivering excellent battery life. What's nice is that PC-makers are moving away from 16:9 widescreens toward 16:10- or 3:2-ratio displays, which gives you more vertical screen space for work without significantly increasing the footprint. These models usually don't have discrete graphics or powerful processors, although that's not always the case.

Which laptop is best for gaming or creating?

You can play games and create content on any laptop. That said, what games you play and what content you create -- and the speed at which you do them -- varies greatly depending on the components inside the laptop.

For casual browser-based games or using streaming game services like Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming, you don't need a powerful gaming laptop. Similarly, if you're trimming video clips, cropping photos or live-streaming video from your webcam, you can get by with a modestly priced laptop or Chromebook with integrated graphics.

For anything more demanding, you'll need to invest more money in discrete graphics like Nvidia's RTX 30- or 40-series GPUs. Increased system memory of 16GB or more, having a speedy SSD of at least 512GB for storage and a faster processor such as an Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 will all help you get things moving faster too.

The other piece you'll want to consider is the display. For gaming, look for screens with a high refresh rate of 120Hz or faster so games look smoother while playing. For content creation, look for displays that cover at least 100% sRGB color space or, better yet, 100% DCI-P3.

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