Why are laptops so expensive right now 2022

Theres never been so much choice when it comes to buying a laptop, which is great news for us but it also means that there are more machines to sift through before you find your perfect portable. Even if youre a tech enthusiast, that still means a time-consuming search as you sort through dozens of potential purchases. Thats not ideal which is why weve picked out the best in each category.

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What's the best laptop in 2021?

The Dell XPS 13 Late 2020 [from £849] is the best laptop you can buy for most uses. The performance has been boosted with upgrades to the quality screen and the same slim, sturdy ergonomics.

View the Dell XPS 13 [Late 2020] from £849 on Amazon

Samsung's Galaxy Book Pro 360 [from £999] is our pick for the best 2-in-1 laptop around. It works great as a traditional laptop and in tablet mode, while also looking the part and offering top drawer productivity performance.

View the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 from £999 on Amazon

If you want a premium laptop without it costing the earth, the best laptop under £700 is the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 [from £692]. It feels like a top-quality ultrabook, offers a great range of ports and impressive keyboard as well as a remarkable AMD mobile processor.

View the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 from £692 on Amazon

WIRED Recommends is your definitive guide to the best technology. Every product featured has been properly tested by WIRED reviewers. Read our list of the best gadgets for our favourite picks in every category.

Dell XPS 13 [Late 2020]

WIRED Recommends: Dell's XPS 13 is slim, light and capable

The Dell XPS 13 [from £849] has set the standard for compact ultrabooks for several years now. Rivals are fast closing in while Dells flagship has stood fairly still. However, the XPS 13 still remains the best laptop you can buy right now.

The rival machine that's closing in on the XPS 13 the fastest is the Apple MacBook Air M1 [below], representing a leap in efficiency that leads to battery life and performance gains that will marvel many. What keeps Dells 13-inch ultrabook just ahead of Apples revamped MacBook is a rather sizeable gap when it comes to modern design. Alongside the gorgeous Razer Book 13 [below], the XPS 13 is one of the best looking laptops around.

In particular, its the near edge-to-edge 16:10 display that makes this laptop an eye-catcher. When you first open this diminutive laptop, youll be astonished by how much screen Dell has managed to pack in and, with the 4K version, the bright colours are absolutely knock out too.

As a productivity machine, the combination of a 16:10 display, portability and blazing fast basic tasking makes this a top pick for working at home. Whether you're browsing the web with upwards of 15-20 tabs and beyond, working in Office or watching videos, the XPS 13 doesnt blink. A superb keyboard and trackpad pair exceptionally with the speedy internals, with a surprising amount of key feedback for such a slim device as well as a responsive trackpad. [Although if we're being picky, a slightly larger trackpad wouldnt go amiss next time around.]

While Intels 11th gen processors are a step up from the last generation, you wont notice a massive difference if youre just using the XPS 13 as a productivity device, an area in which it already excelled. However, you will notice it with more graphics-intensive tasks. Previously, the XPS 13 could eke out some very light photo and video editing along with playing some low demand games like Fortnite and Apex Legends at minimal settings to get decent frame rates. The increase isnt huge but youll feel less like youre just about managing with these graphical tasks now, with the aforementioned games playable at around 1080p and upwards of 30fps on low graphics settings rather than the bare minimum.

The Dell XPS 13 has occasionally been beaten on specific features but rarely topped when it comes to consistency. However, competitors are catching up and this Dell needs to start standing out more. While the XPS 13 design is premium and sleek in its own right, the lack of an all-metal design like the MacBook Air, Razer Book 13 and Surface Laptop 3 is leaving it wanting amongst these rivals that exude quality.

Then, theres performance. With the majority of top-notch ultrabooks using Intels best mobile chips over recent years, this wasnt much of a talking point performance was pretty uniform. However, the efficiency gains of the new MacBook Air M1, bringing a fanless design and enhanced battery life, as well as the value offering of lower-priced AMD ultrabooks, like the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 and HP Envy 13, mean Dells time at the top could be in danger. With the XPS 13 getting slightly warmer than one would like in some scenarios, Dell certainly has gains to make here. Intel has its new Alder Lake chips coming this year, which could help Dell in this department, but the XPS 13 cant afford to rest on its laurels for another year.

Nevertheless, the Dell XPS 13 offers the best combination around if you want a stylish productivity device that can dip into popular games and do some multimedia editing.

Pros: A productivity delight; impressive 16:10 display; good level of keyboard feedback; remarkably compact
Cons: Small range of ports; trackpad could be slightly bigger; sometimes get a bit warm

Price: From £849 | Check price on Amazon | John Lewis | Dell

Apple MacBook Air [M1]

The best MacBook and the best laptop for students

After years of using Intels processors on its MacBooks, including some rough recent times, Apple decided to replicate its iPhone model and make its own chips for Macs. The result is a new set of efficient yet speedy Macs, raising the bar for all laptop makers and a new MacBook Air M1 [from £900] taking centre stage.

This new MacBook Air offers a silent, fanless experience that still manages to keep pace with previous iterations and key rivals. As a student or productivity laptop, the new Apple M1 MacBook Air is an absolute dream, breezing through basic tasks like word processing and web browsing.

For more complex tasks like photo and video editing, the new Air isnt as capable as its fan-equipped MacBook Pro equivalent or the 16-inch MacBook Pro. However, the results are still impressive. In apps such as Pixelmator Pro, the Air makes light work of basic photo editing and some light video editing is certainly a possibility.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the M1 MacBook Air is how it has managed to step up its performance game and ditch its fan while managing to significantly improve its battery life. Instead of the up to 12 hours of battery life touted on the previous Intel-powered MacBook Air, the new model has ramped things up to 18 hours. Youll be able to manage a workday and keep on going into the next before a charge is required.

The new MacBook Air M1 sets the standard for future ultrabooks, but it isnt perfect. Apples cheapest laptop keeps the same stylish, wedge design the line has had for several years, meaning the Air still lags behind many rivals, including the Dell XPS 13, when it comes to razor-thin bezels. The much-maligned MacBook webcam remains too. Apple touted improved image-processing this time around but it's not a marked improvement.

Pros: Packs a surprising punch; no fan means it stays quiet; much-improved battery
Cons: Same old design; [sorta] same old webcam

Price: From £900 | Check price on Amazon | John Lewis | Apple

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7

The best laptop under £700

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 [from £692] is a remarkable laptop that will rightly have many questioning whether its necessary to spend over £1,000 on an ultrabook. It does lack some of the most premium features you can pick up on the Dell XPS 13, LG Gram 17 and other top-tier devices but, for many, theyre an extra not a necessity.

Taking a look at the Yoga Slim 7 from the outside, it firmly matches the premium design of the best around. Pick it up and you get a quality metal body; you feel like youre handling an expensive device. Open the lid and it fades away a tad, with the display being surrounded by some slightly out-of-date plastic bezels. However, the keyboard and trackpad look great with the keyboard offering decent travel and the trackpad being accurate if a little small.

The Yoga Slim 7 is just a stunning laptop for offering great value in areas you may not expect. While the display isnt OLED and has those less than ideal bezels, the screen quality itself is perfectly good at 1080p, even if it doesnt get all the bright. Many laptop speakers, especially at prices below £1000, are also often neglected. Not here. The Lenovo stays accurate at higher volumes and offers a good amount of bass for such a small machine.

The crown jewel in this laptops value offering is the AMD mobile processor. When using for productivity tasks, this keeps up with the best ultrabooks around with the ability to handle upwards of 15 tabs and multi-task with Office and streaming apps. The multi-core performance outshines the Intel equivalent on many top-end rivals, meaning you dabble that bit more in video and photo editing on this laptop games still arent really an option though.

The only thing holding back this laptop is an outdated aspect ratio. Aspect ratios like 16:10, and the more extreme 3:2, let you see more words on the display ideal for the productivity-centric world of ultrabooks.

Pros: Premium ultrabook at a more sensible price; impressive battery life; delightful keyboard; plenty of ports
Cons: Rather dull display; 16:9; no Thunderbolt 4

Price: From £692 | Check price on Amazon | Argos | Currys

Microsoft Surface Pro 8

The best money-no-object ultrabook

With the new Surface Pro 8 [from £935], Microsoft has finally updated the tired Surface Pro designtaking many cues from the Qualcomm-powered Surface Pro X. Its not quite as thin and light as the Pro X, which amounted to more of a concept device, but the boost in looks makes this a hybrid machine worth consideration once again.

Before buying, you have to navigate the fact that a keyboard cover is not included. Do not buy this device if you dont plan on using it with a keyboarda dedicated tablet, it is not. If you do pick up the Surface Pro 8 with the Signature Type Cover [£1,095] [please pick it up with the Type Cover], its an absolute joy and youll get quite a surprise if youve never used a Surface Pro keyboard before.

The cover is supremely thin but offers up one of the best thin and light typing experiences around. With the Surface Pro 8, its gotten even sturdier, thanks to the incorporation of carbon fiber. You can also combine the Signature Type Cover and Slim Pen 2 [£260]. The stylus is lightweight but very accurate and great fun to use. Theres even a secret compartment for it at the rear of the Type Cover for easy storage, where it also keeps itself charged.

Along with the new trimmed down design, the Pro 8 gets a vibrant PixelSense display capable of 120Hz. The high pixel density and 3:2 aspect ratio make this a great device for both watching movies and getting productivity tasks done. The specs on offer from Microsofts latest high-end tablet means you wont find faltering performance when carrying out either of these kinds of tasks too. While you wont notice any dips, even in some intense upwards of 15 tabs productivity sessions, you may notice the device getting a tad warm and fans kicking up earlier than youd think. Its not a surprise really, given Microsoft has chosen to pack an Intel chip into such a small enclosure, so its a positive that it doesnt really impact performanceeven if it is slightly behind rivals like the XPS 13.

The Surface Pro 8 is a welcome reinvigoration of this device range but you are paying a premium for one of the most contemporarily designed devices out there. The sensible option is to pick up a Dell XPS 13 [from £849] or, even, a Surface Laptop 4 [from £1,269] but this devices unmatched style may lead you astray.

Pros: Modern design; extremely portable; great keyboard and Surface Pen; stunning display
Cons: Below standard battery life; eager fans; can get warm

Price: From £935 | Check price on Amazon | John Lewis | Microsoft

Asus ROG Zephyrus G15

The best gaming laptop you can buy right now

While ultrabooks are great from being impressively thin to offering high-end design they dont do the job when it comes to gaming and more demanding creative tasks. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 [from £2,000] is our pick for the best gaming laptop around, offering tremendous horsepower in a portable form and it manages to still look good doing it.

The shining star of the Zephyrus G15 is its combination of AMDs top-of-the-range mobile processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series mobile GPUs. The team-up leads to strong results, with the top specs Ryzen 9 and RTX 3080 model allowing for 80-100fps at QHD resolution on a range of triple-A titles. For competitive shooters, like Apex Legends you can take full advantage of the 165Hz refresh rate by tweaking a few settings but you wont have to sacrifice the 1440p resolution to get it. The panel may not quite reach the vibrant colour heights of its closest rival the Razer Blade 15 but its gorgeous and accurate, nonetheless.

To gain any accolades as a strong gaming laptop, a device needs a good keyboard the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 is one of the best. Theres a ton of feedback here, often absent on gaming laptops, and an impressive level of travel. While most gamers will look to add a USB or wireless mouse for serious gaming sessions, the trackpad is large and responsive for regular daily use.

Despite its power-hungry components, the battery life of the Zephyrus G15 isnt that far off ultrabook levels hitting between 8 to 9 hours under productivity workloads. Youll get the best performance when plugged in but, if you do game on the go, you can manage around two hours.

The G15 does lose some credit when it comes to convenience, with the perennial issue of AMD laptops lacking Thunderbolt ports as well as the decision to not include a webcam. Convenience aside, this laptop remains the best option around for portable gaming and mid to high-level creative workloads. A device to remember.

Also consider: The G15 is a phenomenal piece of kit but you shouldnt forget about its smaller sibling either the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 [from £1,300]. If youre after extra portability while still being capable of remarkable battery life and gaming/creativity performance, the G14 remains a great pick.

Pros: Stunning QHD performance; great gaming keyboard; bold design; strong battery life
Cons: No webcam; no Thunderbolt ports

Price: From £2,000 | Check price on Amazon | Currys | Asus

Asus ProArt StudioBook 16 OLED

A clever and powerful laptop

Asus is one of the best and most prolific laptop brands around right now from thin and lights to gaming machines. However, its somewhat flattered to deceive with its slightly gimmicky ZenBook Duo laptops aimed at creators. The new ProArt StudioBook 16 OLED [from £2000] fixes this and then some bringing power and convenient creator-friendly practicality to a reasonably sized device made for creators.

In a section of the laptop market that is still lacking an up-to-date and graphically-capable MacBook Pro, Asus is taking full advantage. While this 16in laptop isnt made for the odd trip to the coffee shop, you wont mind lugging it around the house or to and from work. You wont be apprehensive about the design at your desk either, with a sleek, stealthy black metallic look. The 16in display offers a 16:10 resolution and 4K OLED panel likely the best combination of screen specs you can get right now, unless you are a gamer. The 4K OLED panel is bright, vivid and honestly, just chef's kiss for accurate image and video editing work.

The StudioBook 16 has a few more tricks up its sleeve too, and they are far more thoughtful than gimmick. First, theres the dial. The dial sits just above and to the left of the trackpad letting you adjust the display brightness and volume quickly during everyday use. But, what the dial is really for, is speeding up the workflow of heavy Adobe users offering support for Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Lightroom Classic [no Lightroom, unfortunately]. Its customisable within the pre-installed ProArt Creator Hub and will allow you to assign everything from brush size and hardness to layer opacity and more. Its responsive, swift as well and perfectly placed for your left hand to quickly pop down to between typing.

Another creator-friendly feature in the pre-installed software is Rendering mode. The StudioBook 16 operates quietly during regular use, with the fans kicking up a tad when pushing it but, rendering mode is there to let this surprisingly slim yet powerful device go all-in on horsepower when creators need it. This horsepower comes from the strong combo of a high-end AMD Ryzen processor and a choice between an RTX 3070 or 3060 graphics card.

Outside of the luxurious display and more-than-capable performance, the StudioBook 16 gets the small but impactful decisions right too. The port selection is ideal, with a range of USB ports, an HDMI 2.1, full-size SD card reader, Ethernet and headphone jack. The keyboard doesnt live up to Asus' stunning gaming laptop the ROG Zephyrus M16 but it does offer a good amount of travel even if a bit more feedback, to avoid a bit of a thud at the end of your click, would be nice. The trackpad could be a marmite component, with a lack of a click instead, relying on three mouse buttons underneath [like a Lenovo ThinkBook] for your dragging and clicking.

Adobe fans who want a device for all your heavyweight editing tasks should look no further. Its suitably sized, has a remarkable display, creator-friendly add-ons and pristine performance.

Pros: Stunning 4K display; a useful dial for creators; great port selection; powerful specs; professional design
Cons: Atypical trackpad; no RTX 3080 option

Price: From £2,000 | Check price on Asus

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360

The best 2-in-1 laptop

For many years, Samsung has failed to hit its stride in the laptop space. A couple of years ago, it remerged with the eye-catching Galaxy Book Ion and Flex models but the price wasnt right. With its latest laptops and, in particular, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 [from £999], the popular manufacturer focuses and what its good at and it works.

The Galaxy Book Pro 360 is immediately striking due to its extremely thin 11.9mm body. The 15-inch model is surprisingly light too at just under 1.4kg for its size. Despite this lightweight, the materials still feel high quality with the entire shell featuring aluminium. Samsungs latest 2-in-1 takes much of what the LG Gram series has done well extremely thin and light devices and gave it an extra bit of finesse.

This laptops performance isnt hindered by its trimmed down dimensions though. Intels latest 11th Gen processors and between 8 and 16GB RAM make productivity tasking a breeze. The fans do get going rather early and it's a godsend for Samsung to have included custom silent and no fan modes as they keep the noise to a minimum without really affecting performance youll want the fans on when doing sustained work.

Where the Galaxy Book Pro 360 really shines, and earns its position as our top 2-in-1 recommendation, is when you take full advantage of its 360 hinge. Tent mode works great for watching movies aided by a gloriously colour-rich 1080p AMOLED display. Then, in tablet mode, this device has few equals for how comfortable it is to use. Its thin build means it comes tremendously close to simply feeling like you are using a tablet except for the unavoidable feel of keys on the back. The S Pen is much of a delight to use as youd expect if youre familiar with its phone equivalents of recent years unnoticeable lag and comfortable to hold. The slim build does mean theres no room to slot this pen into the device but its not a huge miss.

The quality of this laptop is rounded out with a keyboard that has decent travel and good feedback, a large and responsive trackpad and impressively bassy speakers. If youre considering a 2-in-1 laptop right now, theres no better.

Also consider: While the Galaxy Book Pro 360 absolutely nails the key aspects of a 2-in-1, it is missing one thing that takes a lot of ultrabooks to the next level. A 16:10 or 3:2 display. A squarer display like this is great for productivity, providing added screen real estate. Our previous top 2-in-1 pick, the HP Spectre x360 14 [from £1,200], does come with one of the displays as well as a stunning OLED panel for all your movie-watching needs.

Pros: Best-in-class 1080p display; comfortable in tablet mode; great speakers; large trackpad; S Pen
Cons: No 3:2 or 16:10 display; overeager fans

Price: From £999 | Check price on Amazon | John Lewis | Samsung

Acer Swift 1

The best laptop under £400

Outside of its flashy gaming offering, Acer laptops dont often wow. Instead, they offer function over all else. The Acer Swift 1 [£400] sticks with the pattern with its unassuming specs and unexciting looks but surprisingly good performance and a wallet-friendly price helps it stand out from the crowd.

While the looks of the Swift 1 are nothing to shout about, one of the first things youll notice about this device is its slim frame and when you pick it up its low weight. The Swift 1 really is a great buy if youve been looking for a capable productivity device that isnt a chunky weight on your back during your daily commute. Despite the thin body, the port selection on offer is up to a good standard featuring a USB-C port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI and a headphone jack. Theres a surprisingly swift and reliable fingerprint sensor too.

Looking at the specs of the Acer Swift 1, youd think it wasnt up to much an Intel Pentium processor, just 4GB RAM and starting out in Windows 10 in S mode. The results amount to an ideal device for light browsing and a bit of multitasking across video and music. Theres no danger of taking this device out of S mode, with full-fat Windows 10 running perfectly fine. You can reach up to between 6-8 tabs in Chrome before noticing any lag or stutters, while youll be fine having a Netflix or a Spotify open alongside your browsing if you ditch a tab or two. This, combined with its lightweight, comfortable keyboard and low price, make it an ideal budget-friendly student laptop.

The Swift 1 does fall down in two areas in its attempts to please the eye. While the overall build of the laptop is strong and the typing experience is more than up to snuff, the font on the keys looks rather cheap. The display is also quite dull, so you might be disappointed if youre hoping for vibrant videos and crisp images look to devices like the Surface Laptop Go [£469] for such an experience at a reasonable price.

Pros: Great for productivity; thin and light; good speakers; keyboard with decent travel; a rare competent fingerprint sensor at this price
Cons: Bland display

Price: £400 | Check price on Amazon | Currys

HP Envy 13

A portable mid-ranger with decent graphics

The HP Envy 13 [from £749] is one of the best mid-range style laptops. It sits below HPs Spectre series but still comes across a top-end design as the casing is an aluminium alloy, which actually feels better than the magnesium-rich metals used in some more expensive laptops.

A small footprint sets the Envy 13 apart. Slim display borders and a 16:9 aspect display mean this laptop is significantly less deep than most rivals. It has a portability angle you cant appreciate by looking at the thickness and weight numbers. The HP Envy 13 weighs around 1.3kg and is 17mm thick, both of which are perfectly respectable in this class.

Its something of a looker too. The all-silver appearance is MacBook-adjacent, although HPs style is somewhat more angular than Apples. Theres more key travel here than in many top-end laptops too, a significant benefit if you spend much of your work day typing.

The HP Envy 13 also offers much more for your downtime than most style laptops. Even the entry-level version has an Nvidia GeForce MX450 graphics card. This is around twice as powerful as the integrated graphics chipset most slim and light Intel-powered laptops rely on.

While it may not satisfy the hardcore crowd, it makes even highly demanding games like Assassins Creed: Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077 playable if you optimise the graphics settings enough.

The HP Envy 13 is a surprisingly versatile little laptop. It doesnt have a glass touchpad, which HP reserves for its higher-end models. But this is the one obvious compromise in a laptop that offers an awful lot at its £900 starting price, which nets you a Core i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, 512GB storage and real-world battery life of around nine hours.

Pros: Small footprint; beats rivals for gaming; attractive aluminium casing; good value
Cons: Plastic touchpad

Price: From £749 | Check price on John Lewis | HP

Razer Blade 14

The best laptop for mobile creators

While the new Razer Blade 14 [from £2,699] has its sights on gaming rival, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, its immense portable power makes it appealing far beyond that. In particular, the Blade 14 is a strong candidate for those who are getting tired of waiting for a new more powerful MacBook Pro with boosted M1X or M2 chip. Intense productivity, high-end gaming or demanding creative work its a true all-rounder.

The Razer Blade 15 is a feat in its own right, enabling AAA gaming in a chassis that more closely resembles a MacBook than many chunky and vent-laden gaming-focused competitors. The new Blade 14 takes this a step further, trimming down in size but still managing performance beyond what youd expect for such an unassuming machine. Theres no revolution in looks though, with the new 14-inch model still sporting the Blade 15s signature green and black design. It still attracts fingerprints galore but remains immensely stylish in the process. Despite its small size, it manages to offer a decent range of ports, including two USB-C ports, two USB-A, headphone jack and an HDMI.

When it comes to performance, there are few questions to raise regarding what this pocket rocket can achieve. In its most comfortable wheelhouse, itll stretch beyond 60fps at 1440p for titles offering visual delights, like Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and Borderlands 3. This laptops 165Hz panel can be topped out by dipping down to 1080p or just about stretched to on very low settings in fps-focused games like Apex Legends. Away from gaming, no productivity task is too much for the Blade 14, if you are using this for intense browsing or productivity multitasking then itll barely blink. For creatives, its easily the best youll find in a device so portable advanced work is well within its reach. However, you will be limited by the 16GB RAM meaning true creative professionals may still have to look to the Blade 15 or elsewhere.

Pros: Unrivalled combo of portability and performance; luxuriously sleek and stylish; versatile keyboard
Cons: Middling battery life; sub-par webcam; no lower-cost options

Price: From £2,699 | Check price on Amazon | Razer | Ebuyer

Acer Swift 3X

A good MacBook alternative

The Acer Swift 3X [from £899] is an unusual laptop. Its slim and light, part of a series usually focused on low weight and portability. But performance is the main goal here. This is one of the first laptops with an Intel Xe Max graphics chipset. And this isn't like the average graphics card, made for boosting frames per second in games.

The Acer Swift 3X is no gaming master, beaten by laptops with an Nvidia MX450 GPU. But it does perform almost extraordinarily well in more CPU-led jobs. Intels Xe Max cares more about content creation style tasks like video editing than gaming.

Intels special sauce in a feature called Deep Link, which lets the CPU and GPU function as a more efficient team than the usual combo of an Intel processor and Nvidia graphics card. Our tests showed exemplary results even with the lower-end Intel Core i5 version.

Heres where the low weight and portable design factors comes back in. The Acer Swift 3X offers great general performance in a form you can comfortably take anywhere, which may appeal if you like the sound of Apples revolutionary M1 chipset MacBook laptops, but do not want a MacBook.

Acer kitted out the Swift 3X with an unusually punchy cooling system to make the most of the additional power features. You really can hear those fans go under pressure, unlike a MacBook Pro.

The Swift 3X is not the most impressively made £1,000 laptop, though. Theres a bit of keyboard flex, the touchpad is plastic and alternatives from Lenovo and HP beat it for style. However, you cant knock its real-world performance, which for once doesnt boil down to how well it can play games something no thin and light laptop is really geared-up for.

Pros: Excellent performance per kilo; slim and light
Cons: Intel Xe Max does not excel at gaming; so-so build in parts

Price: From £899 | Check price on Amazon | Acer | Currys [Low Stock]

HP Envy 14

A stylish laptop with mid-tier graphics chops

Hunting for a top-performing laptop can often seem like a choice between thin and light productivity luxury and a larger laptop made for gaming. But, with the help of Nvidias entry level mobile GPUs, there is a middle ground, in which the HP Envy 14 [from £1,549] sits.

This model of HP Envy doesnt look all that different to the slightly slimmed down 13-inch model or any other models which dont feature an Nvidia GPU inside but it does and it brings something a bit different. While most slim laptops offer strong productivity capabilities in a portable design, the HP Envy is capable of a decent level of gaming and creative work too.

With the help of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti, 16GB RAM and 11th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, this laptop can manage around 60fps on Medium settings at Full HD on this 60Hz panel including for games like Borderlands 3 and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. If you fancy competitive gaming, Apex Legends is playable at Ultra settings at 60fps too. Its pretty remarkable. Given Intels espousing about the capability of its latest CPUs built-in graphics capabilities, they still dont even touch this low to mid-tier Nvidia offering. These graphical chops allow for entry-level to intermediate creative work too meaning this ultrabook is capable of some photo and video editing alongside its strong productivity abilities.

Ultrabooks often sport fairly shallow and satisfying keyboards, due to their slim bodies but this Envy 14 offers a good amount of travel and decent crunchy feedback. If you do game on this, youll be pretty happy and, for essay-writing and the like, its great too. A big trackpad makes only adds to the productivity chops of this laptop further too.

There are a few more subtle features to this laptop that could go unnoticed but could greatly affect your experience. First, theres a key for activating a physical webcam privacy shutter great if youre security conscious. Another security feature here is a fingerprint scanner. Unfortunately, despite its fairly large size, its extremely temperamental to the extent that you shouldnt bother using it, only working the first time about 10% of the time. Then, theres the display the panel itself offers great colours and vivid detail. However, while it may be touted at 400 nits, it certainly doesnt reach outdoor working heights youll be fine in most indoor environments though. A big coup here is the 16:10 aspect ratio, making extra room for browsing pages, seeing more of documents, spreadsheets and more.

Pros: Great keyboard travel; bright 16:10 display; big trackpad; graphics pack a decent punch
Cons: Temperamental fingerprint scanner; big for 14in laptop

Price: From £1,549 | Check price on Amazon | HP

Microsoft Surface Laptop 4

The best-looking Windows laptop you can buy

Microsoft's Surface range is stunning hardware. The trouble? Both the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro flagship models have remained largely unchanged for a couple of years now. In 2021, the Surface Laptop 4 [from £1,221] is, once again, more of a refresh than a revolution. However, quality design, greater choice and some signature features more than keep this laptop in the running.

The design remains largely unchanged from the Surface Laptop 3, with an aluminium unibody [unless you opt for an Alcantara option] in a supremely thin form factor. Those who may have previously been put off by the sleek black model due to its status as a fingerprint magnet can reconsider this year, as it now does a much better job of rebuffing smudges. In some ways, its hard to complain about the design not changing as its just so good. Its the only Windows laptop that can claim to match a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro for its combination of a trim design and high-quality feel. The Razer Book 13 comes the closest but cant compete with the Surface Laptop 4 on thinness. The only folly in the design is the relatively thick bezels around the display, a feature that will surely be gone when an actual design refresh comes fingers crossed for the Surface Laptop 5.

For productivity performance, our Intel 11th Gen Core i5 model and 8GB RAM test model [£1,269] had no trouble whatsoever. While our benchmarking tests did show it trailing competitors like the Dell XPS 13 particularly via some slow SSD speeds this didnt significantly affect everyday performance. Youll be able to multi-task carefree across the web, music and video apps. Dont expect to get any gaming capabilities out of this machine, unless youre a fan of very low-demand titles like Rocket League. Some light editing is possible but regular Adobe users should look for something with a mobile GPU. While the laptop didnt struggle at all with daily tasking, the bottom of the device did start to warm up under very little strain. Not enough to be of concern or, even, mildly irritating but it is noticeable whereas fan noise was virtually non-existent until venturing about 20 tabs and several programs.

Some other features remain the same or still absent as they were on prior models. You still get some of the best speakers on any laptop, not distorting at high volumes and only slightly trailing MacBooks in the bass department. While theres still no room for Thunderbolt on the Intel models as Microsofts stance on the issue remains. The PixelSense display offers more pixels than 1440p displays and provides the wonderful productivity-friendly 3:2 aspect ratio. Its roomy and offers a ton of detail and colours for a great video watching experience.

If you have always looked on in envy at the laptop hardware on offer from Apple but havent wanted to venture away from Windows, the Surface Laptop 4 is the best you can get. The base 13in AMD model offers tremendous value for money and is easily the best option, with the £1,269 Intel i5 model still an attractive choice too. It shouldnt be enough to put you off but the value proposition does decrease as the price rapidly rises up the configurations.

Pros: Brilliant productivity performance; slim and high-quality hardware; keyboard with great travel; big trackpad; decent speakers
Cons: Thick bezels; cost rises steeply from base model; no Thunderbolt

Price: From £1,221 | Check price on Amazon | John Lewis | Microsoft

Lenovo IdeaPad 5

The best budget laptop for under £600

While value for performance is a stand out trait here, with the AMD CPU, 8GB RAM and SSD storage combo that makes many tasks on this machine run like a dream, looks arent compromised. The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 [£388] doesnt lag too far behind the high-quality designs of some top ultrabooks, the materials might not be as premium but Lenovos laptop is sleek nonetheless. The sleekness doesnt mean you are saddled with a lacklustre keyboard either. The IdeaPad 5 keyboard does lack travel but it's quiet, accurate and wont induce fatigue.

Productivity on the IdeaPad 5 is a breeze. If youre a user who spends most of your time in Microsoft Office or browsing the web, youll notice little difference between this machine and what youd get for upwards of £1000. In the graphics department, youll be able to carry out some very light photo and video editing while also being able to take on some casual games like Fortnite and Minecraft on low graphics settings.

The IdeaPad 5 oozes convenience too, with its relatively light 1.4kg and 19mm thickness making it an easy device to lug around. Ports help in this department as well, offering 2x USB 3 ports, an HDMI output, SD card slot and a single USB-C port [that can be used for charging too]. A fingerprint reader and Wi-Fi 6 also makes this laptop one thats set for the future. You wont be bogged down in constantly charging the IdeaPad 5 either, with a 57Wh battery that can manage between 8-10 hours.

This laptop offers a lot for your money but, alas, it isnt perfect. The display is where the IdeaPad 5 is left slightly wanting, with the 14-inch display not getting all that bright and colours being a tad washed out. Another minor niggle is how warm this device gets, it isnt concerning but its slightly more than youd want thankfully, this doesnt equate to overly loud fans.

Pros: Impressive performance; decent mic; pleasing and convenient design
Cons: Below average display; so-so trackpad

Price: £388 | Check price on Lenovo | Currys

LG Gram 17 2021

The best 17-inch laptop

In early 2020, the 17-inch LG Gram turned a whole lot of heads primarily due to its astonishing size and low weight claims. However, the size didnt cover the fact it felt a tad outdated. The new LG Gram 17 [from £1,249] makes some clever tweaks, including a new stunning Black colour option, that make this one of the best [and interesting] ultrabooks you can buy right now.

The main reason to buy this laptop is the huge 17-inch display. If youve ever thought you'd like a large display laptop you still can lug around all day, this is it. Thats because, despite its mammoth size, this laptop only weighs 1.35kg meaning you just need to make sure your bag is big enough but it wont break your back. The display itself is stunning a 16:10 IPS screen and the size makes it so good for productivity, watching movies, multitasking... almost anything really.

To achieve this weight at this size, you might think it'll look like an unflattering cheap laptop. However, while it doesnt have the fancy gleaming metal body of an XPS 13 or a MacBook Air, its thinness helps to still give the magnesium alloy a solid feel it still looks and feels premium. However, it would be fair to feel a little slighted by the cheaper feel given the prices you are paying here. But, matching Dell or Apples design would like result in a heavier weight defeating the purpose of this unique laptop.

The thinness of this laptop hasn't impacted the typing experience much either. In fact, this is our favourite ultrabook keyboard bar the Surface Laptop 3 offering heaps of travel and a hugely satisfying click. The same goes for the trackpad, which is huge because, of course, theres plenty of space to take advantage of here as well as responsive and clicky. The size affords a ton of ports too including two Thunderbolt 4, two USB-A 3.2, an HDMI, a microSD card reader and a headphone jack.

The mammoth screen, impressive keyboard and remarkable lightweight are backed up by Intels latest 11th Gen processors and starts at 8GB RAM meaning, as a productivity device youll have no trouble here. The large size affords a large battery too you should be able to manage between 11-13 hours, meaning you can complete a workday and have some leftover.

Pros: Massive display; lightweight; amazing keyboard; big trackpad; top performer
Cons: Lacking premium materials; no touchscreen

Price: From £1,249 | Check price on Amazon | Currys | LG

HP Spectre x360 14

A stunning 3:2 display and useful 360-degree hinge

Unlike other high-end laptop brands like Dell, Microsoft and more HP has had a 2-in-1 laptop as its ultimate flagship ultrabook for several years now. The HP Spectre x360 14 [from £1,200] takes this to the next level by adding a new laptop model that adopts the most coveted of productivity features a 3:2 display.

This new 14-inch model sits neatly between the 13-inch and 15-inch versions, coming with the design of the larger equivalent meaning that theres room for a speaker grill above the keyboard. If youre at all familiar with this range then theres little change to the design, the Spectre x360 range offers sharper and more angular edges and corners than your average ultrabook. To some it may be a refreshing change but, in daily use, these edges can make it a tad uncomfortable to hold.

When you're handling this 2-in-1, youll find it super easy to flip it between tent, tablet and regular old laptop mode with a strong but easily manoeuvrable hinge. The design affords a half-decent port selection offering more than the measly dual USB-C and headphone jack setups of the Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Air but less than the well-equipped Razer Book 13 the result is dual USB-C ports, a headphone jack, a microSD card reader and a USB-A port.

Day-to-day, the 11th gen Intel processor performance, alongside upwards of 8GB RAM, makes this laptop feel relatively on par with the likes of the Dell XPS 13 and LG Gram 17 However, our testing did show it actually falls on single and multi-core performance. If youre a productivity user, this likely wont be a big deal but if youre trying to eke out some light editing or just want the best value for your £1,200+ then you may want to opt for one of those aforementioned devices.

On top of the horsepower, the 3:2 display goes some way to making this one of the best displays around for productivity work packing a lot of words on your screen when reading articles or writing documents. The quality of the display helps a ton in this regard too. If you pick up the pricier OLED model, youll be greeted by phenomenally bright and detailed visuals making this a great 2-in-1 for work and watching videos too.

Pros: Gorgeous OLED display on 3K2K model; eye-catching angular design; decent keyboard; good port selection
Cons: Trackpad not very clicky

Price: From £1,200 | Check price on Amazon | HP

Huawei MateBook 14 [2020]

Another value AMD triumph

If youve been on the hunt for a high-performing productivity laptop, whether it's for study or working from home in Office apps and on the web, you may be dismayed by the Intel-sporting ultrabooks that often cost around £1,000 and above. Like the impressive Lenovo Yoga Slim 7, the Huawei MateBook 14 [from £580] leverages impressive AMD horsepower with an extremely appealing starting price. The stunning value of the MateBook 14 even puts it directly at odds with Huaweis £1,600 flagship laptop the MateBook X Pro.

You can get the MateBook 14 with either an AMD Ryzen 5 4700H or Ryzen 7 4800H offering six and eight cores respectively, surpassing Intels quad-core Tiger Lake mobile processors. These processors are blistering fast offering sustained strong performance and this means that theyll absolutely eat up the productivity tasks you throw at them. From browsing in upwards of 10-15 tabs to multitasking with media apps and more. The capabilities are similar to what you get from Intels top-of-line i7 processor, but at a far more wallet-friendly price. In many ways, the performance on offer here, for productivity tasks, may be overkill as it is limited by its integrated GPU so wont be able to manage much beyond basic video editing. However, at this price, overkill is a welcome luxury.

The MateBook 14 has a couple of quirks that prevent it from surpassing the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 as our value recommendation. Like its Lenovo rival, the display is fairly uninspiring even at a 1440p resolution with washed-out colours. It does offer a 3:2 aspect ratio, compared to the Yoga Slim 7s 16:9, which is a godsend for productivity. The MateBook 14 is also slightly thicker and heavier, and its weight does feel surprisingly noticeable for a device thats relatively small youll notice this one when lugging it around in a bag. Potentially owing to the higher resolution display, the battery life here doesnt match the 13 hours of the Lenovo managing around 11. However, all these negatives come about when comparing it to [i]the[/i] best value laptop on the market against Intel-powered ultrabooks from HP, LG and, even, Dell, this sub-£700 from Huawei is worth your consideration.

An area in which the MateBook 14 comfortably surpasses its near £1,000 more expensive flagship stablemate the Huawei MateBook X Pro is in the keyboard and trackpad performance. Whether it's owing to its thickness or the pricier model attempting something different, the MateBook 14 shoots for simplicity and gets it right. Both the keyboard and trackpad offer plenty of travel and are equally responsive with the former also providing some pleasing feedback you just dont often get on these ultrabook devices. The worst part of the keyboard doesnt even really relate to the keys themselves, with that pesky pop-up webcam that Huawei wont give up still nestled at the back. Other than that, its a top drawer combo.

The MateBook 14 offers an impressively wide range of ports, even if the selection may feel slightly outdated. Theres a USB-C port [not Thunderbolt, given this is an AMD-powered device], two USB-A, an HDMI and a headphone jack. Having one USB-C port in 2021 does make this laptop feel a bit behind the times but the options are welcome, nevertheless.

For several years, Huawei has offered tremendous value with the laptops it offers between £500 and £800 and the MateBook 14 is no different. It joins the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 as an AMD-powered offering that makes many £1000 laptops look a little silly when it comes to value. However, some more high-end features and touches of luxury are lacking.

Pros: Bags of power; great keyboard with pleasing feedback; 3:2 aspect ratio
Cons: Bland display; surprisingly heavy; annoying webcam placement

Price: From £580 | Check price on Amazon | Huawei | Currys

Huawei MateBook X Pro [2021]

A solid productivity laptop with stand-out looks

The Huawei MateBook X Pro [£1,380] is a remarkable nearly device. In many ways, it gets a ton of things right, whether its up against the Dell XPS 13 or MacBook Air M1. The design and display are particular standouts. However, some performance and hardware decisions as well as the constant looming spectre of lower-priced rivals from AMD hold this laptop back from greatness.

If you are considering this laptop then you simply must go for the Emerald Green colour over the more generic Space Grey. When this colour was introduced a couple of models ago, it turned heads and it's as stunning as ever. The colour a rich dark green with a golden Huawei logo to top it off wows in its own right but the way the green MateBook X Pro stands out amongst silver, black and grey while still looking stylish and high-end is hugely impressive. This laptop breaks from the norm and is immensely better for it.

This laptops looks only enhance when you open it up and power it on with a gorgeous 3,000x2,000 resolution display and a sheet of glass that covers this panel from edge to edge. Unfortunately, the slim bezels leave no room for a webcam here which is once again awkwardly positioned to pop up from the keyboard. The screen may not hit the OLED heights offered by the best movie-watching laptops on the market like the HP Spectre x360 14 but it more than competes on brightness and accuracy with the market-leading Dell XPS 13. As well as looking great, the resolution equates to a 3:2 aspect ratio, like the Microsoft Surface Laptop, making this a great machine for getting extra words on the display when writing essays, reading articles and other productivity tasks.

Productivity is exactly what this machine is for, and with the only UK model coming with an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB RAM, it tackles this challenge with ease. You can run well beyond 10 browser tabs with ease and feel free to open music, office and video conferencing apps alongside with nary a worry. Dont expect to venture beyond this into creative work, however. The Intel Iris Xe graphics onboard here do provide an assist by enabling some basic gaming capabilities think Fortnite [on low settings] or Rocket League and you can achieve some very light video editing too.

And, this is where Huawei may have shot itself in the foot. You can pick up the Huawei MateBook 14 a less flashy machine with a six or eight-core AMD H-series processor. This laptop offers performance capabilities that slightly bypass the MateBook X Pro 2021 in many areas but it costs between £700 and £950 cheaper. There are disadvantages like a less exciting design and display but the price difference is astonishing.

Elsewhere, Huaweis flagship laptop solidly hits the tier of ultrabooks just below the Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Air M1 sitting offerings from Razer, HP and LG. This is apparent with its speakers almost achieving strong quality all around but the bass is fairly weak and its keyboard the keys respond well to a light touch but the feedback amounts to a low travel thunk and it can lead to some typing fatigue. The MateBook X Pro does beat many rivals on battery life, achieving over 10 hours and thats despite donning the high resolution 3,000x2,000 display.

The Huawei MateBook X Pro 2021 is both an exciting and frustrating device representing luxurious and eye-catching design along with a crisp display while also representing touch-to-justify value with only one high priced model on offer and a rival within its own brand [Huawei MateBook 14] looking like a smarter pick for most.

Pros: Gorgeous screen; green model is stunning; decent for productivity; impressive battery life
Cons: MateBook 14 offers better value; awkward webcam; underperforms against rivals; very shallow keyboard and trackpad

Price: £1,380 | Check price on Amazon | Huawei

Asus Chromebook Flip C434

Our favourite Chromebook is a genuine Windows replacement

With an aluminium shell, a bright, sharp 1080p touchscreen and a solid range of specifications, Asus' Chromebook Flip C434 [£400] looks and performs like a laptop twice the price. In fact, it's our pick for best Chromebook over Google's high-end Pixelbook.

Aside from the plasticky trackpad - we'd prefer textured glass, to be perfectly honest - it's difficult to find fault with the Flip C434, so-called for its 360-degree hinge. There's no stylus to use it in touchscreen mode, though.

Otherwise, it's all rather pleasing. It's an Intel generation ahead - for now - of the Pixelbook and performance is very reliable, plus there's two USB-C ports, one full-size USB and a microSD slot, which is all very handy. The keyboard, too, is deep enough and responsive. Sure, you can't forget this is still a device with ChromeOS as its operating system but for browsing and productivity apps, this works nicely, plus there's Android apps or games too if you insist.

Pros: Well specced; aluminium body; cheaper than Pixelbook
Cons: Trackpad is plastic; no stylus [as on some rivals]

Price: From £400 | Check price on Amazon | Argos | Currys

Apple MacBook Pro [M1]

Great for battery life and sustained performance

The new MacBook Pro M1 [from £1,167] is a device that has some awkward market positioning being trumped by its lower power, fanless and cheaper counterpart, the M1 MacBook Air [above], upon its reveal and also not being powerful enough to accommodate power users who currently use Intel-powered 16-inch MacBook Pros. However, for those that find the new 13-inch MacBook Pro does fit their needs, you wont be disappointed.

Like the new Air, its the new M1 Apple Silicon chip that defines this device offering blistering productivity performance and surprisingly good battery life. The MacBook Pro takes these features slightly further than its fanless equivalent though.

Sporting fans means that the Pro version can sustain high performance for longer, allowing you to push this laptop that bit more. Theres a battery life boost too, to give you that extra bit of encouragement to fork out the extra cash up to 17 hours for the Pro compared to up to 15 hours on the Air. The slight upgrades are rounded out with a brighter screen and improved speakers. Neither are startling but this quartet of added features could be worth it for you.

For those looking beyond productivity, this device may stretch the credulity of the Pro label but it can tackle some basic graphical tasks with ease especially in M1 optimised apps. Our testing in HandBrake saw the MacBook Pro finish in 85-90 per cent of the time the MacBook Air took, with this test finally seeing the fans springing into action.

A lack of graphical oomph will likely lead many to wait for an upgraded 16-inch model or rumoured 14-inch revamp but there are a couple of other reasons that provide pause for thought too. Despite the M1 revamp, the build quality and design does remain the same and even some software tweaks to the webcam dont save its admittedly poor quality. The limited selection of ports just two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports wont be enough for many too.

Nevertheless, the MacBook Pro represents the best Apple laptop you can get right now. You may not get the graphical horsepower of the 16-inch and, to many, it may feel like overkill compared to the new stellar M1 MacBook Air but, if youre a productivity power user who wants immense battery life and stunning tasking performance, the Pro should be on your radar.

Pros: Speedy performance; remarkable battery life; rarely active fan
Cons: Webcam still not great; same old design

Price: From £1,350 | Check price on Amazon | John Lewis | Apple

Razer Book 13

A minimalist alternative to the Dell XPS

Razer announced its new productivity laptop without much fanfare, an interesting proposition but a departure from what its regular fans might be interested in. However, the Razer Book 13 [from £1,201] is undoubtedly worthy of praise specifically for its modern and minimalist design.

With the new Razer productivity machine, you get all the performance youd expect from an ultrabook in 2021 providing a comparable experience to the Dell XPS 13, HP Spectre x360 13 and more. Delightfully, the Razer Book 13 also gets a 16:10 display, making for a screen thats even better for day-to-day work and browsing the web. Like its Dell equivalent, the display pushes very close to the edge of the laptop and it looks stunning.

The aspect ratio helps this refreshingly portable 13-inch device still provide ample room for working and multitasking. On top of performance and the display, productivity is greatly enhanced by one of the best keyboards we've used recently. The keyboard is clicky but, most notably, provides a decent amount of feedback thats rarely felt on a laptop of this size. The trackpad is equally good, providing accurate and impactful clicks from corner to corner, even if it is a tad small.

What prevents the Razer Book 13 from reaching greatness with its freshman iteration is how it is cooled. The Razer Book 13 gets surprisingly warm on its underside, even without pushing its performance capabilities, and the fans also seem to get going far earlier than youd expect.

Nevertheless, this laptop is a stunning first try from Razer and its the best-looking ultrabook you can buy right now. The second version of this laptop could very well reach the top of this list; that's how much we like it.

Pros: Best-in-class design; remarkable thin bezels; comfortable keyboard
Cons: Can get a bit warm; awkward key placement

Price: From £1,201 | Check price on Amazon | eBuyer | Razer

How much should I spend on a laptop?

Given the massive variety of laptops on offer today and the wide range of prices, theres no one answer to this. A key question you should ask yourself is: what will I use this laptop for? The answer will then determine your price bracket.

If browsing the web with only a tab or two open or just working in a document while doing nothing else is more your speed, you can expect to pay between £150 and £400 depending on the quality of hardware youd like.

If you think your workload is a step up from that, upwards of 5 browser tabs and you like running a Spotify or a Netflix while working or browsing, your price range will be between £300 and £800.

Above that, youre looking at ultrabooks which offer the ability to multi-task across 3 or 4 programs and can run upwards of 15-20 browser tabs along with stylish hardware and the ability for some light gaming and creative work. These set you back between £800 and £1,800.

You might require a laptop with a powerful graphics card if you want to play the latest games or are a creative professional. Theres a ton of options in this category alone, with some costing as low as £600 and others soaring above £2,000. For this category, check out our best gaming laptops guide.

AMD or Intel - what laptop processor should I go for?

In short, dont rule out either processor manufacturer. AMD has had a blistering couple of years, often competing with Intel on performance while offering a lower price particularly when it comes to budget laptops and reasonably-priced gaming laptops. AMD has also pushed Intel on high-end performance when it comes to the very top gaming laptops as well as enabling innovative 14-inch devices like the Razer Blade 14 and Asus ROG Zephyrus G14.

Nevertheless, Intel still pips AMD in some areas when it comes to truly boundary-pushing performance while it's also more widely used across laptop manufacturers though this is steadily changing.

To attempt to provide a short answer once again, youll often find tremendous value for money with AMD but the right machine for you could be an Intel and it shouldnt be ignored.

How much laptop RAM should I get in 2021?

For most people, 8GB RAM is the sweet spot itll either give you the ability to multi-task on a productivity machine or provide enough headroom for some AAA gaming, with the caveat it needs to be combined with an appropriate processor and graphics card.

If you have some intense productivity needs, spend a lot of time gaming with a mid to high-end graphics card or simply want to future proof your device, its worth going for 16GB RAM. Then, you could potentially look beyond 32GB and above if youre pushing boundaries with intense creative loads like professional video editing or at the very high-end of portable gaming.

At the other end of the scale, if youre a productivity user who doesnt need to multi-task all that much, you can get by on 4GB RAM especially if you opt for a Chromebook.

How much laptop battery life should I get in 2021?

Battery life varies greatly depending on the size of your laptop and how powerful it is along with a whole host of other factors. For most people, you should look to pick up a laptop thats touted as offering no less than 7 hours battery life. This is a bare minimum and reflects an industry quite focused on offering improved battery life. Most laptops will offer upwards of 9 and you should get one of these if you can.

A battery life above 7 hours should be expected for most productivity-focused laptops and, even, gaming laptops when using for regular tasks. Gaming will drain batteries much faster and power is also limited when not plugged into a wall outlet. Further, if you are paying more than £800 for a laptop, with the options on offer, you should aim to get above 11 hours as this can certainly be found on a number of devices.

What is Intel Alder Lake?

For a few years now, AMD's Ryzen has become the best laptop processor range around particularly when it comes to value for performance. Intel isn't all that far behind with its 11th Gen i5 and i7 chips but it's taking a bigger swing to catch up very soon.

Intel Alder Lake is the company's 12th Gen processor range expected to drop before the end of 2021. Alder Lake isn't a simple iterative step up from 11th Gen instead, it sees Intel take cues from ARM processors used by Qualcomm and Apple.

These cues take the form of a hybrid big.LITTLE chip design. In short, this means the processor will utilise a mix of performance and efficiency cores. This differentiates from Intel's current range in that the majority of the cores operate in a similar fashion. This method, as demonstrated by the M1 MacBook Air [£900], can offer enhanced battery life and accommodate thinner and, potentially, fanless designs. However, there's long been a question over performance and compatibility as demonstrated by the awkward Qualcomm-powered Surface Pro X [£1,170].

Until Intel releases Alder Lake for use on desktops and laptops, the judging of performance and compatibility will remain up in the air. However, due to Intel's prevalence and prolific output as well as its relationship with Windows, compatibility issues seem unlikely. The proof will be in the performance and the new device designs it enables.

What's the best laptop in 2021?

How much should I spend on a laptop?

AMD or Intel - what laptop processor should I go for?

How much laptop RAM should I get in 2021?

How much laptop battery life should I get in 2021?

What is Intel Alder Lake?

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