The best laptops of 2017: Ultrabooks, budget PCs, 2-in-1s, and more
Top picks feature the best tech advances in portable PCs, from new CPUs and GPUs to new materials.
With the arrival of spring, new laptops are everywhere. Companies like Dell, HP, Acer, and Asus have been busy launching revamped versions of popular notebooks and spin-offs of existing lines.
These new additions to the scene (like Dell’s XPS 13 2-in-1) just keep adding to the wide and varied options already out there, with more to come. Microsoft’s recently announced Surface Laptop, for example, will attempt to revive the company’s battle with Chromebooks.
For interesting developments among the many convertibles, 2-in-1s, and traditional clamshells currently available, look no further than gaming notebooks. Nvidia’s Pascal GPU lineup has made it possible to buy a worthwhile gaming laptop for under $1,000—for example, the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming starts at just $850 and is capable of 1080p gaming. Vendors also are serious about squeezing AMD’s new CPUs into their lineups, with Asus recently debuting the first Ryzen laptop at Computex.
Given how many choices are out there, we’re hard at work evaluating more laptops. For our latest updates, we’ve refreshed our categories: “Best budget convertible laptop” has replaced “Best budget ultrabook laptop,” and we now offer a “Best budget gaming laptop” recommendation. We’ve also added buying notes to our “Best hybrid laptop” laptop pick.
Best ultrabook laptop
Dell might be sticking to the adage of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” when it comes to the XPS 13, but that strategy keeps producing the best ultrabook of the bunch. The Kaby Lake XPS 13 shares the same design as its predecessors: a quality aluminium exterior and carbon-fiber top, and that wonderfully compact, bezel-free 13-inch screen.
Dell actually released two updates to the XPS 13 in 2016: The one at the start of the year swapped in a Skylake CPU, added a USB Type-C port that served as an alternative charging port, and offered upgraded storage options. The most recent refresh—and our new pick for Best Ultrabook—keeps the same chassis changes as the Skylake XPS 13, features a jump to Intel’s new Kaby Lake processor, and sports a slightly larger battery. You get improved performance across the board, with a nice bump of an extra half-hour of battery life during video playback.
Our only lingering complaint is the small keyboard, but overall, you can’t lose with the newest XPS 13. It’s a truly compact ultrabook that punches out of its class.
[$800–$2,039 MSRP; $1149 MSRP as reviewed]
Runner-up
If looks are more your thing, the HP Spectre 13.3 certainly has a distinct profile: It’s one of the thinnest ultrabooks around. For anyone coveting the streamlined experience of Apple’s 12-inch MacBook, this 13-inch notebook will bring you close while providing superior performance.
You might expect such a skinny laptop to sport a lower-wattage Core i3 or i5 processor, but HP fits a 15 watt Core i5 or i7 processor into this Spectre. That puts it on par with other, chunkier top-tier ultrabooks, like the XPS 13. Combined with its 256GB M.2 SSD, it runs smoothly and swiftly during typical office drone work (word processing, spreadsheet editing, web browsing, etc), without any heavy throttling of performance during CPU-intensive tasks. HP also made the ports count: While there are just a few, you get not one but two Thunderbolt 3 ports, as well as a USB-C port.
The drawbacks of this modern and sleek notebook are its battery life, which is modest due to its smaller battery, and its wider frame. (The Spectre 13.3’s hardware and cooling configuration requires a certain amount of space—HP’s engineering is impressive but can’t defy the laws of physics.) It’s for those reasons that we prefer the Dell XPS 13, but this laptop is still a very fine companion.
Best convertible laptop
We liked the first Spectre x360 when it launched back in 2015, but that 2-in-1 laptop had a few flaws. The updated version, which released in October 2016, blew away its predecessor by being smaller, thinner, and noticeably lighter, while still providing excellent performance and battery life. Now there’s a 2017 edition that adds active pen support and the option of a 4K screen to the 2016’s already-excellent package.
Inside our review model was a Kaby Lake Core i7 processor that kept pace with a quad-core Skylake CPU during tasks like word processing and spreadsheet editing, and handled games like Minecraft and League of Legends at low-resolution and low-quality image settings. If you opt for a FHD (1920x1080) screen, the battery will last almost eleven hours during continual video playback, and just over seven if you go for the beautiful 4K (3840x2160) display. Active pen support rounds out the experience—it’s easy to jot clear notes and sketch clean diagrams with the included pen accessory.
This laptop is so good, it gives our top pick for Best Ultrabook a run for its money. If it weren’t for the wide-aspect ratio trackpad, the low number of ports (just three total, and you lose one to charging whenever it’s time to top up), and a couple of slight performance dips on the 4K version, it might have won. For now, though, it can rule this convertible category until it’s time to challenge the Dell XPS 13 yet again.
[$1,090–$1,600 MSRP; $1,600 MSRP as last reviewed]
Best budget convertible laptop
For years, Asus has offered great value in its notebooks, and the ZenBook Flip is a strong example of its affordable, high-performing offerings. For $700, you get a fully convertible notebook that can handle everyday tasks with ease.
In fact, its pricing and specs are virtually identical to our favorite budget ultrabook, the Asus UX305 (now discontinued). Inside you get a Core m3-6Y30, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD, and outside there’s a 1920x1080 IPS screen with an anti-glare finish.
Yet despite the modest CPU, the Asus ZenBook Flip is fairly peppy. In our benchmarks, it actually outperformed faster (and newer) Core m5 and m7 processors in rival machines during short CPU-intensive tasks. Its storage drive is no slouch, either.
This laptop is slender and lightweight, too. It measures 0.54 inches thick and 2.8 pounds, which keeps it in line with more expensive ultraportables. You’re not saddled with chunkier dimensions or extra weight in exchange for a lower price.
A couple of compromises do exist: There’s no backlighting on the keyboard, and the trackpad is a tad springy. Still, it’s a good deal in a price range that usually nets you thick, ugly, and plastic.
[$699 MSRP (256GB model); $749 MSRP (512GB model) as reviewed]
Best hybrid laptop
Note: If you can wait, it may be prudent to hold off on purchasing a new hybrid laptop. The new Surface Pro, which launches on June 15, may change our recommendation in this category—or at the very least, help drive down the price of the Surface Pro 4.
The reigning winner in this category shouldn’t be a surprise, given that Microsoft gave legs to the concept of hybrid tablet/laptop devices (also known as “2-in-1” laptops). The Surface series is really an evolutionary step beyond the typical “convertible” devices that physically separate from the keyboard to run independently as tablets. Surface clones have arisen that are also light, yet still very capable: Lenovo has its Miix 700, HP has its Spectre x2.
We expect the clone wars to keep marching on, but the best one today remains the Surface Pro 4. It has a top-rated display, great performance, and its keyboard and trackpad are miles ahead of competing designs (*cough* iPad Pro). We choose it over the Surface Pro 3 for its performance and better thermals (with less fan noise) compared to the older model.
The only caveat: It’s expensive—and the essential keyboard adds $130 to the price. (Nope, it’s not included.) That means the midrange Surface Pro 4 with 256GB of storage, 8GB of RAM, and a Core i5 is a $1,430 computer. Ouch.
Still, for those who really value portability—it really is laptop performance in a tablet—and will actually use it as a tablet on occasion, you’d be hard pressed to beat the Surface Pro 4 right now.
[$899-$1,799 MSRP; $1,430 MSRP as reviewed with optional keyboard cover]
Note: If you can wait, it may be prudent to hold off on purchasing a new hybrid laptop. The new Surface Pro, which launches on June 15, may change our recommendation in this category—or at the very least, help drive down the price of the Surface Pro 4.
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