The Best Windows Laptops

My top picks for premium, affordable Windows laptops are often 13-inch or 14-inch. But many people want a larger screen, and one strength of the Windows ecosystem is its diversity and choice. Bigger laptop displays often cost more, but not the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x (9/10, WIRED Recommends). You can even buy the upgraded version for under $1,000. You get powerful specs, including 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus. Right now, this is the only Snapdragon X2 laptop I recommend, since most are overpriced.

Another problem with many 15-inch or 16-inch Windows laptops is display resolution. If you increase a laptop screen's size without also raising the resolution, it just won't look as sharp. Not only does the IdeaPad Slim 5x use an OLED screen, but it also comes with an option for an upgraded resolution of 2560 x 1600. While the IdeaPad Slim 5x is far from thick, it still offers extra ports that thinner laptops tend to cut out, such as HDMI, USB-A, and an SD card slot. So, if a slightly larger laptop with more ports and a great screen sounds good to you, I highly recommend the IdeaPad Slim 5x.

It's rare for a laptop to stand out purely on looks, but the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) definitely does. Every aspect of the design is hyper-modern and sleek, including the thin bezels around the display, the oversized touchpad, and minimalist branding. Of course, it offers more than aesthetics. It comes in two flavors: an Intel Core Ultra 7 356H processor or a Snapdragon X2 Plus. I tested the Snapdragon model, which was excellent, both in performance and battery life. Having tested that Intel chip in other laptops, though, it's also a great option.

The display is also a standout, with an available high-resolution 2880 x 1800 OLED screen that can be cranked up to 1,100 nits in HDR and even a 120-Hz refresh rate. Just be careful which configuration you buy, as the base model's display isn't as good, and HP only charges $70 for the upgrade.

For a while, the price had held firm at $1,800 or higher, but we're finally starting to see that drop. I've seen the Intel model with the upgraded display and 1 TB of storage sell for as low as $1,400. For a stacked laptop that looks as good as it performs, you won't find a better Windows machine.

This laptop series has had a rough couple of years. Before 2023, the Dell XPS 15 was the best Windows alternative to the MacBook Pro. In its transition to the XPS 14 in 2024, Dell got a bit too ambitious, adding features that were more distracting than useful, such as swapping function-row keys for light-up touch buttons. Fun idea, but not exactly practical.

But the new 2026 Dell XPS 14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) keeps the best of the flashy new design while retracting the stuff that turned people off. The result is the best version of the XPS 14 ever. It's slightly thinner than the MacBook Pro, has a 4K webcam, and a fantastic build quality. Dell is out of the gate as one of the first laptop manufacturers to include the latest Intel Core Ultra Series 3 update you can actually buy today. Another notable thing about this XPS is its use of Intel's highly improved integrated graphics instead of a discrete GPU. The Core Ultra X7 is on par with the RTX 4050, without tanking battery life the way that video card does. I got 20 hours of battery life in local video playback, making the best battery life on a Windows laptop this powerful I've ever tested.

It is expensive, but the upgraded Core Ultra X7 and an OLED display are worth the price. The $1,599 base configuration doesn't fare as well, since you can get a better display and stronger performance from much cheaper laptops.

The Asus Zenbook A14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is stellar. It's over a full pound lighter than most other laptops on this list and half a pound lighter than the MacBook Air. It feels incredibly light in the hands, making it ideal for students or anyone taking their work on the go; a pound lighter is noticeable when you’re carrying it in your bag all day. On top of that, it offers great battery life thanks to the Snapdragon X Plus, plus a solid OLED display. Its biggest advantage over the OmniBook 5 14 is the more responsive touchpad.

A new version came out this year, with the second-gen Snapdragon X2 Plus chip inside. While that processor improves performance significantly across the board (especially in graphics), it's not worth the $500 premium right now. Instead, grab the first-gen model for under $900 (or less on sale!) and enjoy.

No laptop is quite like the Framework Laptop 13 (8/10, WIRED Recommends). For the uninitiated, Framework has created a fully accessible and self-upgradeable system for its computers, much of which is completely tool-less. It's seriously impressive how easy it is to swap out components. You can even upgrade the entire motherboard and CPU in just a few minutes. If you're coming from an old desktop PC and like the upgradeable nature of your tower, the Framework Laptop can fill that void. It's also a great option if you're looking for a more sustainable laptop that won't add to a pile of e-waste.

Unfortunately, all the Framework laptops have gotten significantly more expensive than before. Unless you happen to already have some sticks of RAM and storage lying around, the rising price of these components has detracted from some of the appeal of “bring your own hardware” for these laptops. Once you add 16 GB of RAM and 500 GB of storage, you're looking at over $1,300—and that's for the DIY Edition that you have to build yourself.

If you want better graphics for gaming, you'll need to opt for the Framework Laptop 16, but whichever configuration you choose, you're getting a unique device that could stay with you for the long haul. I also recently tested the Framework Laptop 13 Pro, an all-aluminum version of the all-black Framework Laptop 13 that also comes with some premium features like a haptic feedback trackpad. I like this model better, especially the higher-resolution, brighter display. Unfortunately, deliveries are backlogged: Right now, you can pre-order some models in this round of shipments, but they won't ship until November.

While the MacBook Pro still rules the roost for content creators, Windows has some solid laptop alternatives, my favorite of which is the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 (7/10, WIRED Recommends). With the Core Ultra 285H processor onboard and graphics options up to an RTX 5070, the Yoga Pro 9i 16 was impressively powerful in my testing. The OLED display on my review unit was glorious, but there's an even sharper and brighter tandem OLED option, too. It doesn't have the battery life of the MacBook Pro, but if you're a designer, video editor, or user of any heavy GPU-based application, the Yoga Pro 9i 16 is a great Windows laptop.

I do think the upcoming launch of Nvidia's RTX Spark laptops may spell doom for this type of high-performance Windows device in the future, if Nvidia can really nail both GPU performance and battery life to make it more competitive with the MacBook Pro.

Perhaps more than any other company, Razer has been refining the idea of the ultimate gaming laptop since its founding. The Razer Blade 16 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) certainly feels like a crown jewel in its lineup. It's thinner than ever, wholeheartedly embraces OLED, and features the best graphics options possible, including the Nvidia RTX 5090. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for Multi-Frame Generation, the primary feature of Nvidia's RTX 50-series GPUs, I was impressed by this compact laptop's gaming performance. As you might guess, though, the Razer Blade 16 is incredibly expensive.

However, a 2026 model has been slowly rolled out this year and now offers an option for the Intel Core Ultra 9 386H as part of the Panther Lake series. Razer still sells the AMD model that came out in 2025, but it can only be configured with the RTX 5060 for graphics. I will be testing the Intel model soon, which reportedly offers substantially better battery life.