Choosing the Right Laptop, Made Easy!

Need a new laptop but haven’t quite kept up with all the latest product releases? Well, we’ve got you covered – this guide profiles our top 10 picks on the market today, in a variety of categories, from home office to work on-the-go to enthusiast-level gaming.

The Best Laptops, Right Now!

For Fall 2021, nearly every one of our top 10 picks is new, which goes to show how truly dynamic the laptop market. That’s in part due to renewed competition between Intel and AMD, each vying for dominance in the laptop processor market like never before. Translation: consumers win with every new CPU released! And that’s why you need this guide… so you don’t get stuck with last year’s also-ran, which many vendors will be more than happy to sell you!!!

There truly is a great laptop for everyone on this list, but that doesn’t mean everyone needs the same thing. That’s why we have budget choices for families and students, ultra-light choices for serious travelers, and of course, gaming laptops, all of which are equipped with Nvidia’s latest RTX 3000-series GPUs. Anything less would be a mistake!

Key Things to Look For

As noted, Intel and AMD are now competing hard for the attention of laptop buyers, and we’ve incorporated the best from both companies in our selections. Notably, Intel has had to work overtime to keep up with a resurgent AMD, releasing multiple laptop CPU lines in quick succession. Today, you should focus on buying Intel’s 11th-Gen Core chips, which are far superior to any of the 10th-Gen chips that debuted in 2020. Things really are changing that fast!

AMD’s best options come from the 5000 series, with the best of the best being even-numbered (yes, we know that’s odd!). So, for example, the 5800U is far better than the 5700U, which is basically just a rebadged last-gen 4800U. Just pay attention to our recommendations and you’ll do fine. The most important change in the market over the past year is that AMD has scored a huge number of design wins, which is industry-speak for partners signing on to actually use AMD’s offerings. That means you can actually find its Ryzen 5000 series CPUs in big-name laptops available right now!

One last thing: keep in mind some minimum specs required for a decent user experience. You must have a solid-state drive (hard drives do not belong in modern laptops, period), and you must have 8GB of RAM (unless you’re getting a Chromebook, which will run fine on 4GB). Most laptops under $1000 have 256GB SSDs and 8GB of RAM, and are differentiated based on weight, screen size, and which Intel or AMD CPU they use. To get more storage capacity, you’ll typically need to pay over $1000.

Parting Thoughts

We update this guide quarterly, as new laptops are constantly hitting the market, and Intel and AMD update their CPU offerings at least once a year. To help support continued development of this guide, please use the Amazon and Newegg links we provide. Our Amazon links will will auto-convert for readers in Canada, the UK, and parts of the EU, with automatic substitutions made where necessary based on regional variations.