The Top 10 Laptops in the World
1.MacBook Pro 13in (2015)
Want a laptop that has everything? You don’t need to look much further than the MacBook Pro 13. This is the most advanced of all of Apple’s laptops.
Think the 12-inch MacBook looks better? Next to the MacBook Pro it comes across like a glorified (but sleek, luxurious, savagely slim) netbook.
If you need power as well as stamina and portability, this is one of the best laptops money can buy. And, for an Apple product, it’s not badly priced either.
2.Dell XPS 13
When we looked at Dell’s pint-sized XPS 13 earlier this year, we came away convinced that it was one of the smartest ultrabooks you could buy.
Sure, it didn’t quite have the glam factor of Apple’s MacBook or the lightweight hybrid style of Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3. Impressively, it did pack a brilliant 13.3-inch screen into the body of an 11-inch laptop without wrecking usability along the way.
If you spend long days lugging around a laptop – or ever need to fly economy with one – you’ll know this is a very good thing indeed. Well, now Dell has given the XPS 13 a Windows 10 refresh and also sent us one with its fabulous Infinity screen. If the last one was the thinking man’s ultrabook, this one’s that and a whole lot more.
3.Asus ZenBook UX305
Asus knows what it's doing. It knows that the Apple MacBook Air laptops are old news, deliberately left to tread water to make way for the all-singing, (mostly) all-dancing 12in MacBook.
Asus thinks there's life left for a 13in 'ultrabook' still. The Asus ZenBook UX305 is pretty much everything the 13in MacBook Air should be at this point, but isn't.
What do I mean? Well, it's pretty affordable at £650 and has a really rather good screen, while still looking and feeling fantastic. Of course, as it runs Windows 8.1 rather than Mac OS X it's not going to convert many Apple obsessives. But if you're on the cusp of being swayed, let the Asus ZenBook UX305 sway you.
4.Toshiba Chromebook 2
You might think you know the score with Chromebooks.
Bargain basement laptops, low specs and low resolution screens, right? Useless without a live Internet connection? Only good for running simple web-based apps in Google’s cut-down, stripped back Chrome OS?
Well, it might be time you revised your opinion. The Toshiba Chromebook 2 (CB30-B-104) is a great showcase for what a low-cost Chromebook can be and do, giving you a brilliant, lightweight laptop at a price you might not believe.
5.Asus Rog G751
These days there's an awful lot of gaming laptops that are trying to be something they're not. They want to be slim and light, while also being able to crank out Battlefield 4 at 795fps - and the maths often just doesn't add up.
The Asus ROG G751 is not like that. It's out and proud, a big brute of a gaming laptop that pairs serious hardware with an outer design that lets it pack-in larger fans to stop it from sounding like a Harrier Jump Jet as soon as you start playing The Witcher 3.
Laptops with this shell start at around £1000, but we're looking at the top-end version, packing a top-end GeForce GTX 980M GPU. All barrels are loaded, and there are at least a half-dozen of them on this laptop.
6.Apple MacBook
This is the MacBook we’ve been waiting for. Apple may have tried to fob us off with tweaked MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models that look and feel just like they did last year, but this is something new and different.
No ‘Air’, no ‘Pro’. If there was a clearer sign that this is what Apple sees as the future of the Apple laptop, we don’t know what it would be.
So is it the £1000 weedy netbook revival we’ve been dreading? As it happens, no. The 12in MacBook is nowhere near as powerful as a £1000 MacBook Pro, but it’s not meant to be.
Instead, it's the result of the pursuit of a singular goal: to make the most desirable ultra-portable laptop in the world. And taken on those grounds it’s hard to describe the new MacBook as anything other than a resounding success.
7.Aorus X3 plus v3
Gaming laptops are one of our favourite bits of kit - they’re basically just giant, ludicrously powerful 3DSs.
However, they tend to be pretty hefty due to the extra cooling needed to keep the graphics chips from combusting - Alienware’s 17, for instance, provides top-notch performance but it’s the size and weight of a caravan. Aorus’ X3v3 is slim and light - but can it deliver the grunt needed for today’s games?
8.Apple MacBook Air 13in (2015)
Apple has already announced what looks like the successor to the MacBook Air. It’s called the MacBook.
Just a few years ago the Air was the hottest, slimmest laptop in the world, but it’s soon to be relegated to the retirement home of tech. The 2015 MacBook Air holds onto the old design, though.
But are we being a bit hasty in carting the MacBook Air off to somewhere we’ll only think about it twice a year, when those Christmas and Birthday cards need signing? Well, there are some clear signs the MacBook Air has fallen behind.
And it’ll be enough to put some of you off altogether. However, for its combo of decent value (yes, Apple products can be good value too), fantastic portability and great battery life, it’ll be among the top laptops for at least one more year.
9.Microsoft Surface Pro 3
Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 3 alone may not wreck its maker if it fails. But if it succeeds, it could be a welcome turning point for a company that’s struggled for too long to out-innovate Apple and Google.
While on paper the Pro 3 is a humble range-filler (it takes the vacant slot at the super-size end of the Surface spectrum, just above the Surface Pro 2), it has enjoyed the hype usually reserved for entirely new, game-changing products.
This is perhaps because its 'refinements' over the Pro 2 redefine the usability of the whole Surface hybrid concept. But before we get too excited, the SP3 does have a big job to do.
For the Pro 3 to win, it must be usable in all the places that you're likely to use a laptop or tablet - and that's a brief that the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 fail to meet (stick a Surface 2 on your lap while sitting on a sofa with your legs crossed - silly, isn’t it?).
Next, the Surface Pro 3 must be a serious alternative to a Macbook Air or Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro. Again, the Surface Pro 2 fails on both fronts today, thanks to its poor trackpad experience and less-than-ideal screen size and aspect ratio.
Lastly, the SP3 must be a good enough tablet to tempt away the masses heading for an iPador Android 10-incher (ironically, this is the one area where the Surface 2 and Pro 2 have made some headway, thanks to the value they offer as powerful laptops).
No pressure here, then.
But despite the tough brief, the Pro 3 claims to meet each of those challenges in one, carefully honed package.
The Surface Pro 3 goes on sale in the UK on 28th August, and you can pre-order now at the Microsoft Store. We couldn't wait, so we picked one up in the US as soon as we could. Having now spent four weeks living with it we feel the time is right to answer the question that’s now on your lips: is it time to cancel that Macbook Air or iPad order?
10.Google Chromebook Pixel (2015)
Before we get into this review, I should explain that I’m a fan of the Pixel.
I’ve been using the original for over a year now. I use Macs for work, because magazines are almost all made on InDesign, but I default to the Pixel for most of my writing and web browsing, because the keyboard, touchpad and (touch)screen are the best I've used on a laptop.
I’ve always thought that if it had better battery life and cost a bit less, it would be the ideal porta-puter. And whaddaya know…
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