Ultrabooks, gaming and budget laptops worth the money.
Five student laptops under $800 ranked by weight, RAM and owner reviews: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 with Ryzen 7, Lenovo V15 with 16GB, HP 15 touchscreen, ASUS Vivobook Go 15 and HP 17.
Five well-reviewed touchscreen laptops ranked for real use: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 and Slim 5, the Snapdragon Surface Laptop, a budget HP touchscreen and the convertible Surface Studio.
Five well-reviewed budget gaming laptops from the RTX 4050 MSI Thin down to the GTX 1650 GV15 and GF63, with GPU tiers, 144 Hz screens, thermals and RAM upgrades explained.
Five well-reviewed budget laptops ranked by real specs: the 16GB HP 255 G10, the Dell 15 with a 512GB SSD, Lenovo's IdeaPad Slim 3i with Office, an HP Chromebook and a 17-inch HP OmniBook.
The laptops we would actually buy for software development, with the specs that matter (RAM, keyboard, screen, battery) and the ones that do not.
Ranked by our editors, with live prices
9.6The MacBook Air is the default developer laptop in 2026 for a reason.
8.9The Zenbook 14 OLED gets you most of what the ThinkPad and MacBook offer for noticeably less.
8.6If you compile big native codebases, run several containers and a VM at once, train small models locally, or do mobile development with simulators open all day, the Pro is worth the step up from the Air.
8.5(CTO) Configure to Order Mac: Upgraded from base specifications.
8.8Stunning 15.6" FHD IPS Display: Experience crisp 1920x1080 resolution on this 15.6 inch laptop with an IPS panel that delivers wide viewing
9.8Versatile 2-in-1 Design: Switch between laptop and tablet mode with a flexible 360° convertible design. The 15.6-inch touchscreen makes it e
9.8Vibrant 15.6" FHD IPS Display: Experience stunning visuals on a large 15.6-inch Full HD (1920x1080) IPS screen. With narrow bezels and wide
8.02019 Dell G3 Gaming Laptop Computer
8.51.Perfect replacement mainboard for the specified‑model laptop, matches original installation size
9.4Acer Aspire 14 AI laptop powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor with 8 cores, 8 threads, 2.20 GHz speed, and Intel AI Boost NPU up
6.0Intel Core Ultra 9 288V: Features an 8-core architecture with integrated AI acceleration for optimized performance in complex modern workflo
9.8Powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor with a 48 TOPS AI Boost NPU, the Aspire 16 AI laptop provides exceptional AI computing capabiliti
8.8Purposeful Design: Travel with ease and look great doing it with the Aspire 3’s thin, light design.
8.4Exceptional Performance and Productivity: Experience smooth and responsive performance powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 7730U processor and 16GB me