If you’re looking to grab yourself a new laptop, or just fancy doing a bit of virtual window shopping, you’ve come to the right place. To help you along the way, we’ve sifted through all of the laptops we feel are worthy of your hard-earned cash in 2020 and selected the very best.
Wondering why you should listen to us? Simple. Every year, dozens of the latest and greatest laptops pass through the Expert Reviews labs – along with plenty of not-so-great laptops, too. Each device is subjected to our rigorous in-house testing, so when we recommend a laptop you can be sure of one thing: it’s a laptop we’d be happy to buy ourselves.
Read on and you’ll discover everything from the best business-class laptops to super-sleek ultraportables, gaming laptops and 2-in-1 hybrids. In short, there’s something for everyone. And if you’re really not sure what to go for, our editor’s picks and laptop buying guide sections will point you in the right direction.
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Editor’s picks
How to choose the best laptop for you
Buying a brand-new laptop is no easy task. There are so many brilliant devices to choose from each year, with prices ranging from £200 to £2,000 or more. Cost can also vary massively between different configurations of the same laptop, which only adds to the confusion. In this brief buying guide, we’ll help you make the right choice by outlining the most important factors to consider before you bust out the bank card.
What do you need your laptop for?
Your personal requirements should dictate what sort of laptop you go for. A typical university student will have different tech needs than a professional video editor. Some may need a laptop that can process large files at rapid speeds, while others may just want to use Google Docs or browse the web. Ultimately, it all comes down to what you want your laptop to do.
What about performance and battery life?
The most powerful laptops are those with the most powerful CPUs and the highest amount of RAM. A laptop’s CPU power is measured in GHz and each processor has a baseline frequency as well as a maximum frequency. Other factors can impact overall performance, including poor temperature control, which can lead to thermal throttling. Ideally, any laptop you buy should have at least 4GB of RAM as a minimum. Processors aren’t as easy to pin down – they might be dual-core, quad-core or hexa-core and can range greatly in power.
A MacBook Pro (or Windows equivalent like the Dell XPS 15) has a much more powerful CPU and more RAM than a cheap Chromebook because people expect them to run multiple demanding applications.
Battery size is measured in milliamp hours (mAH) or watt hours (Wh) – the biggest battery will (in theory) last the longest, but it all depends on how much power the various components inside the device use (the display, CPU and GPU have the biggest impact). An ultra-budget laptop with a small battery size may last longer than a premium notebook with a huge battery because its internal hardware isn’t as demanding. We run a standardised video rundown test on every single laptop we review, with the longest-lasting performers tending to be a mix between efficient high-end ultraportable laptops and low-powered Chromebooks.
What operating system should you go for?
Whether it’s Windows, macOS or Chrome OS, each operating system has its own strengths and weaknesses. macOS is only found in Apple’s own laptops, while Windows powers all sorts of laptops from manufacturers such as Acer, Asus and Lenovo. Google’s low-powered Chrome OS is also rising in popularity and can be found on a wide range of devices.
What’s the best display resolution?
When it comes to laptop displays, the resolution isn’t everything. If the same laptop has the option of a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display and a 4K (3,840 x 2,160) display, the latter is usually more expensive but not necessarily sharper. How sharp a display look depends on two factors: the size of the screen and how far away you sit from it.
In our experience, you don’t really need more than 1,920 x 1,080 on a screen 14in or smaller. In fact, if you have 20/20 vision, you’d have to be sitting viewing the display at a distance closer than 56cm. Given that laptops with higher resolution panel typically suffer a bit in the battery life department, it’s often worth opting for the lower resolution, and cheaper, option if you can.
The quality of a laptop’s display has little to do with the resolution of the screen, however. There’s never a guarantee of a laptop’s maximum brightness, colour accuracy or contrast ratio no matter how sharp it is. We measure all of these when testing each laptop, because a dim, muddy or washed-out display can ruin a great product.
How many ports should a laptop have?
In addition to a power socket and headphone jack, most new laptops will come with at least a couple of USB A and one USB C port. When it comes to connections, the general rule of thumb is the more the merrier.
It is worth paying attention to the type of USB C ports you’re getting, however; although they might look the same, they often have different capabilities from machine to machine. For the fastest transfer speeds, look for Thunderbolt 3 USB C ports; USB C isn’t as quick.
And don’t assume every USB C port on a laptop can carry video, power and data. Although the standard allows for this, manufacturers sometimes limit what each port can do.
It’s extremely useful to have a full-size HDMI connector for hooking up the laptop to additional monitors, too, although these aren’t particularly common on slimmer laptops. And an SD card reader doesn’t hurt either – an addition that’s sorely lacking on Apple’s laptops these days.
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Best laptops you can buy
1. Dell XPS 13: The best Windows laptop, period
Price: From £1,300 l Buy now from Amazon
The 2020 Dell XPS has had a price hike this year but it’s the best ultraportable laptop money can buy. This is a laptop that gets everything right, from the brilliant build quality and colour accurate display to the fabulous keyboard and a generous specification for the money.
New features for the 2020 refresh include a Windows Hello-compatible webcam and a taller more work-friendly aspect ratio of 16:10.
As ever, there’s an XPS 13 for every budget. You can choose from various combinations of specifications, including an Intel Core i5-1035G1 or a Core i7-1065G7, 8GB or 16GB of RAM and a 512GB or 1TB PCIe SSD.
With great battery life to go with nippy performance across the board, the Dell XPS 13 remains the Windows 10 ultraportable to beat. It’s better value for money than the MacBook Pro 13, that’s for sure.
Read our full Dell XPS 13 review for more details
Key specs – Dell XPS 13 |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Quad-core 1.3GHz Intel Core i7-1065G7 or 1GHz Core i5-1035G1 | or Screen resolution: 3,840 x 2,160 |
| RAM: 8GB or 16GB | Weight: 1.2kg |
| Total storage: 512GB or 1TB | |
2. Honor MagicBook 14: A luxury laptop for less
Price: £550 | Buy now from John Lewis
Most premium ultraportables cost well north of £1,000 these days but not the Honor MagicBook 14. Building on the experience of Huawei and its popular Matebook X Pro and D laptops, this is a simply sumptuous laptop for a ludicrously small amount of cash.
The design and build quality is a match for more expensive machines, with an all-metal chassis and a slim, lightweight profile. And it’s as powerful as laptops costing many hundreds of pounds more thanks to its AMD Ryen 3500U processor, it comes with 8GB of RAM and a speedy 256GB SSD and battery life is decent, too.
The only area in which this laptop falls short is in the positioning of the 720p webcam in the keyboard, which results in a rather ugly camera angle. Given how good the rest of the laptop is, however, I’d be willing to put up with this small irritation or buy a separate webcam to improve video calling. This is truly one of the biggest laptop bargains of 2020.
Key specs – Honor MagicBook 14 |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Quad-core AMD Ryzen 3500U | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 |
| RAM: 8GB | Weight: 1.38kg |
| Total storage: 256GB or 512GB SSD | |
Buy now from John Lewis
3. Google Pixelbook Go: Not just a good Chromebook
Price: From £629 | Buy now from John Lewis
It might “only” be a Chromebook but the Pixelbook Go is one of our favourite laptops, full stop. Not only is it light and amazingly slim it’s also an absolute pleasure to work on, with one of the best keyboards we’ve come across on any laptop anywhere. Couple that with a solid 13.3in 1080p touchscreen and better battery life than on most Windows 10 or MacOS based machines and you have a simply superb machine. Chrome OS doesn’t prove an impediment to carrying out most office-based tasks these days; only video editors and designers might struggle.
The only worry – if you could call it that – is that the Pixelbook Go has an eighth-generation Core i5 (coupled with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage) instead of the very latest tenth generation-silicon. It’s still slick enough for any job you’re want to carry out on it and, if you want something more powerful and luxurious, you can always opt for the Core i7 model, which comes with an even sharper 4K display. You might have to sacrifice some battery life here, though.
Read our full Google Pixelbook Go review for more details
Key specs – Google Pixelbook Go |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Dual-core 1.3GHz Intel Core i5-8200Y (other options available) | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 touchscreen (4K optional) |
| RAM: 8GB (other options available) | Weight: 1.06kg |
| Total storage: 128GB SSD (other options available) | |
4. Honor MagicBook Pro: The best sub-£1,000 laptop money can buy
Price: £850 | Buy now from HiHonor
Building on the success of the very reasonably priced Honor MagicBook 14, the MagicBook Pro ups the stakes, delivering what is quite possibly the best value workstation laptop we’ve ever seen. Coming in at a ludicrously good price of £850, the MagicBook Pro outperforms laptops costing many hundreds of pounds more, thanks to its AMD Ryzen 5 4600H CPU, 16GB of RAM and fast 512GB SSD.
It won’t be for everyone. The 16.1in display means it’s at the larger end of the laptop spectrum and the screen’s resolution of 1080p might put off some people. However, despite its size, it is relatively light and slim at 1.7kg and 16.9mm, plus the quality of that (non-touch) screen is second to none.
Combined with a decent keyboard and touchpad, a healthy selection of ports and connectivity, reasonably good stereo speakers, great battery life and build quality that wouldn’t be out of place on a laptop costing thousands, the Honor MagicBook Pro has it all. It’s the best value laptop we’ve come across in this price bracket, bar none.
Key specs – Honor MagicBook Pro |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Six-core 3GHz AMD Ryzen 5 4600H | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 non-touch IPS display |
| RAM: 16GB | Weight: 1.7kg |
| Total storage: 512GB SSD | |
Buy now from HiHonor
5. Samsung Galaxy Book Ion: The ultimate lightweight ultraportable
Price: £1,249 (13.3in), £1,299 (15.6in) | Buy now from Amazon
Samsung spent a long time out of the laptop market in the UK but in 2020 it’s back with a vengeance.
The Samsung Galaxy Book Ion is an absolute gem. We reviewed the 13.3in model but it’s also available with a larger 15.6in display. Whichever model you go for, though, you’re getting a laptop that’s incredibly slim, amazingly light and brilliantly usable.
Indeed, at 0.97kg for the 13.3in laptop and a mere 12.9mm thick, this is a laptop you’ll barely notice in your bag when you go out on the road. Despite this – and where other slim laptops sacrifice connectivity and practicality for low weight – the Galaxy Book Ion gives you plenty of ports. It has two USB A ports and a microSD card slot on the right edge plus full-size HDMI and Thunderbolt 3 on the left, alongside a 3.5mm headset jack. It’s stupendously well-equipped for such a slight machine.
This laptop has other strengths, too. Its 1,920 x 1,080 QLED display is sumptuous; there’s space inside to add an extra SSD (yes, really); and it has a spacious keyboard, decent touchpad, fingerprint reader and Windows Hello-compatible webcam. Performance isn’t bad either – it comes equipped with a 10th-gen Intel Core i5-10510U, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD – and battery life is fantastic. Since you can only buy it in the Core i5 variant it isn’t quite the machine the Dell XPS 13 is but mighty close and costs less, too.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Book Ion review for details
Key specs – Samsung Galaxy Book Ion (13.3in) |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Quad-core Intel Core i5-10210U | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 |
| RAM: 8GB | Weight: 0.97kg |
| Total storage: 512GB NVMe SSD | |
Samsung Galaxy Book Ion 13.3 Inch 8 GB Intel Core i5-10210U Processor Laptop – Aura Silver (UK Version)
6. Bmax X14: The best cheap laptop you’ve never heard of
Price: £253 | Buy now from AliExpress
There are loads of dirt-cheap Chinese laptops around but a lot of them aren’t as good as they look. The Bmax X14 bucks that trend: it’s a genuinely good laptop for not much more than you’d pay for an iPad.
At the price, you might expect it to cut corners in key areas but that’s not the case. It runs Windows 10 Home, comes with a 1.1GHz quad-core Intel Celeron N4100 processor, has 8GB of RAM and a decent 256GB of storage, too. It has a decent 14in 1,080p touchscreen, a slim well-made metal chassis and doesn’t weigh much, either, tipping the scale at only a few grammes more than the far more expensive Microsoft Surface Laptop 3.
In fact, we can’t fault the Bmax X14 for performance, build quality or value for this sort of money. It’s the best cheap Chinese laptop we’ve come across; indeed, it’s the best budget laptop around right now, full stop.
Read our full Bmax 14 review for full details
Key specs – Bmax X14 |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Quad-core 1.1GHz Intel Gemini Lake N4100 | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 |
| RAM: 8GB | Weight: 1.32kg |
| Total storage: 256GB SSD | |
Buy now from AliExpress
7. Huawei MateBook D 15: Another unbeatable budget machine
Price: £600 | Buy now from Argos
Like the Honor MagicBook 14, the MateBook D 15 is built around the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor; and again, like the MagicBook, it’s a bit of a steal. Costing a mere £550, it delivers excellent performance in a very nicely engineered metal chassis.
The IPS display is pretty good given the price, with decent viewing angles, although it’s only 1080p and isn’t particularly colour accurate. But with a comfortable keyboard and touchpad, this makes an excellent purchase for those looking for a big-screened portable laptop for not much money.
Read our full Huawei MateBook D 15 review for details
Key specs – Huawei MateBook D 15 (2020) |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Quad-core AMD Ryzen 5 3500U CPU | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 |
| RAM: 8GB | Weight: 1.53kg |
| Total storage: 256GB SSD | |
Buy now from Argos
8. Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
Price: From £779 | Buy from Microsoft
We loved the previous two Surface Laptops but Microsoft’s third-generation is the best of the lot. With prices that start at a reasonable £949 and absolutely gorgeous design, it really is one of the best laptops you can buy at the price.
Microsoft has added USB-C at last, refined the design and the latest tenth-gen Intel Core i5 and i7 chips to ensure tip-top performance and decent battery life. The big change this year, however, is that there’s now a 15in model available for those who want a little more screen real estate.
The 13.5in remains our favourite, however, balancing portability and power with perfect poise. This is one fabulous machine.
Read our full Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (13.5in) review
Read our full Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (15in) review
Key specs – Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (13.5in) |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Quad-core 1.2GHz Intel Core i5-1035G7/i7-1065G7 | Screen resolution: 2,256 x 1,504 |
| RAM: 8/16GB | Weight: 1.29kg |
| Total storage: 128GB-1TB SSD | |
Buy from Microsoft
9. LG Gram 17 (2020): The best big-screened laptop for home working
Price: From £1,400 | Buy now from Amazon
The LG Gram 17 sits in a category all its own: it’s a lightweight ultrabook with a huge 17in display. What use is that, I hear you cry? Well, it gives you a lot more screen space to spread your work onto and without the enormous weight penalty that larger laptops usually inflict. In fact, at 1.35kg, this 17in machine is barely any heavier than many a 13in laptop, which is an impressive feat.
You’re not paying a huge amount more for the privilege of that larger display, either, with the Intel Core i5 (10th gen) model costing £1,416 and including 16GB of RAM and a sizeable 512GB SSD. That price rises to £1,549 for the Core i7 variant, which is a very reasonable price. Even more impressively, that big screen has little impact on battery life.
This is a stunning laptop, in our opinion. It offers something completely different from your run of the mill machine, doesn’t cost a huge amount and is an immensely usable and likeable laptop to boot.
Read our full LG Gram 17 (2020) review
Key specs – LG Gram 17 (2020) |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Intel Core i7-1065G7 or Core i5-1035G7 | Screen resolution: 2,560 x 1,600 |
| RAM: 16GB | Weight: 1.35kg |
| Total storage: 512GB PCie SSD | |
10. Gigabyte Aorus 15G: The best gaming laptop of 2020
Price: From £1,699 | Buy now from Scan
The Razer Blade 15 might have been the best gaming laptop we saw in 2019 but in 2020 Razer is going to have to go some to beat the Gigabyte Aorus 15G. Equipped with a full-size mechanical keyboard, the latest 10th gen Intel Comet Lake chips and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX Super series graphics, it’s an absolute beast and is capable of playing the latest, most demanding games without breaking a sweat.
This is a truly exceptional gaming laptop. It has a 244Hz display that means you’ll be able to play less demanding games at incredibly high frame rates. Despite having a full-travel mechanical keyboard, it doesn’t weigh more than the average workstation laptop and its CNC aluminium chassis feels like it could survive a bomb blast. And in addition to all that, pound for pound, it’s pretty good value, too.
Read our full Gigabyte Aorus 15G review for more details.
Key specs – Gigabyte Aorus 15G XB |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Intel Core i7-10875H, octa-core, 2.3GHz-5.1GHz | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 |
| RAM: 16GB DDR4 | Weight: 2.3kg |
| Total storage: 512GB PCIe SSD | |
Buy now from Scan
11. Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Still the best hybrid
Price: From £775 | Buy now from Amazon
Microsoft launched two Surface Pro models in its 2019/20 round of updates: the Surface Pro 7 and Surface Pro X. Of the two devices, the Surface Pro X is the most interesting but it isn’t particularly practical due to the fact that it uses an ARM chip. The Surface Pro 7 isn’t much of an update but it remains the best 2-in-1 tablet/laptop hybrid you can buy.
Essentially, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is the same as the Surface Pro 6. You still have to purchase the keyboard as an optional extra and the same goes for the Surface Pen Stylus. It has upgraded internal, however, with Microsoft moving from 8th-gen Intel processors to the latest 10th-gen silicon and that means faster performance overall and better battery life.
If you can find the Surface Pro 6 at a reduced price, it’s probably best just to opt for that. However going forward, that’s going to be more and more difficult to do.
Read our full Microsoft Surface Pro 7 review for more details
Key specs – Microsoft Surface Pro 7 |
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|---|---|
| Processor: From 1.2GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i3-1005G1G7 to 1.3GHz quad-core Core i7-1065G7 | Screen resolution: 2,736 x 1,824 |
| RAM: From 4GB-16GB | Weight: 1.08kg |
| Total storage: From 128GB-1TB | |
12. Linx 12X64: A budget-friendly 2-in-1 bargain
Price: £320 | Buy now from Amazon
Looking to spend as little as possible? The Linx 12X64 is an incredibly cheap alternative to the Microsoft Surface Pro that can be used as both a tablet and a laptop. The Linx 12X64 laptop comes bundled with its own kickstand and detachable keyboard, whereas the keyboard cover for the Microsoft Surface Pro costs £120 alone – never mind the laptop itself. Now, at this price, you can’t expect great performance, but if you need a bare-bones device for browsing the web, writing an essay or knocking up a spreadsheet then the Linx 12X64 will see you through.
With a 1.8GHz Intel Atom x5-Z8350 CPU and 4GB RAM, it’s got about as much power as a modern mid-range smartphone, which is to say, very little. Having said that, the FHD (1,920 x 1,080) display is a lot nicer than you’d expect and the 64GB of eMMC storage gives good performance. And did we mention how cheap it is? Because it’s really, really cheap.
Read our full Linx 12X64 review for more details
Key specs – Linx 12X64 |
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|---|---|
| Processor: Quad-core 1.8GHz Intel Atom x5-Z8350 | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 |
| RAM: 4GB | Weight: 1.17kg |
| Total storage: 64GB | |
Buy now from Currys PC World
13. Apple MacBook Pro 16in: The best MacBook ever
Price: From £2,148 | Buy now from John Lewis
Apple’s MacBook Pro laptops continue to improve year after year and this refresh is no different. A new, slightly larger 16in model has replaced the 15in Apple MacBook Pro and the 13in MacBook Pro also gets improved internals.
It’s the 16in MacBook Pro that steals all the headlines, however, with a new more comfortable keyboard, wide gamut IPS display, amazing studio-quality microphones and improved speakers. It’s the most impressive MacBook Pro we’ve ever reviewed.
Both the 13in and 16in models of MacBook Pro are powerful machines. The 13in is available with a base specification of a 1.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD; you can also choose up to an 8-core 2.8GHz Core i7 with 16GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.
The 16in model starts with a 2.6GHz 6-core 2.6GHz Intel Core i7 with16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. It can be specified all the way up to an eight-core 2.3GHz Core i9 processor with up to 64GB of RAM and a whopping 8TB of SSD storage.
Both machines are on the expensive side but just as beautifully built as ever. The 16in model, however, is our favourite.
Read our full Apple MacBook Pro 16in review for more details
Key specs – Apple MacBook Pro |
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|---|---|
| Processor: From 4-core 1.4GHz Intel Core i5, to 8-core 2.3GHz Intel Core i9 | Screen resolution: 13in – 2,560 x 1,600; 16in – 3,072 x 1,920 |
| RAM: From 8GB to 64GB | Weight: 13in – 1.37kg; 16in – 2kg |
| Total storage: From 128GB to 8TB | |
Buy now from John Lewis
14. Lenovo Yoga C940 (14in): The best 2-in-1 ultraportable
Price: From £1,100 | Buy now from Lenovo
Lenovo was the first manufacturer to perfect the 360-degree laptop hinge and its Yoga range of machines has continued to perfect it ever since. The Lenovo Yoga C940 is the latest and greatest example of the genre and squeezes in the latest CPUs from Intel alongside an ingenious soundbar speaker that sounds great, built right into the hinge of the laptop itself.
Make no mistake, this is a beautifully made machine. It’s built entirely from aluminium with an attractive, wedge-shaped profile. Its keyboard and touchpad work perfectly and it has either a 1080p or a 4K display, and both use IPS technology. We were sent the 1080p model for our review, which performed admirably in our technical tests. Perhaps the display’s most endearing quality, however, is that it’s stylus compatible, with the stylus included in the box and stowable in a slot at the edge of the hinge.
All of this, coupled with sterling battery life (11hrs 13mins in our tests) from the C940’s sizeable 60Wh battery, go together to produce a laptop of fine pedigree and one that just about edges in front of the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 as the best portable 2-in-1 laptop money can buy.
Read our full Lenovo Yoga C940 review for more details
Key specs – Lenovo Yoga C940 |
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| Processor: Quad-core Intel i5-1035G4 or Core i7-1035G7 | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 |
| RAM: 8GB or 16GB | Weight: 1.35kg |
| Total storage: 256GB, 512GB or 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD | |
Buy now from Lenovo
The post Best laptop UK 2020: Enjoy an extended deal on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 appeared first on abangtech.
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