Best Windows laptops (2025): WIRED-tested laptops to buy

You will want to read our comprehensive guide about How to choose the right laptopbut for the basics, you’ll need to decide which class of laptop you need. Most people should buy a 13-inch or 14-inch laptop, and spending around $750 to $1,000 is a good place to start. You should expect a laptop at this price to have good battery life, a good display, perform well enough for basic tasks, and have a comfortable keyboard and touchpad. You should also expect at least 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Anything more than that and you enter premium territory where you pay for higher specs, more performance or additional features. If you want something with a discrete GPU for gaming or creative workflows, you’ll need to spend more than this.

Laptop like Dell 14 Plus It is the perfect example of what you can get while shopping in this price range. You can also find laptops with OLED displays and up to one terabyte of storage, depending on how good the discounts are. I’d consider anything under $750 Cheap laptopand will therefore come with some big compromises, especially regarding the quality of the panel and touchpad. Fortunately, laptops that use the Qualcomm Snapdragon

Here is a list of important specifications to consider:

CPU: For thin and light laptops, I recommend one of the Snapdragon X, X Plus, or X Elite chipsets. They get the best battery life and performance of their laptop class. Alternatively, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V is also good.

GPU: As of now, Intel’s Lunar Lake chips, like the Core Ultra 7 258V, have the best integrated graphics. For discrete options, you’ll need to choose something with one of the newer Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs, like the RTX 5060. The biggest performance jump there is between the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti, which increases VRAM to 12GB.

RAM (or memory): Stick to at least 16GB if you can. Since the advent of the Copilot+ designation, it has become the new standard. You’ll also find inexpensive laptops worth up to $600 that have 16GB of memory. Gamers and content creators should upgrade to 32GB if possible.

storage: As with memory, many laptops have moved to 512GB as the new standard, and you’ll find plenty of affordable laptops with 512GB as the base configuration. Upgrading to one or two TB, where possible, will make your life much easier, especially since many laptops don’t offer expandable storage.

an offer: Laptops are usually classified by screen size, with 13 inches, 14 inches, and 16 inches being the most common. You will need to consider size, accuracy, Refresh rateAnd the plate type is here.

Portability: Aside from screen size, case thickness and weight are key factors here, which determine how easy it is to carry a laptop while traveling. Other dimensions are also important, but most often they are determined by the size of the screen.

Ports: Many laptops are limited to just USB-C and a headphone jack these days, with some exceptions where USB-A or HDMI are included. Make sure your laptop has what you need, otherwise you’ll need to… USB hub or Laptop docking station To get more ports or to increase external display support.