How To Choose A Laptop, From Gaming Rigs To Portable Workstations

Upgrading to a new laptop means better performance, more storage, a prettier display and faster and more capable ports and connections for all your computing needs. But with the sheer number of laptop models out there with their myriad of configurations and hard-to-decipher naming schemes, buying a new laptop is a minefield of difficult decisions. As a laptop and PC expert who’s tested most of the top models available, I know the ins and outs of how to choose a laptop across a range of needs. From gaming rigs like the Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 8, to business laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12, you can get a great power station no matter what your needs.

The easiest way is to just to grab one of the best laptops that’s within your budget and get on with your day. But if you want to dig into the details on how to choose a laptop, we’ve got you covered. Here’s how to choose a laptop, plus some of our top recommendations based on our testing.

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How To Choose A Laptop: Before You Buy

Check Major Retailers: Which Stores Should I Buy A Laptop From?

It’s tempting to buy a laptop from a second hand marketplace, or a third-party seller on Amazon or Walmart. But if you’re not entirely sure what you’re buying, it’s best to shop at a reputable store.

That’s not to say that you can’t shop from either of those places—if it’s sold and shipped by Amazon and Walmart, there are secure return policies in place. And with those return policies, that’s greater ability to recover any potential refunds if necessary, a warranty on the laptop itself and any accessories your laptop may come with.

And, of course, you can also troubleshoot device concerns with some retailers. Not only does the retailer Best Buy have a great selection of computers, but it also has a healthy selection of extra accessories like mice, monitors and more. You get 15 days to return most products, and if you’re a Best Buy Plus or Best Buy Total member, you get up to 60 days of hassle-free returns. You can also schedule a repair with Best Buy’s Geek Squad service with any troubleshooting problems, too.

If you have an idea of what you’re seeking, i.e., you know you want the latest Microsoft Surface Pro, Copilot+ PC (11th Edition), you can also shop at the brand name stores, themselves, such as Lenovo, Dell, Apple and many more. These branded stores are not only reputable, but sometimes you can find a better deal on a device compared to shopping at a major retailer.

Check The Laptop’s Age: What Generation Laptop Should I Buy?

One of the best ways to ensure the laptop you’re buying will do what you want it to do is to buy modern. That means choosing a device that is no more than two years—or two generations, as it’s sometimes known—old. Opting for a newer device ensure that you can enjoy most of the features of a modern laptop without risking being locked out of future upgrades. Most choices, like our top gaming laptop pick, the Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 8, have launched within the past year. Even if you aren’t buying a laptop that’s at the top of its line, it’s also a matter of ease of use: Newer devices offer better compatibility with your other devices.

The latest versions of the operating systems from Apple and Microsoft have cut-off points for hardware, too. The last thing you want to do is buy an old laptop that will not be able to keep up with software updates a few years down the line. After all, Apple’s latest generation MacBooks with its own M-series processors are so much faster and efficient than anything that came before, it’s night and day.

For the latest generation of MacBooks, we recommend the MacBook Air M2 if you want a great deal or the MacBook Pro M3 Max for real power and efficiency. We also named the MacBook Air M3 as the best MacBook for college students, too.

The one exception to this rule is buying certified refurbishments from major retailers. You can readily buy a MacBook from Apple’s refurbished store with peace of mind that you’re getting a quality laptop. Just avoid the bevy of unknown electronics retailers on Amazon and the like. They often sell old, outdated machines as if they’re new.

Cross-Check Brands: Which Brands Offer Gaming Or Work Laptops?

Among major laptop brands you have many excellent options that all produce fantastic laptops for various uses and users—and at a range of prices. The good news is that most brands offer both gaming and business laptop options. We’ve extensively covered various brands, including Dell laptops, Lenovo laptops, Acer laptops, MacBooks and more. In addition to these brands, others we recommend include:

• Asus: This company makes our top pick for the best laptops, the Asus Zenbook S13 OLED.
• Microsoft: The Microsoft Surface Pro, Copilot+ PC (11th Edition) is a great choice for those that want a tablet/laptop combination. It’s also our pick for the best 2-in-1 laptop for working from home.
• MSI: For a great gaming laptop, MSI stands out from the crowd. The MSI Raider G68 is the fastest gaming laptop you can get right now.

No matter what device you choose from any of these brands, just be sure to consider what you’ll be using the device for.

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How To Choose A Laptop: When It’s Time To Buy

Pick The Right Configuration For You

Let’s be real here: You can go deep into the weeds when it comes to laptop components. While that’s exciting for the hardware nerds out there like us, you don’t need to know all that to buy a good laptop for your needs. There are some components you need to look out for to make sure you’re buying a laptop that’s fast enough for you now and will continue to be fast enough for a few years at least, but you don’t need to sweat the tiniest of details unless you really want to.

Here’s how to pick the right laptop configuration for your needs.

Operating System

Before you start choosing what processor and graphics chip you want, you need to consider the operating system. You can only get macOS on Apple’s MacBooks, so if you want to use Final Cut Pro, you’ll need to buy a MacBook. If you want to use Windows applications, you’re better off buying a Windows machine.

Both Windows and macOS offer an excellent array of applications for professional tasks, though Windows holds a significant advantage in gaming. Apple’s MacBooks are arguably a little more secure, but it comes at a cost for gamers.

If you want a super low-cost laptop for lightweight everyday tasks like web browsing and writing documents, then consider one of our picks for the best Chromebooks. They run Google’s Chrome OS and are lightweight, lean devices that are fast and effective for simple tasks. They’re less well suited to more demanding applications, though, and are much more limited for gaming. In recent years, we’ve seen gaming Chromebooks take center stage, but keep in mind you’ll need to pay for a gaming hub subscription in order to access most games.

Processor

If you’re buying a MacBook, the choice of processors is simple: The Apple M3 as seen in the MacBook Air M3 is the latest generation of Apple’s amazing processors, with the M3 Pro and M3 Max offering greater performance with more cores. Again, you’ll find this configuration in the MacBook Pro M3 Max, and it will be pricier. The M1 and M2 processors are still perfectly viable as seen in the MacBook Air M2, but they are slower.

For Windows laptops, AMD and Intel CPUs dominate your choices. For Intel, the latest generations to look out for are the Core Ultra 100 series, and the 13th and 14th generation. Core Ultra 5 and Core i5 and up models tend to be where you want to focus, unless you’re looking for a super-budget model. CPUs with an H suffix are more powerful, while the U suffix models are more energy efficient.

Do note, however, that in 2024 it came to light that many of Intel’s fastest 13th and 14th generation CPUs have had stability and longevity issues, with many suffering irreparable physical damage due to poorly configured microcode in the chips themselves. Intel has stated that this does not affect its mobile CPUs, although its HX chips are desktop processors built for mobile, so that may not be entirely true.

The situation is still ongoing and Intel has suggested newer processors do not have this problem, but be a little more careful if considering a high-end Intel laptop.

AMD’s latest generations are the Ryzen 6000 and 7000 series. Ideally, stick to Ryzen 5 or better, as that will give you a good number of cores and high-enough clocks for fast every day use as a strong baseline, provided you plan on overclocking your CPU. Avoid the 7020 series (7520U and 7320U) models, as they use an older architecture.

AMD CPUs with a U suffix are its more energy-efficient models, while the H suffix models are designed more for performance. HS suffix models are somewhere in between, and the fastest AMD mobile CPUs come with an HX suffix.

RAM

Although RAM speed can impact laptop performance, the most important metric is to make sure you have enough. For the most budget of laptops where you just plan to surf the web, 8GB of RAM is fine, but ideally you want 12GB or more. If you plan to do any kind of gaming or more-demanding productivity work, like photo editing, then you want at least 16GB of RAM—and 32GB will help in some situations.

Consider more if you know that your work will benefit from it, but if not, don’t waste the money on something you won’t use.

Graphics

All laptops come with some form of graphics processor, but for most laptops that will be onboard the CPU and won’t be particularly powerful. That doesn’t matter for anything but gaming and 3D CAD work. If you aren’t doing either of those, don’t worry about graphics.

If you want to do 3D design, make sure you have a recent-generation dedicated graphics chip—preferably an Nvidia one as its CUDA cores are used by more applications to accelerate 3D workloads. For gaming, you’ll want a recent-generation GPU from AMD or Nvidia. For AMD, the preferred graphics card will be titled with an RX 6000/7000, with the higher-end models offering better in-game performance and support for higher detail settings.

AMD’s S model graphics chips are designed to be more efficient, while its M and XT models are performance-first.

For Nvidia, focus on RTX 3000 or RTX 4000 graphics chips—the higher the number, the stronger and more capable the chipset is. The 4000 series chips give you access to deep learning super sampling frame generation, which can massively enhance frame rates in compatible games. A great example of a great gaming laptop with the RTX series is the