The 18 best laptops: What's the best laptop you can buy in 2013/2014?
The best 18 laptops reviewed
By Jim Martin | PC Advisor | 09 December 13
- Reviewed on: 7 September 12
- RRP: £450 inc VAT
- Rating:
The Acer Aspire V3-571 laptop is a great example of just how much can be achieved within the constraints of a severely limited budget.
- Reviewed on: 20 August 13
- RRP: £239 inc. VAT
- Rating:
It may be a bit slow, but the CQ58 will get you online for several hours at a time, and let you run Microsoft Office for less than £250.00. We'd recommend stepping up to the 4GB model if you can afford it, but the CQ58 definitely represents good value for money if you're on a really tight budget.
- Reviewed on: 21 August 13
- RRP: £339 inc. VAT
- Rating:
The Pavilion 14 provides good performance and value for money, and would be a good choice for students or other people who need a capable laptop but can't stretch to £400 or £500. Battery life could be better, though, so it's not the best choice if that's your main priority.
- Reviewed on: 18 January 13
- RRP: £1199.99 inc.VAT
- Rating:
It’s a shame that Chillblast has opted for such a mediocre chassis, as it really takes the edge off what is otherwise an attractive gaming proposition.
- Reviewed on: 15 October 13
- RRP: £1515.00 inc VAT
- Rating:
It's baby steps as far as the move towards a more stylish design is concerned, and there's certainly room for improvement in the battery life. However, the P503 provides all the performance you'd expect from a high-end gaming laptop. Schenker's web site also provides plenty of build-to-order options so that you can probably trim the price down a bit without compromising performance too much.
- Reviewed on: 2 October 13
- RRP: £1679 inc. VAT
- Rating:
The MSI GS70 Stealth combines style and substance to stunning effect, with huge power levels inside a chassis that's slimmer and smarter than any other gaming laptop. The 17in screen still means this laptop isn't exactly portable, though, and the high price puts it out of reach for most gamers. If you can afford £1679 and like your laptops to make a statement as well as play any game around, the MSI excels in every important department.
- Reviewed on: 2 October 13
- RRP: £599 inc VAT
- Rating:
Samsung's Ativ Book 9 Lite is only around one-third the price of the Plus model. This means a plastic chassis and cheap screen and processor, while keeping an impressively thin and light form factor. Component downgrades mean this laptop is no powerhouse but it does the job well and few laptops at this price are so thin and light.
- Reviewed on: 2 September 13
- RRP: £1000
- Rating:
The Series 7 Ultra is a very attractive Ultrabook – neatly designed, highly portable and with good all-round performance. It's no match for the battery life of the latest Haswell laptops, but its twin GPUs do give it some graphical horsepower, making it a good choice if you need a lightweight Ultrabook that can handle gaming and other demanding tasks.
- Reviewed on: 9 July 13
- RRP: £849 (128 GB); £1029 (256 GB)
- Rating:
We were worried about that 1.3 GHz clock speed at first, but the Haswell processor proves more than a match for its faster-looking Ivy Bridge predecessor while nearly a day’s battery life. Combine that performance with the MacBook Air’s lightweight, elegant design and you’ve got an ultraportable laptop that still sets the standard for its Windows rivals to copy.
- Reviewed on: 4 September 13
- RRP: £1149 inc VAT
- Rating:
If you’re looking for a lightweight tablet then look elsewhere. The Dell XPS 12 is primarily intended as a powerful working laptop, and its fourth-generation Haswell processor provides performance and battery life that could justify its high price. The tablet mode isn’t entirely successful, but it’s a nice little bonus that you can use to relax when you finish work at the end of the day.
- Reviewed on: 2 August 13
- RRP: £2952 ex VAT
- Rating:
It’s big, heavy and expensive, but the Dell Precision M4700 provides workstation levels of performance, along with a rugged design that can cope with a wide range of outdoor environments. This is not for people who simply need a desktop replacement system for office use – it’s a robust workstation for design professionals that will certainly earn its keep.
- Reviewed on: 22 July 13
- RRP: £699 inc VAT
- Rating:
If you’re looking for a slimline Ultrabook with all-day battery life then the CX61 is clearly not the laptop for you. However, if you need a powerful desktop replacement system for work or for entertainment at home you’ll find it provides impressive performance at a very competitive price.
- Reviewed on: 23 August 13
- RRP: £499 inc. VAT
- Rating:
The size and weight of the Lenovo Z580 mean that it’s not the most portable of laptops, and will probably spend most of its time indoors. However, its strong performance and low cost makes it an excellent choice for anyone that needs a powerful desktop-replacement system for use at home or in the office.
- Reviewed on: 29 August 13
- RRP: £1799 inc VAT
- Rating:
It's a shame that Chillblast can't manage some more interesting designs for its gaming laptops. However, the Messiah's gaming performance does justify the price, while its healthy memory and storage, along with features such as the Blu-ray writer and FireWire port ensure that it can handle demanding productivity tasks too.
- Reviewed on: 26 March 13
- RRP: £699 inc VAT
- Rating:
It’s not the all-out guns-blazing gaming rig that Chillblast claims, but the Genesis Mini does provide very respectable gaming performance for a laptop that costs just £700. The 11.6in screen won’t appeal to everyone, but it does mean that the Genesis Mini is a good option for people who want a light, portable laptop that still provides enough power for some gaming action.
- Reviewed on: 21 August 13
- RRP: £459 inc. VAT
- Rating:
The Inspiron 14z does a really good job of cramming a fully featured laptop into a compact, lightweight design. It's no gaming rig, but its good performance and battery life make it an attractive option for anyone on a tight budget.
- Reviewed on: 25 June 13
- RRP: £949 inc VAT
- Rating:
The Apple MacBook Air (Mid-2013) really does provide all-day battery life. For that alone, it fully deserves to be top of the list for anyone looking for a workaday laptop, one that can reduce one of modern life’s stresses: that of wondering whether your computer will still be functional just when you need it. It’s just as fast as the previous model, more so actually in real-world use, and seals the deal with future-proofed faster Wi-Fi, more storage and a lower price than last year’s model. It’s an outstanding ultraportable among a mass of me-too ultrabook mediocrity.
- Reviewed on: 7 December 12
- RRP: £1699 inc VAT
- Rating:
The essential specifications of the 13in Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display closely follow the groundbreaking original 15in version. Reduced size here necessitates integrated-only graphics, as well as a more efficient dual-core rather than quad-core processor. But this choice of components really delivers, and crucially in a state-of-the-art 13in notebook that takes the second-finest laptop display money can buy – beaten only by the 15in Retina model of the Apple MacBook Pro.
