-
Best ultraportable laptop
Pros: exquisite design, 1,080p HD touch screen, thinnest, lightest ultraportable, fast performance
Cons: unremarkable touchpad and keyboard, mediocre battery life
11.6-inch full HD (1,920-by-1,080) touch screen (13.3-inch available)
4-cell lithium polymer (2500 mAh) (additional 3-cell external battery included on 11.6-inch model)
Silver aluminum or white Gorilla Glass
Windows 8
7.7
11.2
2.69
1 year
S7-391-6810
886541753182
Yes
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
No
Multi-gesture touchpad
Yes
Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000
2x USB 3.0, HDMI, headphone jack
0.5
Acer
1.7 GHz Intel Core i5-3317; Core i7 processor available
4 GB
128 GB solid-state drive
-
Best convertible laptop
Pros: flip-and-fold, laptop or tablet design, solid performance, thin and light
Cons: screen isn't full HD, few ports, some user reports of Wi-Fi problems
not avail.
13.3-inch 1,600-by-900 touch screen
4-cell lithium polymer
Silver gray or clementine orange
Windows 8 (64-bit)
8.9
13.1
3.4
1 year
59359568
887770171860
2-in-1 (SD/MMC)
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
No
Multi-gesture touchpad
720p HD camera
Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000
USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI, combo headphone/microphone jack
0.67
Lenovo
1.9 GHz Intel Core i3-3227U; Core i5 and Core i7 also available
8 GB
128 GB solid-state drive
-
Best gaming laptop
Pros: top-of-the-line performance, numerous upgrade options, excellent ergonomics
Cons: runs hot, very short battery life
17.3-inch 1,600-by-900-pixel WLED; higher resolutions available
High Capacity 9-cell Lithium Ion (90WHr)
Stealth black or nebula red
Windows 7 Home Premium
11.97
16.14
9.39
1 year
M17x
884116104094
9-in-1 SD card reader
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
Slot-Loading 8x SuperMulti Drive (DVD± R/RW); Blu-ray optional
Touchpad
2.1-megapixel full HD
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M
Ethernet, 4x USB 3.0, USB 2.0/eSATA, 2x line out, S/PDIF, microphone jack, 2x HDMI, mini-DisplayPort, VGA
1.75
Alienware
Intel Core i7-3630QM (up to 3.4 GHz)
6 GB
500 GB
-
Best multimedia laptop
Pros: powerful performance, full-HD screen and speakers, thin and light aluminum design
Cons: no touch screen, no optical drive, mediocre battery life
15.6-inch full-HD (1,920-by-1,080) LED-backlit anti-glare display
8-cell polymer battery (4750 mAh, 70Whr)
Silver aluminum
Windows 8 (64-bit)
10
15
4.6
1 year with free two-way standard shipping and 24-7 tech support, 1 year accidental damage (drops, spills, power surges and fire damage), 30-day flawless display guarantee
UX51VZ-XH71
886227326358
2-in-1 (SD/MMC)
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
No
Multi-gesture touchpad
HD web camera
Nvidia GeForce GT 650M 2G
3x USB 3.0, HDMI, mini VGA, combo headphone/microphone jack, Ethernet
0.77
Asus
2.1 GHz Intel Core i7-3612QM quad-core
8 GB DDR3
Dual 128 GB solid-state drives (256 GB)
-
Best business laptop
Pros: fast performance, fantastic keyboard, quality build, premium finish, light weight
Cons: runs hot under load, no optical drive or HDMI port
14-inch 1,600-by-900 10-finger touch screen
45 Whr 4-cell RapidCharge battery
Black
Microsoft Windows 8 64-bit
8.9
13.03
3.4
1 year
N/A
N/A
4-in-1 SD card reader
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
N/A
Touchpad with TrackPoint and Windows 8 gestures
720p HD camera
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Mini DisplayPort, headphone/microphone combo jack, 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0
0.74
Lenovo
Intel Core i5-3427U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.80 GHz); Core i7 available
4 GB PC3-10600 DDR3L SDRAM 1333MHz
128 GB solid-state drive, SATA3