Best Laptops of 2022

Whether you're looking for portability, performance, or a low price, one of these computers should fit the bill

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laptop testing
Artur Pietruch, a Consumer Reports tester, measures the glare on laptop screens in our lab.
Photo: Brian Finke

If you’re looking for a new laptop for school, work, or play, you’ll find lots of interesting options.

Over the past several months, PC manufacturers like LG and Samsung have released models that score quite well in our labs, exhibiting muscle not only for routine productivity tasks but also for more demanding workloads like high-resolution video editing. They often ship with Windows 11, which brings a refreshed and more “modern” user interface to Microsoft’s long-running operating system. And if they don’t come with Windows 11, you can easily upgrade to it free of charge.

More on Laptops
CR's Laptop Ratings & Buying Guide
Laptops for $600 or Less
How to Get Better Laptop Battery Life
How to Shop for a More Ergonomic Laptop

For Mac fans with demanding workloads, Apple’s 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros are a great choice, too. If your computing needs are more Microsoft Word than Adobe Premiere Pro, though, the MacBook Air remains a smart pick.

We test dozens of new laptops every year, evaluating them for ergonomics, battery life, display quality, and portability so that you don’t waste your money on a clunker. We buy all the products we test—from headphones to SUVs—at retail, because samples sent directly from a manufacturer may be tweaked to perform better in a reviewer’s tests.

We also incorporate brand reliability and owner satisfaction data collected from surveys of our members into each laptop’s Overall Score.

Below are some of the best laptops covering the five screen-size categories we track, ranging from highly portable 10- to 11-inch models to hulking desktop replacements that span 17 to 18 inches.

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