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Why you should trust us: Hey, it's in our name. PCWorld prides itself on laptop experience and expertise. We've been covering PCs since 1983, and we now review more than 70 laptops every year. All of the picks below have been personally tested and vetted by our experts, who've applied not only performance benchmarks but rigorous usability standards. We're also committed to reviewing PC laptops at every price point to help you find a machine that matches your budget.
Looking for sweet discounts? Check out our regularly updated roundup of the best laptop deals available right now.
Updated April 18, 2024: We replaced the Best Content Creation Laptop, the Dell XPS 17 (2023), with the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra and added the Acer Chromebook 516 GE as the Best Gaming Chromebook. We also updated our list of recent laptop reviews.
The best laptops we've tested
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As a dedicated gaming monitor, the XG49WCR fits the bill, essentially working as two 27-inch 1440p curved panels shoved into one. It's also fast enough to make even the most powerful gaming PC sweat at its maximum 5120×1440 resolution, with a 165Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time. If you want a monitor to show you as much of a game as possible, as fast as possible, this is it.
But the screen isn't limited to just gaming. It has a rich suite of connectivity options, with DisplayPort, HDMI, and USB-C covering video, plus 90 watts of USB power delivery for gaming laptops. The built-in USB hub can handle external gadgets, including a standard Ethernet port, and the monitor has side-by-side input modes as well as an integrated KVM switch. Oh, and two five-watt speakers as well, but seriously, just use headphones or real speakers instead.
The only real downside to the design is its VA panel, which is speedy, but far less accurate for fine colors than IPS. I wouldn't count on this monitor for editing work in Photoshop, for example. But that's a pretty fair trade-off for the retail price, and an absolute steal at this discount.
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The Dragonfly Pro is HP's premiere consumer laptop design, boasting a sleek .72-inch-thin body made of aluminum and magnesium with a bright 14-inch IPS touchscreen standard. But it's also a surprisingly practical machine. While it's a bit heavier than other laptops in this category at 2.42 pounds, it's packing some serious tech thanks to a Ryzen 7 CPU, a roomy 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage.
HP didn't skimp on the trim, either. Reviewer Brendan Nystedt was impressed by the laptop's great speakers and solid battery life, and it has a 5-megapixel webcam with infrared sensors for Windows Hello face unlocking. If the laptop has a weakness, it's port selection: Three USB-C ports are flexible on their own, but a lack of USB-A, dedicated video-out, and a headphone jack mean you'll probably want to travel with a USB-C dongle in your bag.
B&H Photo's sale doesn't have an end date, which means that it's probably limited to a select number of units on-hand. This is a killer sale on a killer laptop, so if you're interested, grab it before this deal disappears.
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