Apart from the many tasks you can achieve from a laptop, the best smartphones have gone way beyond. You can click on amazing pictures and videos, binge-watch your favorite TV shows, or even pay money without ever reaching for your wallet. But even now, most people continue to rely on laptops to get their work done faster and more efficiently. The initial days of the Covid-19 lockdown saw a decline in smartphone sales due to obvious reasons. However, at the same time, there was a huge demand for laptops as organizations scrambled to switch to a work-from-home setup.
There’s a wide variety of laptops out there for almost every type of user. From gorgeous displays to long-lasting battery life, getting the right notebook is honestly not that difficult. Of course, you just need to look in the right place. It’s best to assess all the factors before you go ahead and put your money down. Apart from choosing the right specs, you need to be mindful of the size and form factor. Of course, in the end, it all comes down to your needs and requirements. To make things easy, we’ve listed some of the best laptops you should consider if you’re planning to buy one in 2021. These are the best and top-of-the-line options in various segments.
As you’d expect, all of the Windows laptops will be eligible for a free Windows 11 upgrade this holiday season.
Navigate this guide:
- Best Overall Laptop: Dell XPS 13 9310
- Best 15-inch Laptop: HP Spectre x360 15
- Best 17-inch Laptop: Dell XPS 17
- Best Business Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
- Best Gaming Laptop: Alienware X15
- Best Convertible Laptop: HP Spectre x360 14
- Best Laptop on a Budget: Acer Swift 3
- Best Detachable Laptop: Microsoft Surface Pro 7
- Best Chromebook: Acer Spin 713
Best Overall Laptop: Dell XPS 13 9310
The XPS 13 has quintessentially been one of the most influential Windows laptops in the past few years. Known for offering a solid balance of style and performance, the all-new XPS 13 9310 model offers up to an 11th-gen Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor, 16GB 4267MHz of LRDDR4x memory, and 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD. The sleek metal design complements the borderless display, which is also one of its highlight features.
Speaking of which, Dell has been offering some of the best-looking displays on its XPS lineup. This one features a 13.4-inch 16:10 ratio screen, and you can opt for a 1200p or 2400p resolution. The port selection is limited to a couple of USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4, a microSD card slot, and a headphone and mic combo jack. Dell claims battery life of up to 14 hours on the full-HD+ model which sounds great for all-day workloads. It’s also Intel Evo certified which means that it’s specifically recommended by Intel to offer a premium experience to the end-user.
- The Dell XPS 13 is a highly recommended premium notebook that offers a solid balance of style and performance. It's also one of the best ultrabooks out there.
Best 15-inch Laptop: HP Spectre x360 15
HP’s thin and light Spectre x360 series is not just limited to 13-inch models. It also offers a full-size 15-inch variant that looks gorgeous when paired with the 4K IPS panel option that offers up to 400-nits brightness and 100% sRGB coverage. The laptop is available with up to a Core i7-1165G7 processor, 16GB of DDR4 memory, and 512GB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage. It features the same design language as seen on the company’s popular 2-in-1 ultrabook range and if you’re interested, we have a special list of the best mice options for the Spectre x360.
- The HP Spectre x360 15 is a thin and light convertible laptop featuring a 15.6-inch display available with up to 4K resolution.
Best 17-inch Laptop: Dell XPS 17
Dell reintroduced a 17-inch XPS laptop in the first half of 2020, almost 10 years after we saw the last model. Offering all of the best features that we have seen on the recent XPS lineup, the XPS 17 simply enlarges the package. It’s available with up to a 10th-gen Intel Core-i9 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU making it an apt device for creative professionals and casual gamers. Additionally, you can expect the premium XPS styling, including the super-slim bezels, which reduces the laptop’s overall footprint down to a 15-inch notebook. This notebook is also a serious competitor if you’re looking for a solid Windows alternative to the MacBook Pro 16.
- Bringing the best of the XPS lineup, the XPS 17 is the best 17-inch laptop that offers the footprint of a 15-inch machine. It comes with an excellent display and a premium design that you cannot ignore.
Best Business Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9
The ThinkPad series is a no-brainer if you are looking for a solid business notebook. The X1 Carbon is one of the most premium ThinkPads which is now offered with Intel’s latest 11th-Gen Tiger Lake CPUs and is one of the biggest updates for the series. The laptop continues to offer a durable slim design and now comes with a 16:10 ratio display with options of UHD+ and FHD+ resolutions and a revamped keyboard. We would also recommend looking at the HP Elite Dragonfly if you’re willing to stretch your budget as HP charges quite a bit for the notebook.
- The ThinkPad is a popular name when it comes to business laptops. The latest 9th-gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon offers the latest Intel 11th-gen processors and a taller 16:10 ratio display.
Best Gaming Laptop: Alienware X15
Alienware x15
We have a new powerful gaming laptop in town. The new Alienware X15 is the company’s slimmest laptop ever and is loaded with the latest hardware to offer the best gaming experience. Powered by the new 11th-gen Intel Tiger Lake-H CPUs (up to Intel Core i9 11900H), the new X15 comes with the iconic sci-fi-inspired design language. It also comes with the option of NVIDIA’s new GeForce RTX 3060, 3070, and RTX 3080 graphics cards. The laptop also comes with a 15.6-inch that is available with full-HD at 360Hz or you can max out with a QHD 240Hz panel. The laptop comes with RGB lighting that can be controlled via the Alienware Command Center software, along with modern connectivity options including Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6E.
- The new Alienware X15 is a new breed of gaming laptops from the company that offers a slim profile. However, there's no compromise when it comes to the performance capabilities.
Best Convertible Laptop: HP Spectre x360 14
One of the best looking convertible laptops, the new HP Spectre x360 14 sits between the 13-inch and 15-inch variants with a taller 3:2 display and the new Intel 11th-gen Tiger Lake processors. Overall the design is similar to the previous-gen models including the diamond-shaped rear corners and the accents around the edges. The new Spectre x360 14 comes in similar color options as well so you can choose between Nightfall Black, Poseidon Blue, or Natural Silver.
The standard display comes with a full-HD resolution which comes with 400-nits of brightness or you can go for a 3K2K (3000 x 2000-pixels) OLED panel or even a 1,000-nit option that comes with a special anti-reflective technology that makes the screen difficult to read from the sides. As for the internals, the laptop is available in a base model that starts with the above-mentioned full-HD panel, a Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of memory, and 256GB of storage with 16GB of Intel Optane. The top variant comes with the Intel Core i7-1165G7, 16GB RAM, 1TB storage with 32GB Intel Optane, and the OLED display, and if you opt for the anti-reflective display option, that also gets you 2TB of storage.
- The new HP Spectre X360 14 brings a taller display but continues to offer a premium design paired with the latest hardware and even options for OLED panel or one that goes up to 1000-nits.
Best Laptop on a Budget: Acer Swift 3
A lightweight yet powerful laptop, the Acer Swift 3 comes at an affordable price of under $700. It isn’t the most premium ultrabook, but it’s certainly the best laptop you can put your money on if you don’t want to go overboard with your budget. It comes with a 14-inch full-HD IPS display and is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U octa-core processor, 8GB LPDDR4 RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD. The laptop also features a backlit keyboard, a fingerprint scanner, Wi-Fi 6, and Alexa voice assistant built-in. If you care about Thunderbolt, the Acer Swift 3 is also available with the new Intel 11th-gen Core-i7 CPU with a Thunderbolt 4 port and Intel EVO certification.
- The Acer Swift 3 is a reliable laptop at its budget. The notebook should offer you excellent performance thanks to the octa-core AMD Ryzen 7 CPU.
Best Detachable Laptop: Microsoft Surface Pro 7
Microsoft redefined the category of detachable laptops with the launch of the Surface tablet series, even though it did take a few updates to become the best Windows tablet. The current-gen Surface Laptop Pro 7 is our recommendation if you need an ultraportable form factor with a detachable keyboard. The Surface Pro 7 is available with up to a 10th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB LPDDR4x RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. It features a 12.3-inch PixelSense display with a resolution of 2,736 x 1,824, support for Wi-Fi 6, dual cameras (5MP front and 8MP rear), and 1.6W stereo speakers tuned by Dolby. The Surface Type keyboard is sold separately at an additional cost of about $130.
- The Surface Pro 7 is an excellent Windows tablet that can easily turn into a lightweight laptop using the detachable Type Cover keyboard.
- The Surface Pro Type Cover offers a great typing experience and comes with LED backlighting and attaches to your Surface Pro 7 using magnets.
Best Chromebook: Acer Chromebook Spin 713
Chromebooks are usually the best option for school and college students since they are usually cheap. Not the Acer Spin 713 though. It’s one of the most powerful, pricey, and best Chromebooks out there. Since it’s expensive, it also comes with powerful 10th-gen Intel CPU options going all the way from Core i3 to a Core i7. It also comes with a 13.5-inch 2256×1504 touchscreen, a 128GB NVMe SSD, and 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM, making it the fastest one out there. The Acer Spin 713 is also Project Athena certified, which means it has a seal of approval from Intel when it comes to performance and battery life.
- The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is one of the most powerful Chromebooks you'll be able to pick up today. With beefy specs that rival that of budget gaming laptops, performance will never be an issue.
Before you go ahead with any of the above-recommended laptops, we’d like you to know that Intel recently announced its new line of 11th-gen Tiger Lake-H processors. This means that its most powerful line of mobile CPUs is finally making its way to the market. We’ll be updating this guide as new models and variants start hitting shelves so keep an eye out. But if you need a machine right this instant, these are our top picks for the best laptops that you can buy.
The post These are the Best Laptops you can buy in July 2021: Dell XPS, Alienware, HP Spectre, and more! appeared first on xda-developers.
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