Laptop finder
Tell us your budget and what the laptop is for. We'll show you the laptops that fit, from the cheapest that does the job to the best your budget buys.
Budget
How much do you want to spend on the laptop?
What will you use this laptop for?
Your answer decides what we rate highest: the graphics card, the processor, the screen or the weight.
Which operating system?
We don't compare laptops across systems, so each system gets its own shortlist.
How big a screen?
A smaller screen usually means a lighter laptop, a larger one more comfortable work at a desk.
Summary
How we pick a laptop
A laptop is bought whole, so there's no budget to split between parts as there is in the PC configurator. We rate finished models for the use you tell us about and weigh that rating against the price.
For gaming, the graphics card decides, and the processor settles a tie between equal cards. For work and study, what counts is the processor, the screen's brightness and sharpness, and the weight, because a laptop like that usually travels with you. For photo, video and 3D work, we rate the processor and a dedicated graphics card together.
Same graphics card, different performance
In a laptop, the same graphics chip runs at different power depending on how much heat the chassis can get rid of. Manufacturers don't always state that power for a given model.
So we don't rate the card's name alone. We estimate the power a chassis allows from its thickness and from its weight relative to its size. The same card in a thicker chassis never gets a lower rating from us than in a thinner one.
Three laptops, not a long list
Among the laptops that meet your requirements and fit your budget, we set aside any that another model beats by being cheaper and no worse. From the rest we show the cheapest, the best your budget allows, and the one above which paying more buys little.
For work and study, no pricier laptop in the shortlist has a slower processor than the cheapest one.
When a budget holds fewer sensible models, the shortlist is shorter, and we say so.
Windows, macOS and ARM processors
We don't compare laptops across platforms. Apple, Qualcomm and MediaTek processors share no scale with Intel and AMD chips, so each platform gets its own shortlist. MacBooks and ARM laptops are ranked within their own group by chip class.
For gaming we only suggest laptops with an Intel or AMD processor, and for photo, video and 3D work we leave Chromebooks out.
Requirements in the extended mode
In the extended mode you can set the screen size, a minimum brightness and refresh rate, the panel type, memory, storage, a maximum weight, battery capacity or the manufacturer. We treat them as requirements, not hints: a laptop that misses any of them doesn't make the shortlist.
A requirement also rules out laptops where that figure is unknown. Manufacturers don't publish every specification, and a laptop we can't check against your requirement would be a promise we couldn't keep.
When nothing meets every requirement, we show which ones ruled out the most models and let you relax them. When the budget is what stands in the way, we tell you the amount at which the first matching laptop appears.
Prices and stores
For each laptop we show the lowest price among the stores that have it in stock, along with each store's listing. A laptop you can't buy right now doesn't make the shortlist.
When you buy through our link, the store may pay us a commission, and your price doesn't change because of it. Commission doesn't affect which laptops we pick or the order we show them in.
Prefer a desktop?
If the computer doesn't need to leave your desk, the PC configurator will pick a complete set of parts for the same budget and check they work together.