If you're looking for a laptop to work from home, there are a couple of things you want to look for. A large, sharp screen allows you to work comfortably, and port selection is critical if you want to connect multiple peripherals or external displays. The quality of the keyboard and touchpad is also important, and of course, you'll need a good webcam for your meetings over Zoom or Teams. While battery life isn't the most important aspect when working from home, having a laptop that can last a while on battery allows you to move from one room to another without bringing the charger. If you plan to work outdoors in the summer, you'll also want to ensure the display is bright enough to combat glare.
We've tested over 115 laptops, and below, you'll find our recommendations for the best laptops for working remotely you can buy. You can also see our recommendations for the best Chromebooks, the best 2-in-1 laptops, and the best business laptops.
The best laptop for working from home we've tested is the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023). This premium workstation has tons of processing power to handle nearly any workload and provides an amazing user experience. It has a sharp, bright, 120Hz Mini LED display, a spacious and tactile keyboard, and a gigantic, easy-to-use touchpad. Its webcam is among the best on the market, so your colleagues can see and hear you clearly on video calls. The battery lasts around 15 hours of light use, allowing you to work in different rooms or even out in your backyard without dragging the power adapter around.
Unlike its predecessor, the M3 MacBook Pro 14 is available with a base M3 chip, similar to the discontinued 13-inch model with Touch Bar. This is a great option if you don't need the processing power of the Pro/Max chips but still want the 'Pro' features, like the 120Hz Mini LED display and up-firing speakers. If you don't plan on using an external monitor and prefer a larger laptop, you can get the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023). It's essentially the same device but with a larger 16-inch screen and better-sounding speakers.
If you prefer a Windows machine, get the Dell XPS 16 (2024) instead, a 16-inch premium workstation. It's available with Intel Meteor Lake CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs, up to a Core Ultra 9 and RTX 4070, respectively, giving you a fair amount of processing power to tackle intensive workloads. The overall user experience is good, though the laptop's edge-to-edge keys and invisible touchpad might take some time to get used to. You get Wi-Fi 7, an excellent 1080p webcam, as well as a fingerprint sensor and facial recognition camera. Display options include an FHD+ IPS and a 4k+ OLED panel; the latter has full DCI P3 coverage and is better suited for content creation, but know that it's susceptible to permanent burn-in.
See our review
If your work consists only of lighter tasks like text processing, web browsing, and spreadsheets, check out the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2024). It doesn't have as much processing power as the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023), so you aren't paying for performance you don't need. Don't worry; its M3 chip is still blazing fast and more than adequate for general productivity tasks. Plus, it has a fanless design, allowing you to work in complete silence. It's very compact for a 15-inch device, so it's easy to carry if you need to go to the office, and its battery lasts comfortably through a full workday. You get a nice display, Apple's amazing haptic touchpad, and an excellent 1080p webcam. Unlike its M2 predecessor, it can now support two external displays, albeit only with the laptop closed. Port selection is still limited, though, as it only has two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3s and a MagSafe charging port.
A great Windows alternative is the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024). This 2-in-1 convertible feels just as premium and well-built as the MacBook Air 15 and provides an equally good user experience. It has a 120Hz 2.8k OLED display, a great keyboard, and a large haptic touchpad. Its port selection is a tad better, sporting one USB-A and two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s. Available with Intel Meteor Lake CPUs, it can easily handle general productivity tasks and heavy multitasking. As for battery life, it lasts comfortably through a full day of light use, though it comes up a little short compared to the MacBook Air. Two things to bear in mind: the OLED display is susceptible to permanent burn-in, especially with static elements like Windows' taskbar, and it isn't flicker-free, so it might bother people sensitive to display flicker. You can get this laptop directly from HP if you have trouble finding it elsewhere.
See our review
Our mid-range pick is the Lenovo Yoga 7i 16 (2023), a Windows 2-in-1 convertible. It has a 16-inch display, so you have plenty of room for multitasking, and it's still very portable due to its thin and light design, so you can easily take it with you when you go to the office. Build quality is great, though not quite as good as the MacBooks above. You can choose between an FHD+ or QHD+ panel; the latter looks sharper and gets brighter to combat glare. Battery life is excellent at around 12 hours of light use on a model with a QHD+ display. The keyboard feels great to type on and includes a Numpad, which is great for those working with lots of numbers. Biometrics include a fingerprint sensor and facial recognition camera, so you can log in quickly and get to work. It's available with Intel 13th Gen U- and P-series CPUs, which are plenty fast for general productivity tasks.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2022) is a great alternative if you want something smaller. It's also a 2-in-1 with stylus support, but it's more portable and runs Chrome OS. Its Intel 12th Gen CPU has no problem handling anything you'd need to do on a Chromebook. The keyboard and touchpad aren't as good as the Lenovo above, but they remain decent. Availability might be a problem since this is an older device from 2022. If you have trouble finding one, you might want to check out the newer 2023 model, which we haven't tested but expect to perform similarly. It has newer Intel 13th Gen CPUs and a higher resolution 1440p webcam. You can get the 2023 model on Amazon or at Best Buy.
See our review
The best budget laptop for working from home we've tested is the ASUS Vivobook 16 M1605 (2023). This 16-inch Windows ultraportable feels well-built for its price, and it isn't overly bulky or heavy, so it's still easy to carry around when you need to go to the office. It's available with an AMD Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 CPU, which are more than adequate to handle light productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and video playback. You can get this laptop with 8GB or 16GB of RAM, though the 16GB models can be hard to find. If you can't find one, you can always upgrade the RAM yourself via the SO-DIMM slot. Battery life is okay; it lasts a little over eight hours of light use, so depending on your workload, you may have to plug it in for a quick charge.
The overall user experience is good. It has a comfortable keyboard, a large and responsive touchpad, and a decent 720p webcam. Its 1080p display looks reasonably sharp; however, it doesn't get very bright, so visibility may be an issue in well-lit rooms. You get Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity, a fingerprint sensor for quick logins, and a decent port selection with three USB-As, a USB-C, and an HDMI. Unfortunately, the USB-C doesn't support video output, so you'll have to use the HDMI port to connect an external display.
See our review
The best cheap laptop for working from home we've tested is the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023). This 14-inch Chromebook is a great option for those with a light workload, like text processing, web browsing, and video playback. We recommend the Core i3 configuration (paired with a touch-sensitive FHD display, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage), which you can regularly find on sale for around $400 to $500 USD on Lenovo's website. You can get one of the cheaper configurations (Intel N100 or N200 CPU and/or 4GB of RAM) if you have an extremely light workload; just know that you'll experience more slowdowns when multitasking.
The touch-sensitive FHD display on the aforementioned Core i3 model looks very sharp and gets bright enough for use in most indoor settings. Above the display is an excellent 1080p webcam, so your colleagues can see and hear you clearly on video calls. Unfortunately, the keyboard feels a little mushy, and the touchpad is small and sometimes unresponsive. Battery life is outstanding at around 13 hours of light use or 12 hours of video playback. Lastly, Chrome OS is limited in the type of applications you can install, so just make sure you can do everything through a Chrome browser or Android app.
See our review
If you want a versatile device that you can use for general media consumption during your downtime, go with the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 (2021), a tablet PC with a built-in kickstand and detachable keyboard. You can detach the keyboard to make the device lighter and easier to hold or to save space, like on a kitchen counter. Its 3:2 IPS panel looks incredibly sharp, gets bright enough to combat glare, and supports pen input. The keyboard feels good to type on, but you need to buy it separately, and the same goes for the stylus. Its 1080p webcam is excellent, and you also get an IR camera for quick logins via facial recognition. The port selection isn't that great, as you only get two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s, a headphone jack, and a Surface charging port.
Microsoft has released the Surface Pro 9. It's the same device but with faster Intel 12th Gen processors. It's easier to find since it's a newer model, but if you don't need the increased performance and would rather save money, you can likely find a good deal on a Surface Pro 8. A quick FYI: Microsoft has announced a new ARM-based Surface Pro 10, which we'll review when available, so stay tuned!
See our review
Jun 03, 2024: Replaced the M2 Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) with the M3 version because the M2 model is no longer available. Added the Dell XPS 16 (2024) as an alternative to the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023) since the Dell XPS 15 (2023) is discontinued and hard to find. Added the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) as an alternative to the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2024). Replaced the Acer Swift 3 14 (2020) with the ASUS Vivobook 16 M1605 (2023) because the ASUS has a larger screen and better performance.
Apr 08, 2024: Small text changes to provide information about the M3 Apple MacBook Air 15 (2024). Removed the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 14 (2023) from the Notable Mentions because it’s discontinued and hard to find and added the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (2024) as a Notable Mention.
Feb 01, 2024: Replaced the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M2, 2023) with the M3 model because the M2 model is discontinued. Added the Framework Laptop 13 (2023) as a Notable Mention.
Dec 05, 2023: Minor text changes to add information about the M3 Apple MacBook Pros. Replaced the Lenovo Chromebook C340 15 (2020) with the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023) because the C340 is near the end of its OS support.
Oct 06, 2023: Replaced the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) with the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) because the M1 MacBook Pros are no longer available. Replaced the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 (2023) with the Lenovo Yoga 7i 16 (2023) because the Lenovo has Thunderbolt 4, stylus support, and longer battery life. Added the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 14 (2023) as a Notable Mention.
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best laptops for working remotely to buy. We factor in the price (a cheaper laptop wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no laptops that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).
If you prefer to make your own decision, here’s the list of all of our laptop reviews, sorted by price from low to high. Keep in mind that most laptops are available in various configurations, and the table only shows the results of the model we tested, so it’s best to see the full review for information about other variants.
