2023 was an exceptionally good year for laptops. Several people would probably assign that attribute simply because we got both a new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air in the same year, but there is plenty to love from the Windows side of the aisle (not to mention Chromebooks). Processors are growing obscenely fast in quick time, leading to tech firms branching out into notebook markets they previously avoided and increasing the flexibility of use for their staple lines. It is exciting to watch and should prove interesting for where iteration leads over the next few years. But before we look to the horizon, let us stay in the present and touch on Paste’s top laptops of 2023.
Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360
Samsung continued its trend of putting out solid 2-in-1 notebooks with the Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 this year. The laptop/tablet combo boasts the same 16-inch display featured on the company’s creator-focused Galaxy Book Ultra and gets a bump in processing power to make it a great everyday option in addition to a productivity machine. The included S Pen and integration with other Samsung devices add to the notebook’s flexibility and the return of USB-A and HDMI ports are very much welcomed. Check out Paste’s full review here.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2
2023 felt like a down year overall for Microsoft’s signature laptop line, with much of the focus landing on the underwhelming Surface Laptop Go 3. But the company’s higher-end offering, the Surface Laptop Studio 2, deserves some starlight this year for some key additions that signal what Microsoft has to come. The Studio 2 is the first Microsoft notebook to include a neural processor, a notable reason why the company deemed it its most powerful Surface device to date earlier this year. The 2-in-1 notebook does pack a powerful processing punch, but it’s more important for showing that Microsoft isn’t letting the NPU train leave without it on board.
Apple MacBook M3 Pro
Apple may have leaned into the spooks when dropping news of the next MacBook Pro back around Halloween, but the only thing frightening about this notebook is its scary good performance. Powered by Apple’s internally developed M3 chip, the entire family of new MacBook Pro devices (M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max) reasserts the notebooks’ reputation as the go-to laptop for creators, with processing and graphical performance rivaling the top desktop computers. For our money, the M3 Pro is the best out of the bunch when comparing cost versus performance.
Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra
Sticking with the creator space, Samsung’s new Galaxy Book3 Ultra set itself apart from other Windows devices as a high-performance heavyweight. Its beefy NVIDIA GPU makes it great for all the tasks associated with audio and video creation while making it a relevant player for gaming on the go. That processing power also makes the Galaxy Book3 Ultra a great tool for the business-minded as well, especially if you’re already invested in the Samsung ecosystem of devices. The real statement made by the Galaxy Book3 Ultra is that Samsung is ready to be a player in the high-end notebook space, and the company isn’t waiting to stake its flag.
Dell XPS 15
It seems year after year that Dell’s XPS 15 series keeps finding itself counted among the top Windows notebooks despite getting less public fanfare than its peers. Within that space, though, Dell continues building on the notebook line’s reputation as such with improved processors and a vibrant OLED touch screen display. Its GPU performance is lower than some of its competitors but still packs enough of a punch to meet the needs of nearly every use case from everyday work to video editing and solid gaming performance.
HP Spectre x360 14
Sometimes the quiet ones aren’t really being quiet—they’re just preparing to make a splash. Describing HP as “quiet” in recent years may feel like a stretch to some seeing as it has produced several quality notebooks and 2-in1 laptops during that time, but compared to the volume of voices like Apple and Samsung, HP could use a megaphone. And they have one this year with the HP Spectre x360 14, one of the most solidly built and for sure the most stylish 2-in-1 notebooks on the market. It is the perfect melding of style and substance, featuring the latest Intel processors inside a striking chassis. It does cost a bit more than laptop/tablet combos with similar performance, but it gets a leg up on the competition when it comes to the understanding that devices can be a source of vibe.
Framework Laptop 13
Right-to-repair remains a heavy point of contention for consumers despite multiple major tech firms opening up to the concept by introducing repair kits for a select number of devices in recent years. But Framework originates from that desire as evidenced by its signature laptop. This year’s model, the Framework Laptop 13, is no different, boasting a modular design that lets users easily modify the internals of the device. Users don’t have to sacrifice performance for customization either, with the notebook featuring a choice between top-tier chips from either Intel or AMD. Offering a pre-made version and a DIY package where users build the laptop themselves also cuts down on price, framing the device as a great everyday laptop at a much more attractive cost.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
Solid gaming laptops typically strike fear into the heart of consumers’ wallets due to the high prices that high-end gaming performance in a portable package carries. But the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 cuts that notion, and its associated price tag, significantly with little sacrifice under the hood. Powered by AMD’s Ryzen 9 processor and supporting up to an NVIDIA 4070 GPU, the latest edition of the G14 packs outstanding performance into a sub-$2,000 notebook.
Acer Chromebook Spin 714
Chromebooks’s growing profile and ability as compared to similarly priced Windows notebooks in recent years keeps impressing, with Acer’s Chromebook Spin 714 standing as proof of that development. The 2-in-1 notebook bundles a bright 14-inch display, long battery life and great performance into a $700 package that covers most everyday use cases.
Apple MacBook Air 15
The MacBook Air may be the single most popular laptop to grace the world’s collective lap since being introduced in 2008. The line has come a long way since then, especially after Apple began developing its own processors, and the MacBook Air 15 doesn’t divert far from the path. Powered by the M2 chip, performance is still top of the line for most use cases and a marginal increase in weight doesn’t significantly impact its portability. The big addition here is the 15-inch display, a definite increase from the 13-inch displays previously featured. The larger screen makes the new notebook more flexible than before while making videos pop, and Apple isn’t charging an arm and a leg for those improvements.