The best laptops you can buy in 2024 for work, school, and gaming

There’s no such thing as a universally best laptop. Whether a laptop works well for you — and there could be several that fit the bill — is a largely subjective decision that comes down to your primary use case(s), your preferred operating system, and your budget.

This is an annoying fact of life for both laptop shoppers and those of us doling out “best laptop” recommendations, since we can’t make personalized judgment calls for every single individual in need of a new machine. (I would love to, but I’ve got a thing after this.) However, after spending countless hours reviewing popular laptops and identifying the specs that matter, we can confidently point you in the right direction. All of the standout models below tick those three aforementioned boxes. At the very least, we can narrow down your pool of options — don’t start from square one if you don’t have to.

Keep reading for Mashable’s hands-on guide to the best laptops of 2024, including one new top pick: The HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is our new favorite Chromebook.

FYI: We’ve listed the pricing and specs of our testing units, which may not apply to each laptop’s base model.