Top-tier tech: best laptops of 2024

If you're struggling to decide whether you'd like a laptop or a tablet, why not settle for both?

The ASUS DUO OLED laptop is a powerful and innovative device with two full-size built-in OLED screens, providing users with a unique dual-screen experience. With doubled real estate, this laptop is recommended for multitaskers, professionals, and creatives who require an enhanced screen setup for improved productivity and workflow.

Our resident tech expert, Chris Duffill, thoroughly tested this laptop and found it to be a practical powerhouse and ideal alternative to a desktop PC. It offers seamless multitasking capabilities and a premium entertainment experience. You can check out his full review here.

ACER has an incredible range of budget office laptops, and the ACER Aspire 5 is no exception. For a shade less than £700, such a high-quality laptop simply shouldn't exist. From the metal chassis, the thin body, and the big beautiful 15.6" full-HD display, the ACER Aspire 5 is a bargain through and through. It's also improved on the previous version by doubling the RAM from 8GB to a more formidable 16GB. The Intel processor is also a more advanced version.

Storage-wise, you have a 512 GB SSD - excellent for booting Windows at lightning speed and for loading a few apps, but ideally, you'll need to invest in an external drive for storing lots of work or media. All-in-all, this is a fantastic deal on a great laptop that you will truly struggle to beat and is perfect for the office, for university, and for personal use, just don't expect to get much gaming use out of it. After all, in the battle of Laptop vs PC for gaming we all know a huge gaming rig is the way to go, but the ACER Aspire will handle casual light gaming just fine.

Love it or hate it, you cannot deny that Apple has style. This year's Apple MacBook Air, however, offers the MacBook Air's incredibly slick aesthetics and gorgeous ergonomic feel alongside some of the best performance from Mac computers yet.

Equipped with the latest and greatest Apple M3 chip (bar the recently announced M4 chip in the new Apple iPad Pro) with 33% more memory bandwidth than their M2 chip, alongside a 30% faster CPU - the M3 is a significant performance leap from the previous MacBook generation. It opens up a whole world of opportunity for Mac users looking to access some highly demanding programs such as editing software or even gaming.

Everything about 2024's MacBook Air seems to have been designed with the optimal user experience in mind, from its razor-thin 1.24 kg build design that belongs in a sci-fi film to the mind-blowing 500-nits 2560 x 1600p liquid retina display - which is far and beyond the best Mac display yet.

Then there's the battery life, which is downright unbeatable at 18 hours - so forget worrying about running out of charge during meetings or while hitting up your favourite cafe.

The 2024 MacBook Air may not be the most powerful laptop available. Yet, its combination of the ever-brilliant macOS, its incredibly lightweight build at 1.24 kg, and its stunning metal chassis make it one of the most pleasant laptops to use, especially during those long office hours when comfortability and speed are paramount.

Tough and durable, with an aesthetic that is timeless and effortlessly striking, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is a superb albeit expensive laptop designed for gamers and creators. Boasting a redesigned sleek style and a dazzling 14-inch OLED screen, the Zephyrus G14 certainly stands out as one of the most powerful gaming laptops of the year so far.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 comes equipped with modern components, offering a AMD Ryzen 9 processor and GeForce RTX 4070 GPU. Its slim design and versatile OLED screen set it apart, making it suitable for both gaming and creative tasks.

Despite the high price, the laptop offers stunning design, powerful performance, and an excellent display, making it a top choice for those looking for a premium gaming and creation experience. We opted for the G14 over the slightly superior G16 due to its more accessible price point. Still, its price may not fit everyone's budget, and other options are available with similar or superior specs at lower price points. So, all in all, it is a dream machine for those who can afford it.

If you're seeking the same power in a larger and more impressive design with the game-changing upgrade of an RTX 4090 GPU, head over to our glowing review from tech expert Olivia Sheed, praising the superior yet pricier ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16. You can find the review here.

Practical, easy to set up and perfect for quick note-taking, the ASUS Vivobook is the embodiment of a great value laptop at less than £500.

Beautifully designed, practical and balanced with an incredibly solid Intel Pentium CPU and 256GB SSD, performance is great for office tasks, quick browsing and potentially some light gaming - students, this may be the laptop for you.

Of course, there are some setbacks – its lower 8GB of RAM certainly has its limitations, that being said – as one of the best laptop deals of the year, we can't deny it's a steal.

The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023) is a powerful choice for video editing. It features Apple's M3 chip, offering exceptional performance for handling demanding video editing tasks with effortless precision. The MacBook Pro's Mini LED display is impressive, providing high brightness and full DCI P3 colour space coverage, essential for accurate colour grading. The factory calibration ensures you can start working right away without needing additional adjustments, and the Apple integration is a dream for existing Apple users.

Constructed with a premium all-aluminium chassis, it combines durability with an irresistibly sleek design. The spacious keyboard and responsive haptic touchpad enhance the user experience, while the wide port selection allows you to connect various peripherals and external displays.

Although the M3 Pro or Max SoC models are recommended for more intensive workloads, the investment is justified by the superior performance and long battery life.

Overall, the MacBook Pro's combination of power, display quality, and premium build makes it ideal for professional video editors.

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is an impressive laptop with a sleek, all-metal design and high-end internals. The OLED display delivers vibrant colours and deep blacks, while the long-lasting battery life makes it perfect for extended work sessions or travel. The laptop remains cool and quiet during everyday tasks despite some fan noise and warmth under heavy use. Its durability, highlighted by the MIL-STD-810H rating, makes it a reliable on-the-go companion. Overall, the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED offers a great balance of performance, portability, and value.

To learn more, read our review by tech expert Harvey Isitt, who found the laptop the ultimate all-in-one work, play, and travel companion. You can find his review here.

Certainly one of the most unique laptops we've encountered to date, the ASUS ZenBook Duo is equipped with an array of next-generation tech that'll blow your mind. It's not the solid 16 GB of RAM, the 512 GB of SSD storage, or the full-HD display that doesn't excite us, rather, it's the show-stopping screen pad that's caught our eye.

The ZenBook Duo's excellent screen pad is undeniably eye-catching but is more than mere flash - it's compatible with tons of editing programs, whether it's Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and more – giving you touchscreen controls for true hands-on control over your passion projects.

Say goodbye to a squashed screen made smaller by an array of dials and simply move them to the screen pad where you've got some proper control.

Our issues with the ASUS ZenBook Duo arise only when looking at the storage, which may fill up fairly quickly after you've transferred heaps of raw footage over for editing, along with your arsenal of programs that tend to be fairly large.

Despite being a couple of years old at this point, Apple's 2022 MacBook Air remains as brilliant as ever and is the perfect addition to any student's tech arsenal. So, you're heading to classes, going between cafes and libraries, heading to your mate's house – the last thing you want is to have a huge, heavy laptop that'll barely fit in your backpack alongside books and snacks – and that's precisely why the MacBook Air is such a heavenly laptop for students.

At 13.6" and 1.24 kg, the MacBook Air is the epitome of lightweight – it's perfect for any backpack and isn't going to become burdensome during a long study day.

We all know Apple loves their lightweight, minimalistic design ethos, but how does it run? Despite having a mere 8 GB of RAM, the MacBook Air runs impeccably, with little-to-no startup bloat and excellent multitasking performance, and it's all thanks to their M2 chip.

Apple's M2 chip combines an 8-core CPU and an 8-core GPU with a 16-core Neural Engine to make the 2022 MacBook Air one of the most efficient computers ever made. So, whether you're gaming, streaming, editing, or simply writing your latest essay, you can firmly rely on the MacBook Air.

One of the MacBook Air's most remarkable features is its astonishing lack of system fans onboard. Apple's M2 chip runs so efficiently that its advanced thermal sink design allows the MacBook Air to remain perfectly cool even under some seriously heavy stress.

For students who aren't looking to break the bank to get some work done, this year's MSI Modern 15 has all the power you'll ever need to crush your assignments on the go.

Despite being on the larger side at 15.6", the MSI Modern 15 will fit comfortably in most backpacks and is only 1.7 kg, so it's perfect for the bustling morning commute.

While the MSI Modern 15 is certainly light for its size, it certainly isn't flimsy – in fact, it meets the impeccable standard of military-grade durability, so the occasional awkward backpack tumble isn't going to send shivers down your spine.

The laptop has a wonderfully understated aluminium chassis alongside a decent snappy membrane keyboard with some great precision. The MSI Modern 15's full-HD screen does the job perfectly well – and while you're probably not going to be astounded by the screen quality, it'll certainly look sharp enough for comfortable use.

Then there's the CPU – a brand new 12th generation i5-1235U which delivers some impeccable performance and props up the weaker RAM capabilities. Alongside the great CPU is some great SSD storage at 512 GB – giving you more than enough room for even some projects on the larger side.

Of course, for less than £1,000, there are going to be sacrifices – you've got a fairly generic yet solid Iris Xe integrated graphics card which works well enough for studying and office work, just don't expect to play the latest PC games with it.

When all's said and done, the MSI Modern 15 is a great deal, with some seriously impressive performance and build quality for what is a fraction of the cost of some higher-end laptops on the market**.**