Best Laptop 2022

When it comes to choosing the best laptop, there really isn't a "one-size-fits-all" solution. After all, different users have different wants, different needs, so narrowing down the field into a single perfect choice is impossible. However, what we can do it to choose the best laptop by user type and application—which is exactly what we did. From the business-class to budget, ultraportable to ultraportly, these are the best laptops of 2022. 

Best Laptop Overall

Striking the perfect balance between power, portability, and price, the MacBook Air M2 (2022) is our pick for the best laptop of 2022. It doesn’t quite reach the same performance levels as some of the faster, more powerful MacBook Pro models, but it doesn’t need to.

For most users, the MacBook Air’s M2 architecture is plenty powerful enough. Even the base model, which includes an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage can shred through demanding workloads quickly and with ease, barely exhibiting signs of effort.

Nearly as thin in size as the iPhone 14 and weighing less than 3 lb, the MacBook Air is as sleek and portable as ever. Combined with the power of its M2 architecture, the MacBook Air offers the perfect blend of performance and portability.

Finally, let’s not overlook cost. In addition to being super powerful and ultraportable, the MacBook Air is reasonably priced. It’s not cheap by any means, and depending on what configuration you go with, the cost can climb pretty quickly, but compared to other, uber-expensive laptops like the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air’s price tag seems much more manageable. 

When you put it all together: the power to tackle any task, portability that allows you to take it anywhere, and a price most people can work with, it becomes clear that MacBook Air M2 is the best laptop of 2022. 

Best Laptop for Photo Editing

The MacBook Pro M1 (2021) is the best laptop for content creators, including photo and video editors. In terms of power: it’s simply unrivaled, capable of churning through creative tasks at speeds comparable to the highest of high-end PCs.

The MacBook Pro M1 is available in 14 and 16" configurations, but regardless of which model you choose, the Pro’s Liquid Retina XDR screen delivers gorgeous visuals with true-to-life colors that are perfect for photo and video editors.

For a full rundown on why the MacBook Pro M1 is the best laptop for photo editing, be sure to check out our hands-on review of the MacBook Pro M1 (2021).    

Best Laptop for Photo Editing on a Budget

Though primarily billed as a productivity laptop for users on the go, the ASUS VivoBook S15 actually makes for a pretty good photo editing laptop for users on a budget—provided you get the right model. The key specs are the screen and the processor. You’re looking for the 15.6” variant with a Full HD IPS display and a 12th Gen Intel Core processor, preferably the i5.  

Why this model? The wide viewing angles and solid contrast you get from the IPS display will help make up for the VivoBook’s rather pedestrian 45% NTSC color gamut. Meanwhile, the Intel processor will boost overall performance, allowing you to run multiple editing applications at once. 
 

Make no mistake: the VivoBook S 15 is not a MacBook Pro M1 competitor. It's not even the same species. But for a third of the cost, the VivoBook S 15 returns high value and great photo editing performance. 

Best Gaming Laptop in the World

ASUS's Republic of Gamers Strix SCAR 17 SE is the only laptop on our list that is a double award winner: not only did it receive our vote for the best gaming laptop in the world, it was also our pick for the laptop with the most ridiculous name. Look at that thing. Republic of Gamers Strix SCAR 17 SE. If you're not familiar with ASUS, you have no idea what those words mean. It's way too much. 

But then again, maybe that's the point. After all, what should you call one of the most roided-out, tryhard gaming rigs we've ever seen? Shouldn't it be something equally over the top, something that embodies just how truly broken this rig is? Just look at the specs on this thing.

For starters, it's huge. The 7 lb Strix SCAR features a 17.3" 1440p display with a 240 Hz refresh rate. Planning to hook it up to an external monitor? Go right ahead: the Strix SCAR houses a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU and features both DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 ports, so you can connect it to whatever monitor you want. 4K, 5K, 8K—sure, why not. 

For its CPU, the Strix SCAR is running a 2.3 Ghz Intel Core i9-12950HX chip, which is probably overkill to begin with (unless you were planning on undertaking some super-intense, multiprong task like recording yourself playing a graphically demanding VR title while simultaneously streaming it live on Twitch), but nonetheless can be overclocked further up to 5 GHz.

In terms of storage, the Strix SCAR comes with two M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSDs, each with 1TB of storage, for a grand total of 2TB of installed memory. And, because 16 or even 24GB of RAM would have been a bit too reasonable, the Strix SCAR comes with a mind-boggling 32GB of DDR5 RAM, which you can juice up all the way to 64GB. That's psychotic. 

Best Laptop for Writers

Although it was far from unanimous, our vote for the best laptop for writers goes to the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4. What made this category particularly difficult to decide was our individual preferences on keyboards and key switches. We all agreed that the best writing laptop should provide a first-class typing experience; however, we were divided when it came down to what type of keyboard and key switches delivered that experience.

Ultimately, we settled on the Surface Laptop 4, because it was the one laptop keyboard that was viewed positively by everyone on our team. The fact that it’s so light and portable—a plus for journalists and writers on the go—and that it has a bright, easily readable screen also factored in to our decision.