Best Windows laptop 2023: The top 7 Windows machines we’ve tested

The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED is a true powerhouse of a laptop, not only a great option for office-based productivity tasks, but also for the likes of video editing, too.

Inside, you’ll find it features one of AMD’s all-new Ryzen 6000 laptop processors that we found during testing to offer a super-speedy performance that was pushing Apple’s M1 chip with its benchmark scores. This meant it was superb at casual browsing as well as even more intense tasks such as video and photo editing.

Alongside some rather beefy internals, we found this Asus laptop’s display to be sublime. As an OLED panel, it offered up truly vibrant colours and unparalleled black levels, which made it especially fantastic for watching videos. Colour space coverage also proved to be incredible, ensuring that the Zenbook 13 S OLED’s display is one of the best for creatives.

In addition, the battery life proved to be some of the best we’ve seen, with this laptop lasting for 13 and a half hours or so with our PC Mark 10 Modern Office benchmark test.

It might be argued that the design of this beast of an ultrabook is a little plain, with a nondescript metal deck that could suggest it’s a little cheaper feeling than other ultrabooks out there. With that being said, the Zenbook S 13 OLED is slimmer than other 13-inch laptops such as the Dell XPS 13 OLED (2021) at just 14.9mm thick.

While this makes it look ultra modern, it has the unwanted effect of meaning this laptop has very little in the way of ports – there’s only three USB-C connections and a headphone jack. Anything larger doesn’t seem to be present, and for those, you’ll need to plug in dongles.

Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED review

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 is one of the most affordable Windows laptops on the market, with a retail price as low as £529 – that’s half the cost of the MacBook Air.

Despite its affordable price, the Surface Laptop Go 2 offers a lot of quality, with a fantastic design that feels robust and sturdy. The small 12-inch screen also makes this laptop incredibly portable, which is useful whether you’re a student who needs to move between lecture halls, or an office worker with a hybrid working arrangement.

The 11th Generation Intel Core chip isn’t quite as speedy as processors found in other modern laptops, but it’s still snappy enough to speed through basic tasks. If you’re happy to stick to the likes of word documents, emails, streaming video and other productivity/entertainment apps, then this laptop is perfectly capable. You’ll only encounter an issue if you want to push it with demanding creativity apps or games.

There are a couple of minor issues, with the low-resolution display making it a poor choice for Netflix addicts, and the lack of keyboard backlight making after-dark typing a nuisance. But when you consider how cheap and portable this laptop is, it’s sure to be a popular option for those on a budget.

Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: Surface Laptop Go 2 review

The Asus Zenbook 15 OLED (2023) is a glorious productivity laptop that flies a little under the radar, with much attention reserved for the brand’s Zenbook S 13 OLED. But, make no mistake, this 15-inch laptop is worth considering.

The Zenbook 15 OLED is a productivity all-rounder, nailing almost all the features you need to get essays written and for some serious web browsing. The battery life may not be up there with the best of the best but it’s enough to get you to the end of the day. One of the key highlights is a stunning 15.6-inch 16:10 OLED display. The panel is wondrously bright and eye-catching, with impressive colour accuracy. At 15 inches, you get that extra bit of screen real estate compared with popular 13-inch rivals.

Despite being impressively light and thin, the Zenbook 15 OLED manages to cram in a great keyboard and trackpad. The full-sized keyboard has a comfortable keypress that we loved using throughout our review, while the trackpad is pleasing spacious and responsive.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7735U onboard provides more than enough juice for intensive productivity tasking. The machine can run a tad hot and the fans are a smidge eager, but it isn’t a dealbreaker. The speakers are also surprisingly great for such a trim device.

Reviewer: Stuart Andrews
Full Review: Asus Zenbook 15 OLED (2023) review

If you’re looking for a handy combination of productivity and business capabilities, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 is an ideal Windows laptop for you. It has most of what you’d want from a productivity-friendly Windows laptop in 2023, along with a sprinkle of business-friendly features.

This laptop gets the basics right, with a robust magnesium alloy offering a sturdy build along with a thin-and-light chassis. The port selection is strong and the typing experience is great. And, of course, on that keyboard is Lenovo’s signature Trackpoint as well as some physical mouse click buttons sitting about the trackpad.

The Lenovo is boosted by a high-end laptop standard OLED display. The panel brings extreme contrast and lavish colour depth. The brightness isn’t up to the same very high standard but it’s decent enough at 417 nits.

Along with its productivity and business chops, the X1 Carbon brings an added dose of portability by offering 5G connectivity when linked up with an eSIM.

Reviewer: Andrew Williams
Full Review: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 review

Looking for a gaming Windows laptop with few compromises, it’s got to be the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (2023). Some laptops offer a smidge more luxury but if all-out gaming domination is your aim then the ROG Strix Scar 16 nails it.

The ROG Strix Scar 16 showcases immense gaming performance through its 13th Gen Intel Core HX series chip as well as a high-end Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series GPU. Our testing combination was a Core i9 and RTX 4080 team-up, resulting in performance well over 100fps across several AAA titles at QHD+ and on Ultra settings. Astounding stuff. The overall gaming performance is matched by the great range of connectivity and delightful keyboard too.

This Asus laptop may be focused on gaming above all else but there is a dose of luxury too. That comes in the form of a Mini LED panel. The 16-inch 2560 x 1600 display comes with a 240Hz refresh rate and, in a turn-up for the books for many gaming laptops, provides impressive colour accuracy. The screen gets plenty bright too. It’s a stunning display for showing off lavish detail and just great across the board for however you use this laptop.

Reviewer: Stuart Andrews
Full Review: Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (2023) review

The Razer Blade 16 (2023) is made for those who want plenty of performance for both gaming and creative work but are also looking for something on the luxurious side, not content with your average build quality.

As with all Razer Blade laptops, you get a stealthy metal design that is the closest you’ll get to a Windows MacBook. The new Razer Blade 16 has the option for an added twist built-in too, a Dual Mode display. This boost allows you to natively switch between UHD+ and FHD+ resolutions, providing a better picture at FHD+ than if you simply reduced the resolution in the settings on a solely 4K display. We thought the difference was negligible but the screen also has Mini LED up its sleeve, bringing supremely accurate colours and vivid visuals.

The performance is beastly, with the Blade 16 being configurable up to an RTX 4090. Whether you’re a creator or a serious gamer, this laptop has enough to whet your appetite.

Reviewer: Adam Speight
Full Review: Razer Blade 16 (2023) review

The Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED (2023) is a rare breed of laptop, that breed being one that gives the MacBook Pro 14-inch a run for its money – and it has something MacBook laptops don’t.

What the Zenbook Pro 14 OLED has over the MacBook Pro is in its name, and that’s an OLED display. The OLED screen here is an inviting one, with a QHD+ resolution that brings colour that truly pops as well as being impressively accurate.

There’s a stunning amount of power onboard this laptop, it truly is a performance that defies the extremely portable frame of this 14-inch machine. It can be configured with an Intel Core i9-13900H and RTX 4070 combo and what you get is performance ideal for professional content creation as well as mid- to high-end gaming. Asus also includes a DialPad, a useful tool to help creators swiftly navigate between brushes, through timelines and the like.

Reviewer: Andrew Williams
Full Review: Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED (2023) review