Best laptop 2021: 19 laptops for every budget | WIRED UK

LG Gram 17 2021

　　The best 17-inch laptop

　　Weight 1.35kg | Size: 17.8mm thick | Battery life: 14 hours | Screen: 17-inch 2560 x 1600 | RAM: Up to 16GB | Storage: Up to 1TB | CPU: Up to 11th Gen Core i7 | OS:Windows 10 Home

　　In early 2020, the 17-inch LG Gram turned a whole lot of heads – primarily due to its astonishing size and low weight claims. However, the size didn’t cover the fact it felt a tad outdated. The new LG Gram 17 (from £1,200) makes some clever tweaks, including a new stunning Black colour option, that make this one of the best (and interesting) ultrabooks you can buy right now.

　　The main reason to buy this laptop selector UK is the huge 17-inch display. If you’ve ever thought you'd like a large display laptop you still can lug around all day, this is it. That’s because, despite its mammoth size, this laptop only weighs 1.35kg – meaning you just need to make sure your bag is big enough but it won’t break your back. The display itself is stunning – a 16:10 IPS screen and the size makes it so good for productivity, watching movies, multitasking... almost anything really.

　　To achieve this weight at this size, you might think it has to be of some unflatteringly cheap materials. However, while it doesn’t have the fancy gleaming metal body of an XPS 13 or a MacBook Air, its thinness helps to still give the magnesium alloy a solid feel – it still looks and feels premium. However, it would be fair to feel a little slighted by the cheaper feel given the prices you are paying here. But, matching Dell or Apple’s design would like result in a heavier weight – defeating the purpose of this unique laptop.

　　The thinness of this laptop hasn't impacted the typing experience much either. In fact, this is our favourite ultrabook keyboard bar the Surface Laptop 3 – offering heaps of travel and a hugely satisfying click. The same goes for the trackpad, which is huge – because, of course, there’s plenty of space to take advantage of here – as well as responsive and clicky. The size affords a ton of ports too – including two Thunderbolt 4, two USB-A 3.2, an HDMI, a microSD card reader and a headphone jack.

　　The mammoth screen, impressive keyboard and remarkable lightweight are backed up by Intel’s latest 11th Gen processors and starts at 8GB RAM – meaning, as a productivity device you’ll have no trouble here. The large size affords a large battery too – you should be able to manage between 11-13 hours, meaning you can complete a workday and have some leftover.

　　Pros: Massive display; lightweight; amazing keyboard; big trackpad; top performer

　　Cons: Lacking premium materials; no touchscreen

　　Price: From £1,200 | Check price on Amazon | Currys |LG

　　Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR

　　The best laptop for creators

　　Weight 2.5kg | Size: 21.4mm thick | Battery life: 6 hours | Screen: 17.3-inch 3840x2160 | RAM: 32/64GB | Storage: Up to 1/2TB SSD | CPU: i7-10870H/i9-10980HK | OS: Windows 10 Pro

　　While a lot of the talk around top laptops is on ultrabooks, some people need way more power than they can offer. That’s where laptops like the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR (from £2,700) come in, offering beefy internals that you’d traditionally see in gaming laptops but used here for heavyweight editing and design purposes – ideal for creative professionals.

　　The Aero 17 HDR offers more power than you could possibly dream of in most scenarios – even mid-level editors and creatives will struggle to really stretch this powerhouse machine. For creative professionals, you get a laptop that you can throw almost anything at when it comes to photo and video editing.

　　Creatives who work in the audio industry may find this device a tad disappointing for quick checks, with average speakers onboard – but pros are likely to opt for quality headphones anyways. While the Gigabyte also falls short on SSD speeds. You won’t see much noticeable slowdown from this but it's disappointing they aren’t faster when you are paying a high price for this laptop.

　　The keyboard makes everyday interactions with this laptop a dream – with a strong amount of travel and a medium amount of tactile feel that are reminiscent of an ultrabook. The trackpad is accurate but a larger size would’ve been preferable.

　　The immense performance is matched by a glorious display that hits all the right notes for creative work. You get a large 17.3in panel – letting you go wild with multi-tasking windows – and the display offers both 4K and HDR400 capabilities. The results are high levels of detail and supreme accuracy. The colours may not be as punchy as OLED rivals but, in the creative industry where accurate colours are king, oversaturation is something you’d want to avoid.

　　Pros: Top-drawer laptop performance; ideal for creators; decent keyboard; amazing display

　　Cons: SSD speeds could be better; mediocre speakers

　　Price: From £2,700 | Check price on Amazon | Currys |Overclockers

　　HP Spectre x360 14

　　A stunning 3:2 display and useful 360-degree hinge

　　Weight 1.34kg | Size: 17mm thick | Battery life: 11 hours | Screen: 13.5-inch, Up to 3000 x 2000 | RAM: Up to 32GB | Storage: Up to 1TB | CPU: Up to 11th Gen Core i7 | OS: Windows 10 Home

　　Unlike other high-end laptop brands – like Dell, Microsoft and more – HP has had a 2-in-1 laptop as its ultimate flagship ultrabook for several years now. The HP Spectre x360 14 (from £1,100) takes this to the next level by adding a new model that adopts the most coveted of productivity features – a 3:2 display.

　　This new 14-inch model sits neatly between the 13-inch and 15-inch versions, coming with the design of the larger equivalent meaning that there’s room for a speaker grill above the keyboard. If you’re at all familiar with this range then there’s little change to the design, the Spectre x360 range offers sharper and more angular edges and corners than your average ultrabook. To some it may be a refreshing change but, in daily use, these edges can make it a tad uncomfortable to hold.

　　When you're handling this 2-in-1, you’ll find it super easy to flip it between tent, tablet and regular old laptop mode – with a strong but easily manoeuvrable hinge. The design affords a half-decent port selection – offering more than the measly dual USB-C and headphone jack setups of the Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Air but less than the well-equipped Razer Book 13 – the result is dual USB-C ports, a headphone jack, a microSD card reader and a USB-A port.

　　Day-to-day, the 11th gen Intel processor performance, alongside upwards of 8GB RAM, makes this laptop feel relatively on par with the likes of the Dell XPS 13 and LG Gram 17 – However, our testing did show it actually falls on single and multi-core performance. If you’re a productivity user, this likely won’t be a big deal but if you’re trying to eke out some light editing – or just want the best value for your £1,200+ – then you may want to opt for one of those aforementioned devices.

　　On top of the horsepower, the 3:2 display goes some way to making this one of the best displays around for productivity work – packing a lot of words on your screen when reading articles or writing documents. The quality of the display helps a ton in this regard too. If you pick up the pricier OLED model, you’ll be greeted by phenomenally bright and detailed visuals – making this a great 2-in-1 for work and watching videos too.

　　Pros: Gorgeous OLED display on 3K2K model; eye-catching angular design; decent keyboard; good port selection

　　Cons: Trackpad not very clicky

　　Price: From £1,100 | Check price on Amazon | HP

　　Huawei MateBook 14 (2020)

　　Another value AMD triumph

　　Weight 1.49kg | Size: 15.9mm thick | Battery life: 11 hours | Screen: 14-inch 2160x1440 | RAM: 8GB/16GB | Storage: 1TB CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 4600H/Ryzen 7 4800H | OS: Windows 10 Home

　　If you’ve been on the hunt for a high-performing productivity laptop, whether it's for study or working from home in Office apps and on the web, you may be dismayed by the Intel-sporting ultrabooks that often cost around £1,000 and above. Like the impressive Lenovo Yoga Slim 7, the Huawei MateBook 14 (from £599) leverages impressive AMD horsepower with an extremely appealing starting price. The stunning value of the MateBook 14 even puts it directly at odds with Huawei’s £1,600 flagship laptop – the MateBook X Pro.

　　You can get the MateBook 14 with either an AMD Ryzen 5 4700H or Ryzen 7 4800H – offering six and eight cores respectively, surpassing Intel’s quad-core Tiger Lake mobile processors. These processors are blistering fast – offering sustained strong performance – and this means that they’ll absolutely eat up the productivity tasks you throw at them. From browsing in upwards of 10-15 tabs to multitasking with media apps and more. The capabilities are similar to what you get from Intel’s top-of-line i7 processor, but at a far more wallet-friendly price. In many ways, the performance on offer here, for productivity tasks, may be overkill – as it is limited by its integrated GPU so won’t be able to manage much beyond basic video editing. However, at this price, overkill is a welcome luxury.

　　The MateBook 14 has a couple of quirks that prevent it from surpassing the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 as our value recommendation. Like its Lenovo rival, the display is fairly uninspiring – even at a 1440p resolution – with washed-out colours. It does offer a 3:2 aspect ratio, compared to the Yoga Slim 7’s 16:9, which is a godsend for productivity. The MateBook 14 is also slightly thicker and heavier, and its weight does feel surprisingly noticeable for a device that’s relatively small – you’ll notice this one when lugging it around in a bag. Potentially owing to the higher resolution display, the battery life here doesn’t match the 13 hours of the Lenovo – managing around 11. However, all these negatives come about when comparing it to [i]the[/i] best value laptop on the market – against Intel-powered ultrabooks from HP, LG and, even, Dell, this sub-£700 from Huawei is worth your consideration.

　　An area in which the MateBook 14 comfortably surpasses its near £1,000 more expensive flagship stablemate – the Huawei MateBook X Pro – is in the keyboard and trackpad performance. Whether it's owing to its thickness or the pricier model attempting something different, the MateBook 14 shoots for simplicity and gets it right. Both the keyboard and trackpad offer plenty of travel and are equally responsive – with the former also providing some pleasing feedback you just don’t often get on these ultrabook devices. The worst part of the keyboard doesn’t even really relate to the keys themselves, with that pesky pop-up webcam that Huawei won’t give up still nestled at the back. Other than that, it’s a top drawer combo.

　　The MateBook 14 offers an impressively wide range of ports, even if the selection may feel slightly outdated. There’s a USB-C port (not Thunderbolt, given this is an AMD-powered device), two USB-A, an HDMI and a headphone jack. Having one USB-C port in 2021 does make this laptop feel a bit behind the times but the options are welcome, nevertheless.

　　For several years, Huawei has offered tremendous value with the laptops it offers between £500 and £800 and the MateBook 14 is no different. It joins the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 as an AMD-powered offering that makes many £1000 laptops look a little silly when it comes to value. However, some more high-end features and touches of luxury are lacking.

　　Pros: Bags of power; great keyboard with pleasing feedback; 3:2 aspect ratio

　　Cons: Bland display; surprisingly heavy; annoying webcam placement

　　Price: From £599 | Check price on Amazon | Huawei | Currys