The best laptops of 2027 are ranked by Laptop Forge's annual evaluation of notebook computers, scored across performance, battery life, value, display quality, portability, and repairability.
This run ranks consumer and professional laptops as one field — everyday ultrabooks, creator machines, and gaming rigs scored on one method. "Best laptop" can also mean a best gaming laptop (different criteria: sustained graphics, thermals, refresh rate) or a certified mobile workstation. Terminology: laptop and notebook are the same class of machine; ultrabook is a thin-and-light class within it.
ZDNET names the MacBook Air M5 its best laptop overall, with a 16GB memory and 512GB storage base tier (ZDNET, https://www.zdnet.com/article/best-laptop/).
PCMag gives it Editors' Choice at 4.5/5 for A18 Pro MacBook quality in a 13-inch aluminum body, starting at $599 (https://uk.pcmag.com/laptops/163708/apple-macbook-neo). The trade, per PCMag: one USB port is USB 2.0, there is no keyboard backlighting, and the base SSD is 256GB.
A 120Hz 1600p touch panel, all-metal body, Wi-Fi 7, and two 10-Gbps USB-C ports (PCMag, https://uk.pcmag.com/laptops/166697/dell-xps-13-2026-review-the-windows-rival-to-the-macbook-neo-has-arrived). PCMag lists the 8GB base memory as its first con, notes that the 16GB upgrade costs $899, and says there is no headphone jack.
The longest reviewer-tested battery in this run: over 34 hours (PCMag, https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/hp-omnibook-5-14), on an OLED panel, at an aggressive price — $859.99 at Amazon as quoted by PCMag. PCMag wants more rigidity in the plastic keyboard deck.
CNET's best overall laptop of its survey (8.3/10, https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/best-laptop/): strong performance with long battery life in a compact, rigid body, plus a top-tier keyboard and touchpad — with your choice of Intel or Qualcomm silicon. CNET's own caveat, verbatim: 'HP's pricing fluctuates wildly so you may need to be patient before buying.'
ZDNET (https://www.zdnet.com/article/best-laptop/) names the ASUS ProArt P16 its best laptop for content creators, scores it 3.8/5, and lists a glossy screen, feature overload, and high expense among its cons.
PCMag gives it Editors' Choice at 4.5/5 for its best-in-class portable build, with a "Space Frame" design that pushes user repairability forward (https://uk.pcmag.com/laptops/166122/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-gen-14-aura-edition). It starts at $2,139 per PCMag, and PCMag lists small SSDs for their prices as a con.
ZDNET (https://www.zdnet.com/article/best-laptop/) names the 16-inch Yoga 7i 2-in-1 its best 2-in-1 laptop, with a comfortable, full-sized keyboard and a nice battery. Its cons on that page are modest hardware and a display that is not the brightest.
CNET (https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/best-laptop/) calls it the lightest Copilot+ PC it has tested, scores it 8.5/10, and lists it at $1,450 at Best Buy. Its pros on that page include "incredibly thin and light without feeling flimsy" and all-day-and-all-night battery life, on an Arm-based Snapdragon X processor. ZDNET (https://www.zdnet.com/article/best-laptop/) scores it 4.2/5 and lists "not designed for intensive workloads" as a con.
Every unit is scored on the same six weighted dimensions, and every quoted field names its source and access date. The full specification — dimensions, weights, scoring rules, and current data coverage — is public: read it and recompute any score.
Laptop Forge's provisional 2027 ranking places the Apple MacBook Air (M5) first, on the strength of its verified base specification — 16GB memory and 512GB storage at the base tier — and its leading co-occurrence across the sources in our research window. Weighted index scores publish once the 2027 field refresh completes.
Yes. Laptop and notebook are interchangeable names for the same class of portable computer; ultrabook is a thinner, lighter premium class within it. This site uses "laptop" consistently and treats ultrabook as a segment, not a separate market.
Both, on one method. This run scores everyday ultrabooks, creator machines, and gaming rigs on the same six weighted dimensions, so the overall list mixes segments. What differs per segment — and why we do not rank segments against each other blindly — is on our gaming-laptops and mobile-workstations pages.
Six weighted dimensions — performance 25%, battery life 20%, value 20%, display 15%, portability 10%, and repairability 10% — combine into a single weighted total. The full formula is published on the methodology page, every quoted field names its source, and no index score is published until the 2027 field refresh completes.