The Best Laptops of CES 2024

Now that the 57th CES has all but wrapped up in Las Vegas, we return to the age-old practice of throwing everything we saw into the figurative Thunderdome. Which laptops came out on the tippy top among everything? You’ll have to visit our broader Best of CES 2024 list for that, but for a taste of our top picks and even more, we also developed a list of our favorite laptops.

This year, we’ve seen Intel and AMD power the first-ever laptops with onboard local AI processing silicon inside. We also got hands-on with some intriguing dual-screen and even dual-interface 2-in-1 laptops, to name a few. These are the nine best laptops of CES 2024.

Best Ultraportable Laptop

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Dell XPS 14

We see iterative updates to the XPS line each year across its various sizes, but few generational jumps are as transformative as this. New 14- and 16-inch sizes have joined the lineup (in addition to the existing 13-inch model), but even that rare occurrence is secondary to the entirely refreshed design. The Dell XPS 14 adopts the styling of the XPS 13 Plus, meaning an invisible seamless touchpad, a flush end-to-end keyboard, and an LED function row. It looks incredibly slick, and on top of that, Intel’s new Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” processors and their onboard neural processing units are powering these systems, ready to tackle local AI tasks.—Matthew Buzzi, Senior Analyst

CES 2024 Hands On: New Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16 Modernize Design, Add AI Oomph

Best Content Creation Laptop

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Asus Zenbook Duo (2024)

The Duo series itself is not new, but this format looks like the best yet. Past Duo efforts have utilized either two differently sized screens, or one big folding display, but this 2024 model features twin 14-inch OLED screens and a built-in kickstand for maximum versatility. You can set them stacked vertically, flip it side-by-side like a book, or cover the bottom panel with a detachable keyboard to use it like a traditional laptop. The 3K OLED screens look flashy with a 120Hz refresh rate, opening this system to a wide range of users. Furthermore, the Intel Core Ultra processors—all the way up to an Ultra 9 chip here—back up the idea that you can get serious work done on this innovative machine.—Matthew Buzzi, Senior Analyst

CES 2024 Hands On: Asus Zenbook Duo Gains Twin OLED Screens, Intel Core Ultra

Best Gaming Laptop

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Alienware m16 R2

We gave the Alienware m16 four stars last year, and the m16 R2 promises to build on its strengths. Crucially, it will be doing so in a more portable form factor: The entire rear thermal block has been removed and reconfigured to fit inside a 15% smaller chassis. This looks like a fine way to achieve a more travel-friendly design while maintaining power. It now tops out with an RTX 4070 GPU, but it will deliver no less power in that tier than its predecessor—impressive considering the noticeable trim down—while a dedicated Stealth Mode button will keep your RGB lighting under the radar in public.—Matthew Buzzi, Senior Analyst

CES 2024 Hands On: Alienware’s 16-Inch m16 R2 Gaming Laptop Goes Compact With Intel Core Ultra CPUs

Best Chromebook

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Asus Expertbook CX54 Chromebook Plus

This year’s show wasn’t chock full of Chromebooks, but no matter: The Expertbook CX54 Chromebook Plus is worthy of a look in a crowded field or on its own. More premium Chromebooks are no longer a rare concept, but this one is especially well made, with a sleek magnesium alloy exterior and a display hinge that angles the keyboard. It’s not all style, either, as you can look forward to the first Chromebook with Intel’s AI-ready Core Ultra processors, up to 512GB of SSD storage, and as much as 16GB of memory.—Matthew Buzzi, Senior Analyst

Best Business Laptop

(Credit: Matthew Buzzi)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12

Lenovo’s premium X1 Carbon is a long-running top pick at PCMag for serious professionals and executives, so it’s difficult to turn down another improved version. Most notably, this 2024 Gen 12 model is trimmed down from the Gen 11 model, and while it doesn’t sound like much on paper, seeing the two together emphasizes how much has been trimmed off an already small footprint. It’s impressive, considering that the screen size remains the same. On top of that, like many systems this year, Intel’s Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” chips and their AI-ready onboard NPUs should take the laptop’s capability up a level.—Matthew Buzzi, Senior Analyst

Best Budget Laptop

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

MSI Cyborg 14

Most companies are more eager to show off their expensive, shiny toys at CES, and we see particularly few affordable products in the gaming space, but the MSI Cyborg 14 bucks that trend. Its translucent chassis material, 13th Gen Intel Core processing, and Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU ceiling are attractive for entry-level gamers, but the $1,099 starting price is its greatest appeal. We’d love to see more gaming laptops in and around this price for the average shopper, when so many on the market focus on pushing the ceiling further.—Matthew Buzzi, Senior Analyst

Best Concept-Design Laptop

(Credit: Brian Westover)

Lenovo Magic Bay (ThinkBook 16p Gen 5 & ThinkBook 13x Gen 4)

People come to CES for the crazy and cool, and Lenovo did not disappoint with its updated magnetic Magic Bay accessory system for its ThinkBook business laptops. The new version of Magic Bay materializes the idea with one $199.99 product landing this April: the Magic Bay Studio, a 4K webcam attachment that adds additional speakers to the ThinkBook 16p Gen 5 or ThinkBook 13x Gen 4. However, Lenovo also showed off some further-flung concepts for Magic Bay, like a removable SSD, a small cooling fan for your face, a ring light and mirror, and an essential oil aroma diffuser. We’re excited to see where Lenovo takes this concept-made-reality beyond the CES show floor.—Joe Osborne, Deputy Managing Editor

CES 2024 Hands On: Lenovo’s Magic Bay Is Back—And it Looks (and Smells) Nice!

Best 2-in-1 Detachable Laptop

(Credit: Brian Westover)

Lenovo ThinkBook Gen 5 Hybrid

Lenovo has some interesting preparations for the 2-in-1 PC space this year, pushing the concept to the extreme in the Lenovo ThinkBook Gen 5 Hybrid. It’s a Windows 11 laptop running on Intel Meteor Lake processors with a display that doubles as an Android tablet. Armed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and its own memory and storage, the tablet separates to become a standalone device, while the bottom half can keep running Windows on an external display, turning the single laptop into two separate devices. But the two can then be used in conjunction with each other, sharing files and even apps when used separately. It’s one of the most interesting takes on the dual-device concept we’ve encountered.—Brian Westover, Lead Analyst

CES 2024 Hands On: Lenovo’s ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid Is Two Systems in One

Best 2-in-1 Convertible Laptop

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

HP Spectre x360 14 (2024)

We were able to fully review this beauty from HP in time for its announcement at the show, and we enjoyed it enough to throw another Editors’ Choice award. HP knows well how to make an effective 2-in-1 laptop, with a focus on performance and entertainment features, like new Intel Core Ultra processing, a gorgeous OLED touch screen, and lengthy battery life. Without getting into niche concerns, we can’t think of much more to ask from a premium 2-in-1 laptop. With almost all of 2024 left ahead of us, HP set the bar quite high on practically day one.—Joe Osborne, Deputy Managing Editor