Best 14-inch laptops 2024: Small size, big potential
The best 14-inch laptops, tried and tested by Laptop Mag
1. Quick list
2. Best overall
3. Best budget laptop
4. Best gaming laptop
5. Best Ultrabook
6. Best display
7. Best all-rounder
8. Best 2-in-1
9. Best Windows laptop
10. Best business laptop
11. Best workstation
12. Best Chromebook
13. How we test laptops
The best 14-inch laptops are small in size, but big in potential. Hitting the sweet spot between a 13-inch laptop's portability and a 15-inch laptop's expanded performance, 14-inch laptops are taking over as one of the most popular laptop form factors around — and for good reason.
While a typically slim and minimalist form will see you lose out on some of the larger USB Type-A or Ethernet ports, 14-inch laptops tend to be outfitted with powerful Thunderbolt ports for excellent power delivery and lightning-fast transfer speeds. You're also likely to find dazzling edge-to-edge displays, lighter and sleeker builds, and, more often than not, an improved battery life over their 15.6-inch counterparts.
Are you in the market for a new machine that's both portable and powerful? We've put together our shortlist of the best 14-inch laptops you can currently lay your hands on. Our selection draws across our impressive library of reviews to pick out laptops suited to a variety of different budgets and use cases to help you narrow down your search. Read on for our guide on the best 14-inch laptops in 2024.
Best 14-inch laptops in 2024: Quick list
Best overall
Apple's best keeps getting better. The M2 Pro/Max MacBook is hands down the best 14-inch option available right now, especially if you're not tied to the Windows platform.
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Best budget
Budget buys don't always mean sacrificing premium features. That's what the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED manages to showcase, anyway. All for less than $1,000.
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Best gaming
Brutish power, in a dainty 14-inch frame —Alienware are known for making some of the most premium gaming notebooks around, and the x14 R1 continues that legacy with ease.
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Best ultrabook
The Acer Swift Go 14 isn't called a "MacBook killer" without merit, this powerful 14-inch laptop has incredible performance and a stunning 2.8K OLED panel that's hard to beat.
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Best display
Two screens sounds like a rappers name, but it's also what's on deck for the ZenBook Pro Duo. Maximize your productivity with the additional screen space of this ingenious design.
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Best all-rounder
Impactful performance and a stunning 14-inch OLED screen to boot, Lenovo's IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon is ideal for the jack-of-all-trades user for a wide range of digital activities.
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Best 2-in-1
Nothing's perfect, but some things get pretty close. One such thing is the Yoga 9i 2-in-1. It's awesome power, hypnotic 2.8K OLED display, and impressive sound is hard to rival.
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Best for Windows
The Acer Swift 5 is a fantastic Windows laptop that packs a genuine punch thanks to its 12th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, ultra-fast SSD, and big name-beating performance potential.
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Best business
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon means absolute business, with this fantastic laptop model offering incredible battery life and all of the iconic ThinkPad bells and whistles we love.
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Best workstation
A premium workhorse that will deliver incredible performance if you can get past its price tag. Though rest well assured, the Dell Precision 5470 will work for every last red cent you put down.
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Best Chromebook
Acer's Chromebooks are among the best on the market, the Spin 714 is a top example. Its solid performance isn't just great for a Chromebook, it's great performance. Period.
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Best overall 14-inch laptop
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Apple Macbook Pro 14 sets the standard for other 14-inch laptops to follow. It's the total package and an obvious top pick for anybody looking to pick up a laptop in this category. Beyond the MacBook's iconic style, its M2 Pro or M2 Max SoC is a consistent powerhouse when it comes to accomplishing computing tasks and a real pioneer when it comes to efficiency and battery life.
Beyond the MacBook Pro 14's performance, you'll find Apple's iconic keyboard and plus-sized trackpad, powerful speakers, a fantastic high-resolution webcam, and a stunning 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display.
This MacBook Pro 14 is a multipurpose laptop that can do just about anything, from productivity to creation — and even a little gaming, too. Work or play, the MacBook Pro 14 is a best-in-class option that is well worth a place on any buyer's prospective shortlist.
See our full M2 Pro MacBook Pro review.
Best 14-inch budget laptop
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Buying budget doesn't mean sacrificing a premium aesthetic or solid performance. In fact, for less than $800 you can snag yourself the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED, a stylish laptop backed by 12th gen Intel performance with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
Not every laptop has to achieve stratospheric levels of face-melting performance or the type of graphical prowess that could rival the latest games consoles. The Zenbook 14 OLED instead provides a decent platform with which you can handle a considerable amount of work and pairs it with a great battery life and a smooth 90Hz 1080p display that's both crisp and vibrant.
See our full Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Q409ZA) review.
Best 14-inch gaming laptop
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Alienware's catalog of laptops might turn some away with its prices, but that kind of investment usually results in some pretty phenomenal gaming performance and incredible on-screen visuals.
Case in point: the Alienware x14 R1 — a portable gaming platform with everything you need to burn through your game library without a second thought. Armed with a 12th gen Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-Series graphics, the x14 is a tremendous 14-inch option, brimming with gaming potential. Add to that a ridiculously fast SSD with 2TB of storage and 16GB of high-speed RAM and you have a well-rounded machine that can even serve a purpose as a decent workstation or creator-class device.
It's not the most premium gaming laptop you can aim for, and if that's what you're looking for then our selection of the best gaming laptops will do you nicely, but it is a solid mid-range option for gaming looking for quality and visual splendor in a portable 14-inch form.
See our full Alienware x14 R1 review.
Best 14-inch Ultrabook
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There always has to be one machine out there touting the "MacBook killer" moniker, and our current best pick for that title in the 14-inch laptop category is the Acer Swift Go 14. It's packed to the gills with high-performance components and ticks off all of the Ultrabook requirements. Better still, it's plenty affordable and houses one of the most vivid OLED displays we've come across.
The Swift Go 14's incredible performance is the result of a 13th gen Evo certified Intel Core i7 processor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, and 16GB of RAM with 512GB of SSD storage to back it up. However, regardless of the top-notch tech housed inside, it's the Swift Go 14's dazzling 2.8K, 14-inch OLED display that will steal the show for many.
See our full Acer Swift Go 14 review.
Best 14-inch laptop display
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Asus’s latest Zenbook Pro 14 Duo features the world’s first 14.5-inch, 2.8K 120Hz OLED laptop display. Like its larger 15-inch variant, this is a beautifully built, wow-factor laptop for content creators that will grab everyone's attention wherever you choose to set up shop for the day.
However, you better be near an outlet if you plan to use both displays and get in a full day's work. That said, packed with an Intel 12th Gen Core i7 CPU, Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti GPU, two gorgeous displays, and potent speakers, the Zenbook Pro Duo 14 has a lot going for it.
The Pro Duo 14 also smartly comes with an excellent, highly accurate stylus that is a joy to use. However, there is the crowded keyboard, and thumb-sized touchpad to contend with, which will be a turn-off for some. Overall, it’s a perky performer which could make it perfect for on-the-go content creators who will put that stylus to good use.
See our full Asus ZenBook Pro 14 Duo OLED review.
Best 14-inch all-rounder laptop
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
If you're unsure of what kind of laptop you need, it's sometimes best to aim for the middle of the pack and choose a solid all-rounder. In this case, we'd recommend the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon — an AMD-powered laptop that ticks all the boxes when it comes to striking the balance between performance, price, and comfort.
AMD's Ryzen 7 5800U processor provides the muscle, with Radeon Graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a zippy 512GB of SSD storage all playing a vital supporting role when it comes to this laptop's strong overall performance.
But a bright and colorful 14-inch OLED panel and quality speakers make the user experience stand out, with the combination of both greatly bolstering the Slim 7 Carbon's entertainment potential.
See our full Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon review.
Best 14-inch 2-in-1 laptop
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Everyone loves a comeback, and the tale of the Yoga 9i's return to form is exactly that. The previous model suffered from middling performance and a weak battery life, but the 8th Generation of this fantastic device put to rest all of our complaints.
While its gorgeous 14-inch (2880 x 1880) OLED display is no doubt a potential show stealer, there's no weak link in this ensemble cast thanks to a powerful 13th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU tuned for performance, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of supersonic SSD storage, and Intel Iris Xe graphics.
On top of all of this is the Yoga 9i's convertible potential, offering tablet, tent, and traditional laptop modes of interaction. This versatile machine has plenty to offer to the right owner, and came within a hair's width of a perfect score during our review.
See our full Levovo Yoga 9i (Gen 8) review.
Best 14-inch laptop for Windows
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Reasons to buy
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If we hadn't already attributed the title of "Macbook Killer" to one of the other Acer laptops on this list then the Acer Swift 5, with its rival-crushing performance and striking dark green and gold design, would no doubt have claimed it for itself.
A 13-hour battery life, a stunning 2.5K display, and a rapid SSD are all joined by peppy 12th gen Intel Core i7 performance that results in one of the best day-to-day Windows laptops you're likely to find within the same price bracket.
Acer's offering is a dark horse, one many might initially overlook. However, in doing so, many pass up the opportunity to lay claim to one of the best laptops on the market when it comes to delivering big on price-to-performance.
See our full Acer Swift 5 (2022) review.
Best 14-inch business laptop
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Lenovo's legacy of supplying incredible ThinkPads to the business sector is back to its dizzying heights. The X1 Carbon, now in it's 11th generation, is is a true return to form for the ThinkPad, solving the battery life woes of the previous model and supplying all the power and performance you'd expect to accompany the ThinkPad name.
This time around the X1 Carbon tallied up 13 hours and 45 minutes in the Laptop Mag battery test, and topped premium average scores throughout our benchmarks trials. That performance comes courtesy of a 13th gen Intel Core i7 processor backed by Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of speedy SSD storage.
Perhaps most impressive is how the X1 Carbon managed to squeeze all of this into a body that weighs just 2.5 pounds without sacrificing anything of its excellent keyboard or bright 14-inch display.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 review.
Best 14-inch workstation
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Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
"The world's smallest, thinnest, and most powerful 14-inch workstation" — sometimes the marketing for these devices says it all for you.
The Dell Precision 5470 is outfitted with a mighty Intel Core i9-12900H CPU, a processor designed with enthusiasts in mind to deliver maximum performance wherever possible. Graphics are handled by an Nvidia RTX A1000 GPU, which is capable of some considerable polygon pushing if that's what you need. Rounding things off nicely is 32GB of RAM and a bountiful 1TB of SSD storage.
Designed with the power user in mind, the Precision's powerful performance is met with a pretty potent price tag for most people. But when you absolutely, positively need every drop of performance, accept no substitutes.
See our full Dell Precision 5470 review.
Best 14-inch Chromebook
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
There's a familiar turn of phrase that appears a lot when somebody talks about an Ultrabook running ChromeOS. You may have noticed it before — when people mention how fast it is, or how well it performs. It's almost always followed by "for a Chromebook."
The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 bucks that trend entirely, packing a substantial 12th Gen Intel Core i5 processor with Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. It's a more than capable machine with plenty to offer and even features a crisp and vivid 14-inch 1080p display,...
... Notice what wasn't tacked on at the end of that?
See our full Acer Chromebook Spin 714 review.
How we test laptops
We put 14-inch laptops through extensive benchmark testing — both synthetic and real-world — before they end up in the hands of our reviewers. We evaluate each aspect of the laptop, including its performance, battery life, display, speakers and heat management.
In our benchmark testing, we use a Klein K10 colorimeter to detect the brightness and sRGB color gamut of the laptop's display. For performance testing, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 5.0 and 3DMark professional graphics tests.
To determine real-world performance, we task the laptop to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution and to duplicate a 4.97GB multimedia file. Our real-world graphics test is the Dirt 3 benchmark with medium settings at 1080p resolution. Gaming laptops go through an entire library of games at high settings to see how their discrete GPUs keep up.
We also run heat tests by playing a 15-minute full-screen video and measuring temperatures in different areas of the laptop. Last but not least, our battery test consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. For MacBooks and premium Windows 10 laptops, a runtime of over 9 hours is considered a good result whereas gaming laptops and workstations that can stay powered for longer than 5 hours deserve praise.
These tests are complemented with extensive hands-on testing from our reviewers who critique everything from the laptop's materials to the feel of its touchpad.
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Rael Hornby, potentially influenced by far too many LucasArts titles at an early age, once thought he’d grow up to be a mighty pirate. However, after several interventions with close friends and family members, you’re now much more likely to see his name attached to the bylines of tech articles. While not maintaining a double life as an aspiring writer by day and indie game dev by night, you’ll find him sat in a corner somewhere muttering to himself about microtransactions or hunting down promising indie games on Twitter.