In the past, buying one of the best 17-inch laptops meant a big, bulky monstrosity, but slimmer bezels, new materials, and more efficient cooling systems helped these once-mammoth laptops slim down.

Content creators, in particular, will appreciate the expansive canvas provided by a 17-inch display. Whether editing photos and videos or designing graphics, the extra screen real estate can make a big difference. However, a 17-inch display is a significant advantage, even if you multitask, work with spreadsheets, or immerse yourself in streaming entertainment.

No matter your priorities — power, weight, or budget — there's a 17-inch laptop that perfectly suits your needs.

Here are our current picks for the best 17-inch laptops.

The Quick List

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Best overall 17-inch laptop

The LG Gram 17 is a featherweight laptop that punches like a heavyweight. This powerful laptop is geared toward creative professionals like photo editors, graphic designers, and illustrators. The Intel Core i7-1360P processor won't keep up with the latest Intel 14th gen CPUs, but it was ahead of the class last year with its Geekbench 5.5 score of 9,945, handily beating out the then premium laptop average of 7,048. The SSD was a speedster then, and now, its 1,669.29MBps transfer rate is blowing away even the current premium laptop average of 1,181MBps.

If the battery life and productivity performance didn't have you looking around the outside of the laptop and figuring out how LG fit everything in there, wait until you find out there's also an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. It's not going to replace your gaming laptop, but for casual gamers or content creators using apps that leverage a dedicated GPU, this is an incredible option for frequent travelers. Be sure to check for that feature if it's important to you; there are numerous configurations with just Intel Iris Xe graphics. This option will be acceptable for productivity and other fundamental computing tasks, but those gaming and content-creation apps will take a hit.

The display will be the other most significant selling point for content creators considering the LG Gram 17. It covers 115 percent of the DCI-P3 color space and delivers an impressive 438 nits of brightness. Both marks exceed the premium averages of 90 percent and 384 nits, respectively. Even a gaming laptop like the Acer Nitro 17 can't match these scores, coming in at 84.3% and 348 nits in the two tests. The LG Gram 17's scores translate to vibrant and realistic colors, crucial factors for creative work.

Additionally, unlike the MacBook Pro, the LG Gram 17 features a wider variety of ports, eliminating the need for dongles and making it more convenient for connecting to various peripherals. Overall, the LG Gram 17 impresses with good battery life, capable graphics performance, and high-quality audio, making it a serious contender against established players like Apple and Lenovo.

See our full LG Gram 17 2023 review

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Best budget 17-inch laptop

You won't find a cheaper 17-inch laptop than the Acer Chromebook 317. Available for under $500, this is a large screen living on a small budget. Now beyond its size, the 17.3-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) display won't blow you away, but it is a massive viewport into Chrome or whatever Google Workspace-powered productivity task you may have slotted in for today.

You need to set your expectations properly for this laptop; it is not a secret performance beast; it has an Intel Pentium Silver processor, which will allow you to browse the web and watch streaming videos. If possible look for the model with 8GB of RAM, but it scored below the Chromebook averages for Geekbench and JetStream 2.0, which test overall performance and web browsing performance, so again stick to this laptop for single tasks. The 64GB of eMMC storage means that you'll need to stick mostly to cloud storage, but it's a Chromebook, so you were hopefully already planning on that.

That seemed like a lot of negatives. What else is there to love about the Chromebook 317? The build quality is outstanding, the keyboard is massive with a full number pad, and the chiclet keys are surprisingly comfortable and responsive. You won't find these features on another laptop in this price range.

The 9 hours and 30 minutes of battery life it achieved in our battery test won't win awards, but it's more than enough for a typical day's usage and just shy of the average Chromebook battery life of 9 hours and 50 minutes.

The Acer Chromebook 317 is intriguing as the world's first, and only, 17-inch Chromebook. While it isn't the best 17-inch laptop for everyone, it is a fine choice for users with minimal needs outside of a big screen.

See our full Acer Chromebook 317 review

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Best 17-inch laptop for gaming

"Affordable" and "17-inch gaming laptop" aren't terms that typically go together, but the Asus Strix G17 is available for under $1,500. This laptop won't disappoint productivity hounds and gamers looking for a powerful 17-inch laptop at a reasonable price.

Asus opts for AMD's Ryzen 9 7845HX CPU paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. This blend of AMD and Nvidia repeatedly hit it out of the park regarding affordable gaming laptops, so it's no shock to see it doing well here again. On our Geekbench 6.0 test it crushed the category average of 7,185 with a score of 13,430. That was also enough to beat the MSI Katana 15 (Intel Core i7-13620H, 12,562) and Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX, 13,063).

Considering it's an RTX 4060 it fared reasonably well against RTX 4070 competitors. In the Assasin's Creed Valhalla test at 1080p with maximum graphics settings it gave a steady 103 frames per second. That was just behind the MSI Katana 15 (RTX 4070, 106 fps), Origin EON16-S (RTX 4070, 106 fps), and the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (RTX 4070, 113 fps).

Our review configuration featured 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. It maxes out at 32GB of RAM, but don't buy the 8GB model, which is woefully insufficient for a gaming laptop. Adding up all these specs equates to smooth gameplay and the ability to handle demanding tasks, all on a gorgeous 17.3-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) display with a buttery-smooth 240Hz refresh rate.

Are you looking for a large screen without breaking the bank? The Asus Strix G17 is a great choice. This budget-friendly option delivers more than enough performance for everyday tasks. Its AMD processor and Nvidia graphics card make it a capable gaming or content-creation laptop. It offers a well-rounded package with good productivity power, high frame rates in games, and impressive speakers.

See our full Asus ROG Strix G17 review

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How to choose a 17-inch laptop

Step 1 is to make sure it has a 17-inch display, beyond that the features we look for to choose the best 17-inch laptop are the same qualifications we would look for in any laptop. It's also worth noting that 17-inch laptops are a bit of an endangered species, which is why you'll only find three entries on this list currently. We are seeing more laptop makers turn to 18-inch or 16-inch displays for their larger screen offerings.

Screen Resolution: Don't settle for anything less than a 1920 x 1080 (aka 1080p or full HD) resolution, particularly on a 17-inch laptop. You may want a QHD (2560 x 1440), 2K (2048 x 1080) resolution panel, or even a 4k laptop if you're a content creator. Gamers should pay attention to the refresh and response rate. We recommend at least 144Hz and 3-millisecond, respectively.

CPU: An Intel Core i5 or Core Ultra 5 provides good mainstream performance. Some budget systems will come with Core i3, which is good enough for basic tasks, but avoid it for a . Get a Core i7 or a quad-core processor (serial number ends in HQ or HK) for gaming or high-end productivity tasks such as video editing and 3D modeling. AMD is enjoying a renaissance with its Ryzen line of processors. Ryzen 7 is the middle-of-the-road chip that will bring mainstream performance, while Ryzen 5 and 9 cover your entry-level and power user needs.

RAM: 8GB is the minimum we want to see in a laptop in 2024, but if it's within your budget, spring for 16GB, as it will ensure better performance over your laptop's life. Professional power users, content creators, and gamers will look for 32GB and beyond, but that is overkill for most people. While we would not recommend 4GB systems in general, if it is a secondary laptop that will see use predominantly for light web browsing and steaming, it will suffice.

Storage: 256 GB of internal storage is probably enough unless you're a gamer, content creator, or power user. On budget laptops, look out for eMMC memory; while still flash memory, it is much slower than an SSD.

Graphics Chip: Gamers and creative professionals should get either one of the latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 or 40 series GPUs or an AMD Radeon 7000 series GPU. Everyone else will be happy with the CPU's built-in integrated graphics, which have improved considerably in recent years.

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How We Test 17-inch Laptops

Over the course of a year, we review over 100 laptops, covering every price point and use case. Whether you’re looking for a productivity workhorse, a badass gaming system, or a multimedia machine to kick back and watch a movie or two, we can help you find your ideal match.

To make our best 17-inch laptops list, the system needs to score at least 4 out of 5 stars on our reviews and deliver on the things shoppers care about most. Our evaluations focus on design, comfort, display quality, keyboard and touchpad, performance, battery life, and value.

Our expert reviewers also test each product to see how it looks, feels, and performs in everyday situations. Because we see so many different notebooks, we can compare each to its direct competitors and give you an idea of how it compares to the average laptop in its price band.

When we bring a laptop into our laboratory, we aim to see how it would work if you brought it into your home or office. While we use industry-standard benchmarks such as Geekbench and 3DMark, we focus heavily on real-world tests that we have developed in-house.

To test endurance, the Laptop Mag Battery test surfs the web at 150 nits of brightness until the system runs out of juice. We use a giant spreadsheet macro that matches 65,000 names with their addresses to judge pure processing power, a video transcoder that converts a 4K video to 1080p, and the Geekbench 5 synthetic test. We measure graphics prowess with both 3DMark Ice Storm / Fire Strike and a series of games, including Assassin's Creed: Mirage, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Red Dead Redemption 2, just to name a few.

We use a colorimeter to measure screen brightness and color gamut, while other instruments help us determine a laptop's key travel and ambient heat. For more details on our benchmarking procedures, see this page on how we test laptops.

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Why Trust Laptop Mag

Laptop Mag reviews over one hundred different laptops yearly, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming.

We are 100 percent independent and have decades of experience to help you buy with confidence. In fact, Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing products for three decades and continues to deliver trustworthy reviews you can rely on.

Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it.

One of the world's largest technology publishers, Future Publishing, enforces our editorial trustworthiness. As a company, we have unrivaled experience across every tech sector — and we're the group's specialist for all things mobile tech.

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Microsoft unveiled the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3 (sorry, the Go 4 doesn’t exist unless you’re a business entity) at the latest Surface Event and they’re already the most disappointing products of the year.

Doubly disappointing coming from the brand that makes Windows, but not unexpected. Windows is a nightmare, and so are Surface Laptops apparently. Yes, they’re pretty, but for how much? Catch me outside begging for change to afford something that won’t last more than a couple years.

You shouldn’t be jumping for these products, and let me tell you why.

Surface Laptop Go (away) 3

Let’s start with the Surface Laptop Go 3 — $799 for 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Okay, a little much, but wait, we’re forgetting the 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1235U processor. Well, what’s wrong with that? Only that it’s a year behind, and will soon be two years out of date by the time Intel’s 14th Gen rolls out in January.

Yes, $800 is a lot of money for an out of date product. You know what’s just $869? The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED. That’s a 14-inch OLED laptop with 2.8K resolution (Surface is 1.5K), an AMD Ryzen 7 7730U CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. And for just $70 more? How could that be? Easy — Microsoft is upcharging you.

You know who else upcharges its products? Apple. Do you know why it can get away with it? I’m not happy about it by any means, but the Cupertino crew has proprietary software and consistently powerful products. Microsoft has the software, but it’s not doing anything interesting with it. Tell me why I should buy a Surface if I’m not getting anything unique out of Windows?

Surface Laptop (get out of the) Studio 2

If I have to explain why the Surface Laptop Studio 2’s price is so offensive, you must be the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” setting a crime syndicate’s worth of money on fire on a daily basis. But let’s go over the starting specs real quick: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700H CPU (yes, Microsoft does know that 13th Gen exists), 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and a 14.4-inch, 2.4K display. Not bad, right? Well, that’ll be $2,000, please.

I feel like I just died and went to a not very nice place. Oh look, we just reviewed the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED for $2,099. It comes with an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, and a 2.8K (2800 x 1800) 14-inch OLED display. Wow, upgrades across the board for just $100 more? We must be living in fantasy land, that cannot be!

If you wanted to get a Surface Laptop Studio 2 that wasn’t completely useless, you’d have to pay $2,400 for the RTX 4050 model. But even if you go all in, you’d be paying $3,700 to get only an RTX 4060 GPU and remain uncomfortably at a Core i7 (sure, you get 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD, but those are superficial upgrades at this price point). While Microsoft remembered 13th Gen this time around, it forgot about Core i9.

Seriously, what is the point of Surface laptops charging so much for so little? There’s absolutely nothing unique on offer that another Windows laptop can’t completely and utterly destroy.

Surface needs to change

The only way that the Surface brand doesn’t die out entirely is if Microsoft changes course. It either needs to offer the best deals for its products, like how Amazon has cornered the market on cheap tablets. Either that, or it needs to offer something exclusive, like how Google has optimized Android best for its proprietary devices.

As far as I am concerned, Microsoft needs to either get serious about its Surface devices, or just give up and focus entirely on its software. I mean come on, these devices come with only a 30-day trial for Microsoft 365 Family and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The easiest way to make these laptops worthwhile is to provide permanent licenses for its software on Surface. Wow, solved your problem, and you’ve easily become the best-selling laptop maker in the world. Too bad you won’t do that.

Sigh. I hoped for more out of Surface, but it’s just another drop in the sea of laptops.

Microsoft just announced the Surface Laptop Studio 2, and the company made it clear there is one competitor in its sights: the 14-inch MacBook Pro.

With its choice of 13th Gen Intel Core i7 CPUs (paired with a VPU for AI acceleration), and a choice of integrated or dedicated graphics, this versatile touchscreen machine has more versatility for creators than Apple’s powerhouse.

But is that enough in the face of the fearsome Apple Silicon, its tight macOS integration, a suite of creative apps, and impressive stamina? Let’s find out.

Surface Laptop Studio 2 vs 14-inch MacBook Pro: Specs

Surface Laptop Studio 2 vs 14-inch MacBook Pro: Price

The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999 and can go all the way up to a whopping $6,299. 

• Surface Laptop Studio 2 (base model): $1,999
• 14-inch MacBook Pro (M2 Pro base model): $1,999
• 14-inch MacBook Pro (M2 Max base model): $3,099

Given the starting price disparity with that M2 Max model, we’ll focus on that $2,000 machine in our comparison.

Surface Laptop Studio 2 vs 14-inch MacBook Pro: Design

• Both laptop designs remain identical to their previous generations
• MacBook Pro sports a flat, utilitarian aesthetic with no touch screen/hinge-based construction
• Surface Laptop Studio 2 brings more versatility with its display that can be laid practically flat like a portable easel

As much as we want Apple to push the boat out and be a little more ambitious with redesigns (or at least a new color), Apple’s streamlined minimalism is drop-dead gorgeous. It is a flat, utilitarian design that is built to give you confidence in its aluminum unibody.

Meanwhile, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 also doesn’t change a thing about the design compared to the previous model, and that’s a good thing. The Dynamic Woven Hinge lets you pull the bottom of that display towards you, which unlocks three modes: Laptop, Stage, and Studio.

It’s a premium construction with far more versatility in use cases than you find on the MacBook Pro, but I was hoping that the awkward slab stuck under the bottom for cooling would be gone.

In fact, it’s not even the additional mechanism of the Surface Laptop Studio 2’s display that adds the extra heft, though. Instead, it’s that vented underside. We weren’t expecting dramatic changes across both these machines in terms of the design or the display (more on that in a second), but the choice here comes down to what’s important for you.

If your workload is dependent on versatility of working styles, then you already know the answer is Surface Laptop Studio 2. However, the MacBook Pro is a true workhorse in its hardware look and feel too.

Surface Laptop Studio 2 vs 14-inch MacBook Pro: Display

• Surface Laptop Studio 2: 14.4-inch, 2400x1600-pixel resolution HDR Touchscreen PixelSense Flow Display with 120Hz refresh rate
• 14-inch MacBook Pro: 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, 3024x1964-pixel resolution with 120Hz refresh rate

Apple is cocky about its MacBook Pro display, but the company absolutely earns it with its gorgeous miniLED display — super sharp with a buttery smooth refresh rate, and stellar color reproduction. Plus, it gets real bright too with a 1,000 nits sustained brightness with XDR content. For SDR, you're looking at 500 nits.

The Surface Laptop Studio 2 matches this brightness with its 14.4-inch PixelSense Flow panel, which also supports Dolby Vision IQ visuals and DisplayHDR 400. It also sports 10-point capacitive touch and Surface Pen support for a far wider array of use cases beyond anything you could possibly do with the MacBook Pro.

Surface Laptop Studio 2 vs 14-inch MacBook Pro: Ports

• The Surface Laptop Studio 2 may benefit from the versatility of a USB-A port…
• …but it seems weird to say the MacBook Pro has a wider array for your creative needs!

Why is it weird? Well, it comes down to the typical assumption that Apple limits the amount of connectivity to its laptops. But the MacBook Pro is the exception to the rule with HDMI 2.1, an SD card slot, and three Thunderbolt 4 sockets.

As for the Surface Laptop Studio 2, there is no HDMI port, and in its place, you get USB-A. Elsewhere on the machine, there are two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, a microSD card reader, and that proprietary Surface Connector.

Surface Laptop Studio 2 vs 14-inch MacBook Pro: CPU and GPU

• The base model Surface Laptop Studio 2 gets a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU with integrated Iris Xe graphics
• Pay more and you can get a dedicated Nvidia GPU
• As for the MacBook Pro, you get a choice of M2 Pro or M2 max

Apple’s custom silicon is capable of some great things in the M2 Pro and M2 Max – providing impressive performance under intense pressure, and power efficiency unlike any laptop in its class.

In fact, these laptops continue to rank highly in terms of Geekbench scores and video transcoding, which guarantees peak power when it comes to video rendering and complicated edits of high-capacity files.

On the other side of the ring, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 comes packed with either an Intel Core i7-13700H or 13800H CPU, alongside Intel’s new Gen 3 Movidius 3700VC VPU AI Accelerator to turbo boost Windows’ new Copilot-oriented OS. However, one downside is that the base model Studio 2 comes simply with Iris Xe integrated graphics.

There was a specific test on stage at the Surface event, where the Laptop Studio 2 rendered a large file faster than the MacBook Pro. But at the base model price, I’d be skeptical of seeing this as a possibility on Iris Xe integrated graphics. But that remains to be seen in our own testing of course.

Outlook

It was odd to see the Surface Laptop Studio 2 treated almost like an afterthought to Microsoft’s AI efforts because this is shaping up to be a pretty good laptop! But is it enough to compete with the MacBook Pro? That’s for us to find out when we get one in for review.

If Microsoft is coming for the king of prosumer laptops, it best not miss. It has the improved versatility of that gorgeous touchscreen on a hinge to enable far more forms of artistic expression.

But will its combination of 13th Gen Intel, RTX 40-series power, and an AI VPU match up to the pure horsepower of Apple’s pro laptop? I’m not so sure, but we’ll see.

We’ve seen some wild designs throughout the years, and Lenovo shoving e-ink displays in laptops is nothing new, but the company has yet to nail it down — and with the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4, it still hasn’t.

For a whopping $2,976, the ThinkBook Plus offers a gorgeous 13.3-inch OLED display, solid speakers, and decent performance packed into a neatly designed chassis. However, that ridiculous price also gets you an e-ink display on the lid. It’s wild and fun to play with… if you have the patience of a saint — I do not.

The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 is a decent attempt at a 2-in-1 laptop with an e-ink display, but it hasn’t filtered out the flaws enough for it to make it on our best 2-in-1 laptops or even best Lenovo laptops pages.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 price and configurations

Lenovo sent me the $2,976 model, which comes with a Intel Core i7-1355U processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, an Intel Iris Xe Graphics chip, and a 13.3-inch, 2880 x 1800 OLED display. So why is it so expensive? Well, that’s thanks to the 12-inch, 2560 x 1600 colorful E-Ink screen on the lid.

You can get this laptop with a 1TB SSD ($3,094) or a Core i5 CPU ($2800). If you’re already paying nearly $3K, you might as well jump in for a fully decked out product.

If you’re way out of your budget, consider checking out our best cheap laptops.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 design

I was already preparing my rant about silver and gray notebooks when I pulled the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 out of the box, but then I was shook by a full display on the lid. “Uh oh,” I muttered under my breath, realizing that this would not be a simple review. Yep, that’s a 12-inch e-ink screen for a lid, paired with a sensor atop its thick bezels.

Opening the laptop reveals the main 13.3-inch display with some relatively thin bezels and a webcam at the top attached to the lip of the lid. The deck features an edge-to-edge keyboard along with a smallish touchpad.

Okay let’s get to the interesting part — this is not your typical 2-in-1 laptop. The hinge that connects the deck to the lid is a small centerpiece that swivels. Using this hinge, you can make either display your lid, which is a much sturdier design choice over the typical 2-in-1 design. Since it has a display on either side, you can even use it in tent mode. 

I have some concerns about the hinge’s durability and longevity, but I’m not going to throw it against a wall to see if it stays together — so just don’t drop it. And the hinge only swivels 180 degrees, which I’m also concerned about because it’s easy to accidentally put too much pressure in the wrong direction. Lenovo claims that it features MIL-SPEC durability, but I’m not testing my luck. I hear a snapping sound in someone’s future. 

Despite its wild design, the ThinkBook Plus is relatively slim, coming in at 3 pounds and 11.7 x 8.6 x 0.7 inches. Meanwhile, its predecessor, the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 3, was actually a 17-inch laptop, weighing in at 4.4 pounds and 16.1 x 9.0 x 0.6~0.7 inches. We’re also pitting the latest ThinkBook Plus against the HP Dragonfly Folio G3 (3.1 pounds, 11.7 x 9.2 x 0.7 inches) and Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 (7620) (4.6 pounds, 14.1 x 9.9 x 0.6~0.7 inches).

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 ports

Ports, where art thou? No where.

The ThinkBook Plus G4 has three ports: One Thunderbolt 4 and a headphone jack on the left, and one Thunderbolt 4 on the right. You can even find the power button on the right side as well, which we’ve complained about in the past (but this is one of the few laptops it makes sense for).

Do you find yourself in need of more ports? Check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 display and e-ink

The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4’s 13.3-inch, 2.8K OLED display is the drop-dead gorgeous beauty at the ball that you could only dream of dancing with. Well, I’ve had the pleasure, and damn.

I watched The Little Mermaid, and outside of being bombarded by terrible CGI, there are some lovely establishing shots of the coast and the castle that popped beautifully at night and in the crispy blue dusk. Halle Bailey’s locs were sharper than ever on screen, and despite how dark the night shots got, especially during the storms, I  saw every detail on and off the ship.

According to our colorimeter, the ThinkBook Plus G4 covered 137.8% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which crushed the premium laptop average (97.6%). It even bested the ThinkBook Plus G3 (108.6%), Dragonfly Folio (80.5%), and Inspiron 16 (69.5%).

At 360 nits, the ThinkBook Plus G4 is bright, but not the brightest, outshined by the category average (426 nits). It beat the Dragonfly Folio (332 nits) and Inspiron 16 (307 nits), but it couldn’t overcome its predecessor, with the G3 model hitting 382 nits.

Let’s move to the 12-inch, 2560 x 1600 E-Ink screen. I won’t get too deep into it since we’re using it only for note taking and reading (I would not recommend it for drawing, which I’ll get into later). You can adjust the brightness and contrast in the settings as well as the type of display mode, Dynamic or Reading. The former is more reactive to your input, while the latter is meant for a stagnant screen. Despite being an e-ink panel, it is in color, although it’s not nearly as colorful as the normal display. Everything looks washed out, but it’s just colorful enough to give an idea of what the colors are.

As far as benchmarks go, the e-ink averaged 46 nits of brightness and covered a whopping 0.4% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Yeah, I wouldn’t rely on this information to judge the e-ink side of things.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 keyboard, touchpad and e-ink

I feel like I’m typing on a MacBook. The keys are desperately shallow, but there is a clickiness to them, so it’s not necessarily bad, but it’s not for me. I need some travel.

I hit 80 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is above my usual 78-wpm average. The clicky keys got me across that finish line, not to mention the decent spacing and size of the keys.

The 4.1 x 2.7-inch touchpad is too sticky, making it hard to glide across its surface with my fingers, but it does offer a meaty click. Windows gestures like two-finger scrolling and three-finger tabbing work fine.

I have mixed feelings about the e-ink display. On one hand, it’s super neat to have an e-reader and note-taker ready to go and built into your laptop. But it has issues. First off, it’s slow — it lags when I’m navigating from program to program. The laptop does not register my input quick enough with the stylus for me to reliably take notes or even draw. Outside of using this as an e-reader, I see this display being a frustrating experience for people trying to work on it. It’s got neat settings and a feature that lets you reset the ghosting that happens, but if the tech isn’t quick enough, then it might as well be a paperweight.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 audio

Color me… play me…impressed? I am impressed. The ThinkBook Plus G4’s bottom-lip-firing speakers are full of life and sound.

I listened to “Challenging a Queen” on the Stray Gods soundtrack (yes, I’m obsessed), and the speakers capture the cymbals subtly raising the tension as Persephone sings. When Grace makes her come back, the vocals are rich and poppy alongside the elusive electric guitar riff. The horned instruments that are featured throughout the song benefited from the extra bass provided by the speakers.

Lenovo provides the Dolby Atmos app, which offers Dynamic, Game, Music, and Movie settings. There are custom settings and different balance settings as well, which helped with rounding out the audio.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 performance

Packed in the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 is an Intel Core i7-1355U processor and 16GB of RAM that powered through a couple dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos without issue. However, there’s some serious lag when switching between displays. This thing is always LOADING — I have no patience for it.

On the Geekbench 5.5 overall performance test, the ThinkBook Plus G4 scored 7,766, which doesn’t quite meet the 8,059 premium laptop average. While it did speed past the Dragonfly Folio’s Core i5-12500H (6,879) and the Inspiron 16’s Core i7-1265U (6,757), it actually failed to surpass its predecessor. The ThinkBook Plus G3 scored 9,977 with a Core i5-12500H.

The ThinkBook Plus G4 transcodes a 4K video to 1080p in 12 minutes and 11 seconds on our HandBrake benchmark, which is slower than the 8:08 category average. It found itself lagging behind the ThinkBook Plus G3 (6:40), Dragonfly Folio (11:16), and Inspiron 16 (11:27).

Lenovo provides a 512GB SSD with a transfer rate of 1,488 megabytes per second, which is speedy compared with the premium laptop average (1,320 MBps). The 512GB SSDs in the ThinkBook Plus G3 (1,292 MBps), Dragonfly Folio (675 MBps), and Inspiron 16 (802 MBps) couldn’t keep up.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 graphics

I didn’t expect much out of the Intel Iris Xe Graphics chip in the ThinkBook Plus G4, and neither should you.

On the 3DMark Fire Strike synthetic graphics benchmark, the ThinkBook Plus G4 scored 4,326, which doesn’t put a dent in the premium laptop average (8,414). The integrated graphics in the ThinkBook Plus G3 (4,282), Dragonfly Folio (4,357), and Inspiron 16 (3,869) didn’t do any better.

The ThinkBook Plus G4 averaged 28 frames per second on the Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (1080p) benchmark, which doesn’t make it to the 30-fps playability threshold. Neither did the Inspiron 16 (19 fps), but the ThinkBook Plus G3 (30 fps) and Dragonfly Folio (40 fps) were up to the task.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 battery life

With two displays, I’m not surprised that the ThinkBook Plus G4 couldn’t get in a word before its battery life died. On the Laptop Mag battery test, the ThinkBook Plus G4 lasted 6 hours and 50 minutes, which falls flat on its face against the 10:28 premium laptop average. Its predecessor, the ThinkBook Plus G3 had a similar battery (6:52). But if you’re looking for something with longevity, then the Dragonfly Folio (9:36) and Inspiron 16 (13:28) are solid choices.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 webcam

The 1080p webcam is trash, and that’s normal.

My face was hazy and my hair looked like it was drawn on by my one-year-old. The poor contrast blew out my entire ceiling and window behind me. However, the colors on the posters behind me were decently poppy, but I’ll attribute that more to the OLED display than anything else. Do yourself a favor and get a discrete webcam — take a look at our best webcams page.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 heat

To my surprise, the ThinkBook Plus G4 didn’t get as hot as I anticipated. The underside reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit, which is just slightly over our 95-degree comfort threshold. The center of the keyboard and touchpad hit 93 and 80 degrees, respectively. Meanwhile, the hottest it got was 107 degrees on the underside near the vents.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 software and warranty

Every Lenovo comes with Lenovo Vantage. That’s where you’ll find system settings, warranty information, visual and audio settings, and much more. Lenovo minimizes the bloatware to that one app. However, there are some more apps in this laptop because of the nature of it, like Lenovo Pen Settings and Lenovo Reader, which are self-explanatory.

The ThinkBook Plus G4 comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Lenovo performed on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands ranking.

Bottom line

The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G4 is great in concept, but falters in execution. You’d think that the design would be the problem, but it’s not — it’s the performance. And for $3K, I expect both panels to feel silky smooth when I use them.

If you can move to a more normal 2-in-1 laptop, we highly recommend the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 (7620), which offers double the battery life at half the price.

Overall, the ThinkBook Plus G4 is a solid laptop, but between its price and sluggish e-ink display, it’s hard to recommend to people who want to draw professionally on e-ink.

There’s no such thing as a secret in the tech world, and today we can spill Microsoft’s in glorious HD. Days before its official unveiling, we’ve just gotten our first look at the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3 through official Microsoft renders that have sprung up online.

The renders and accompanying technical specs, obtained by German site WinFuture, were sourced from retailers and give us a clear look at what to expect when Microsoft takes to the stage later this month. Let’s dive into what we know so far. 

Microsoft Special Launch Event

Microsoft’s official plan is to give the Surface Laptop Go 3 and Surface Laptop Studio a premiere later this month during a “Special launch event” on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. It’s unknown whether the Microsoft Surface Go 4 will make an appearance, though the Surface Go 3 was released at a similar point last year so there is potential for it to join the announcement.

Another staple of the show will be Windows Copilot — Microsoft’s latest AI-infused golden child set to become a mainstay of Windows 11 and beyond. We may also become privy to some new information about Microsoft 365 Copilot, which offers similar AI assistance to users of the online Office suite.

However, let’s take a closer look at the hardware we expect to see during the event.

Surface Laptop Studio 2 

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Studio is a unique 2-in-1 styled machine that’s excellent for content creation and light gaming. It’s convertible form factor is also incredibly useful for digital artists and designers.

The new Surface Laptop Studio 2 appears set to feature Intel’s 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs, namely the Core i7-13700H and Core i7-13800H. That’s a solid performance backbone, and it's capitalized on by up to 64GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics with 8GB of VRAM.

Check out the official renders of the device below, along with a quick summary of all the technical specifications we know so far:

Surface Laptop Studio 2 specifications: 

Surface Laptop Go 3 

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop is a mainstream thin-and-light clamshell that’s found a home for many as an education companion or work laptop that’s lightweight and compact — and potentially the brand’s closest answer to a MacBook Air or Dell’s XPS 13.

The new Surface Laptop Go 3 makes use of Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake Core i5-1235U processor featuring eight 4.4Ghz cores for solid performance on the go. The laptop will also feature Intel Xe graphics, upwards of 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage.

Check out the official renders of the device below, along with a quick summary of all the technical specifications we know so far:

Surface Laptop Go 3 specifications: 

Outlook

As the information on both the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3 comes from a European retailer, we don’t yet have concrete numbers on how much each device will cost at launch.

However, the cheapest configuration will reportedly go on sale in mainland Europe starting at €2,249 — roughly $2,396. Specific details on that configuration aren’t yet available, though, according to the WinFuture report, this model opts for an integrated Intel Xe GPU over the discrete Nvidia option.

Similarly, the Surface Laptop Go 3 will hit store shelves starting at €899, approximately $958. This model includes Intel Xe graphics, 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage.

Both the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3 are expected to be available from the beginning of Oct. 2023.

It's tough to find an affordable laptop that provides the most it can for your money, and while Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 tried to be that — this ain’t it.

For $799, this looks like a sleek machine on the outside, but if you take a closer look you’ll soon see this laptop isn’t worth your time or money. From its poor display and mushy keyboard to its middling performance and below average battery life, the Flex 5 can’t keep up with its competitors. It has certainly fell from grace since its 2022 outing.

I cannot recommend the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 for our best laptops or best laptops under $1,000 pages, let alone recommend purchasing it at all.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) price and configurations

Oh boy, it was a journey to find the model of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 we reviewed. It costs $799 (on sale for $699 at the time of writing) and comes with an Intel Core i5-1335U processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 14-inch 1200p display. I found this version is available only at Costco.

However, there are other models available elsewhere. There’s a $605 version on Lenovo’s website that drops down to 8GB of RAM. There’s also an AMD version that costs $829 at Lenovo, which comes with 8GB of RAM as well and a AMD Ryzen 5 7530U processor.

If you’re looking for a laptop even more affordable, check out our best cheap laptops page.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) design

One thing I like about the IdeaPad Flex 5 is that it doesn’t look cheap. Instead of the usual black or silver, the Flex 5 sports Lenovo’s Abyss Blue color over its metal hood. That’s complemented by its curved edges and neat Lenovo stamp on the top left corner. 

The interior shifts to a plastic deck and an awkward-looking gray keyboard — it should have been black. There’s a decent-sized touchpad, and a fingerprint reader on the right side. Surrounding the keyboard are top-firing speakers. The display sports relatively thin bezels, but the top has a lip for the webcam.

This is a 2-in-1, so the Flex can literally flex all the way up to 360 degrees, which offers tent and tablet positions for you to experiment with.

At 3.4 pounds and 12.3 x 8.85 x 0.7 inches, the Flex 5 doesn’t get much slimmer or thinner compared with the competition. Except for the 16-inch Lenovo Yoga 7i (Gen 8) (4.5 pounds, 14.3 x 9.8 x 0.7 inches), the Acer Swift Go 14 (2.9 pounds, 12.3 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches) and Asus ZenBook 14 OLED (3.1 pounds, 12.4 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches) are lighter and not as wide as the Flex 5.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) ports

There’s a decent number of ports onboard the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5.

If we look to the left, we see the power jack, an HDMI port, one Thunderbolt 4 port, and a headphone jack, whereas the right side holds room for two USB Type-A ports, an SD card slot, and the power button.

Find yourself in need of more ports? Check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) display

Oof. Even for a sub-$1,000 laptop, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5's 14-inch, 1920 x 1200 display performed poorly all around.

I watched Dimension 20's A Court of Fey & Flowers, and the greenery that made up the set was dull and muted. When the background switched to a dimly lit scenic view, it felt like I was watching the show in battery-saver mode, which was made all the worse by its glossy panel. Despite that, the panel was sharp enough to capture the details in Aabria Iyengar's lovely lashes.

According to our colorimeter, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 covered a measly 42.2% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is less than half of the mainstream laptop average (91.8%). The Yoga 7i (45.8%), Swift Go 14 (175.7%), and ZenBook 14 (95.6%) destroyed the IdeaPad.

At 288 nits of brightness, IdeaPad Flex 5 could not get past the 341-nit average. It did best the Yoga 7i (267 nits), but couldn't get near the Swift Go 14 (395 nits) and ZenBook 14 (375 nits).

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) keyboard and touchpad

Typing away on the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 felt weird — the keys were shallow and mushy, and not at all satisfying to use.

However, I hit 83 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is above my 78-wpm average. The keys were well-spaced, like most Lenovo keyboards, which is likely why I did well. But I didn’t like it.

The 4.9 x 2.9-inch touchpad is smooth, but offers shallow clicks, like the rest of the laptop. However, Windows gestures like two-finger scrolling and three-finger tabbing worked fine.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) audio

I love top-firing speakers, but not the ones in the IdeaPad Flex 5. The audio was low and hollow, and the only compliment I can pay it is that it was audible.

I listened to Honey Revenge’s “Airhead,” and the opening guitar sounded a bit distorted. When the vocals took over, they were clear, but the guitar in the background remained noisy, if not more hollow. The percussion was low and couldn’t catch a bass. The instruments were distinguishable from one another, but overall, the sound was low and unfulfilling.

While Lenovo packs in the Dolby Access app, with settings for Movies, Music and Games, there’s not much more that the app can do to help the audio.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) performance

Tucked in the chassis of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 lies an Intel Core i5-1335U with 16GB of RAM. It had no trouble working through a couple dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos.

On the Geekbench 5.5 overall performance test, the IdeaPad Flex 5 scored 8,440, which doesn’t quite make the mainstream laptop average (9,064). It faltered against the Yoga 7i’s Core i7-1355U (8,663), the Swift Go 14’s Core i7-13700H (11,815), and the ZenBook 14’s Core i5-1240P (8,590) processors.

The IdeaPad Flex 5 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 11 minutes and 41 seconds, once again dropping short of the category average (8:10). It fell into last place against the Yoga 7i (10:12), Swift Go 14 (5:35), and ZenBook 14 (8:40).

Lenovo’s 512GB SSD sports a transfer rate of 788 megabytes per second, which isn’t too far from the average mainstream laptop (833 MBps). It crushed the ZenBook 14’s 256GB SSD (246 MBps), but it got nowhere near the 512GB SSDs in the Yoga 7 (1,380 MBps) and the Swift Go 14 (1,481 MBps).

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) graphics

The Flex 5 isn’t offering anything special in terms of graphics, sticking with its standard Intel Iris Xe Graphics chip just like its competitors. 

Yet, it somehow ended up last again on the 3DMark Fire Strike synthetics graphics benchmark. The IdeaPad Flex 5 scored 3,936, slowing down against the average mainstream laptop (5,073) as well as the Yoga 7i (5,027), Swift Go 14 (5,533), and ZenBook 14 (4,048).

On the Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (Medium, 1080p) benchmark, however, it scored 28 frames per second, which might not be playable (30-fps), but it averaged better than the Yoga 7i (25 fps), Swift Go 14 (27 fps), and ZenBook 14 (21 fps).

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) battery life

It could be worse, but it could be better. The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 lasted 8 hours and 22 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test, falling below the mainstream laptop average (9:54). It survived the Swift Go 14 (8:05), but died before it could see the Yoga 7i (12:04) and ZenBook 14 (10:52) succeed.

Last year's model lasted 14 hours and 16 minutes. A massive step down.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) webcam

I recommend the IdeaPad Flex 5’s 1080p webcam if you feel like being humbled. 

The colorful posters that adorned the wall behind me were muted and faded, like I threw them in the washing machine for a dozen cycles. In terms of contrast — no, the window behind me was washed out and begging for help. Meanwhile, my face looked like a grainy mess. I recommend picking up one of our best webcams.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) heat

Poetry — the IdeaPad Flex 5’s lack of power helps it remain relatively cool. It measured 98 degrees Fahrenheit on the underside, which is just slightly above our 95-degree comfort threshold. Meanwhile, the center of the keyboard and touchpad reach 93 and 80 degrees, respectively. The hottest that the machine got was 101 degrees on the underside, near the hinge.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 (2023) software and warranty

If you’ve ever had a Lenovo laptop, you know that the company packs all of its useful systems in the Lenovo Vantage app. This lets you obtain information about your system and warranty, and lets you adjust settings for power, audio, display and more.

There’s some bloatware onboard, like Spotify, WhatsApp, and Solitaire.

The IdeaPad Flex 5 has a one-year limited warranty. See how Lenovo performed on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands ranking.

Bottom line

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 falters in more ways than one. Despite its affordable price and its neat design, everything under and around the hood found itself way below the quality we expect from a laptop at this price.

For example, the Asus Zenbook 14 (Q409ZA) OLED is $749 and offers a bright, sharp display, better battery life, and better performance despite its lacking components.

We cannot in good conscience recommend purchasing the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5. There are better options out there for better prices.

The best back to school sales this weekend offer epic discounts on must-have tech for students and teachers. August is back to school and now is the time to shop back to school deals on laptops, Apple gear, tablets, phones, and more. 

Dell's back to school sale for example, offers sitewide savings on must-have tech for college students and educators. As part of the sale, you can pick up the best-selling Dell XPS 13 Laptop for $849. That's $100 off its former price of $949 and one of the best back to school laptop deals out there. 

We reviewed the 2-in-1 version Dell XPS 13 and liked its lightest design, bright sharp display and great graphics performance. The laptop in this deal packs a 13.4- inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) 500 nit-display, Intel Core i5-1230U 10-core CPU, 16GB of RAM, Iris Xe graphics and 512GB NVMe SSD. 

One of the best overall laptops to buy, the Dell XPS 13 is a solid buy if you're looking for a capable machine. 

Shop the best back to school sales this weekend and 17+ recommended deals below.

Best back to school sales this weekend

• Amazon: save on back to school essentials from pre-K and up
• Best Buy: save up to $500 on select Windows laptops 
• Dell: save up to 50% on select laptops and PC accessories
• HP: Back to School Sale Sneak Peek — up to 67% off sitewide
• Newegg: save up to 60% on select laptops, monitors and more
• Microsoft: save up to $400 on select Surface devices
• Target: save on video games, headphones, tablets, laptops and more
• Walmart: save on laptops, tablets, monitors, headphones, TVs 

Best back to school deals this weekend

Is the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 twirling on a record player? Because this laptop is singing my tune. It’s not overpriced (I’m lookin’ at you $1,000 HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook), its battery life beats Chromebooks’ typical 10-hour runtime, and it sports a flexible, convertible design that may earn it a spot on the best 2-in-1 laptops.

If you’re a casual user, and you’re engrossed in the Google ecosystem with apps like Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more, the Chromebook Spin 714 is ideal for you. However, like all laptops (no machine is perfect), this Chrome OS system has its faults, so allow me to break down the pros and cons of Acer’s newly refreshed Chromebook.

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 price and configuration options

You can snag the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 for $699 on Best Buy, but keep in mind that it’s regularly discounted. For example, as of this writing, the Chromebook Spin 714 dropped to just $569. What a bargain!

It comes with a new 13th Gen Intel Core i5-1335U CPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB NVMe SSD, and a 14-inch, 1920 x 1200-pixel touch display.

Want to look at other options within the same price range? Check out our best laptops under $1,000 page.

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 design

The Chromebook Spin 714 is the most attractive Chromebook I’ve ever tested — this bad boy looks good! From the lustrous, golden Acer logo stamped on the center-left position on the lid to the gold accents adorning the hinges, this Chromebook, sporting a dark-gray finish, looks luxurious despite its sub-$700 price tag. (I love gold accents, so Acer’s speaking my language with this color theme.)

Open the lid, and you’ll find an island-style keyboard with white characters and symbols contrasting perfectly with the deck’s dusky, dark-gray hue. (How’s that for alliteration, eh?) Beneath the space bar is a small touchpad with a light-gray trim. Looking at the 14-inch display, both the chin and top bezel are thick; the former features a silver Acer logo while the latter houses a 1440p webcam (more on that later).

As its name suggests, the Chromebook Spin 714 can transform into a number of different positions, thanks to its sturdy 360-degree hinge, including tent mode and tablet mode.

Overall, I dig that the Chromebook Spin 714’s chassis is resistant to fingerprints and grease. Feel free to eat Cheetos, fried chicken, and other junk foods while using this Acer laptop — no one will ever find evidence of your questionable eating habits.

However, one thing that surprises me about the Chromebook Spin 714 is that it isn’t as lightweight as I expected it to be. No, it’s not remotely heavy, but it’s not a featherweight system either. I can’t complain too much, though — there are Chrome OS rivals that are even heavier than this 14-inch laptop.

At 3.2 pounds and 12.3 x 8.8 x 0.71 inches, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is negligibly thicker, but lighter than the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook (12.4 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches, 3.3 pounds). Throughout this review, I’ll be pitting the Chromebook Spin 714 against the Dragonfly Pro Chromebook. Although the Dragonfly Pro Chromebook is $300 pricier than its Acer rival, I suspect it will still struggle to keep up with the Chromebook Spin 714 in some categories.

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 ports

The Chromebook Spin 714 has a decent array of ports.

On the left side, you’ll find a Thunderbolt 4 port, an HDMI port, and a headset jack. On the right side, you’ll find another Thunderbolt 4 port and a USB Type-A port.

If you need more ports, check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations page to expand your I/O options.

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 display

The Chromebook Spin 714 has a 14-inch, 1920 x 1200-pixel panel. And of course, it’s a touchscreen — what good would be a 2-in-1 laptop without touch capabilities, right? Whether it’s in tablet mode or tent mode, the Chromebook Spin 714’s panel was highly responsive to my touch gestures (e.g. pinch to zoom and scrolling).

Keep in mind that this is a sub-$700 laptop, so no, this isn’t a dazzling display that covers a wide color gamut and delivers cutting-edge picture. But for streaming your favorite shows and films, the Chromebook Spin 714 does the job.

Timothée Chalamet looked sufficiently crisp and sharp on the Chromebook Spin 714 when I fired up the Wonka trailer on YouTube. In one scene when he was standing directly under a lightbulb, I could see tiny hairs budding from his upper lip. Although muted colors like lavenders and light browns aren’t this display’s forte, it does well with striking hues like bright greens and burnt orange. In one scene where an Oompa-Loompa is trapped inside a glass prison, his emerald green hair and tangerine skin were eye-catching. If you’re a display snob, it may not be as vivid and rich as you like, but for the average Joe, this screen is perfectly fine.

According to our colorimeter, the Chromebook Spin 714 covers 76% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which doesn’t quite beat the average Chromebook (77.8%) nor the HP Dragonfly Chromebook (77.8%). However, it’s worth noting that the delta between the Acer and HP Chromebooks isn’t that significant (even though the Dragonfly Pro Chromebook is significantly pricier).

When it comes to color accuracy, the Chromebook Spin 714 bested the HP Chromebook with a Delta-E score of 0.3 (closer to 0 is better). This score isn’t great; it's worse than the average Chromebook score of 0.25. The HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook has a much better color accuracy score of 0.09.

At 389 nits, the Chromebook Spin 714 delivered a below-average brightness score (a typical Chromebook has a 506-nit display). However, the Dragonfly Pro Chromebook has one of the brightest displays, if not the brightest display, we’ve ever tested with a jaw-dropping luminance of 1,276 nits.

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 keyboard and touchpad

My fingers felt immediately at home on the Chromebook Spin 714’s keyboard. No, this keyboard won’t win any trophies or awards, but it delivers just the right amount of clickiness and satisfying tactile feedback to keep up with my clickity-clack flow.

On the 10FastFingers.com test, I reached around 90 words per minute, which matches my 87-90 wpm average. Of course, this keyboard on this sub-$700 Chromebook isn’t made of premium materials — I can tell by the plasticky feel of the keys. Still, compared to other budget-friendly Chromebooks and laptops I’ve tested, the Spin 714 has a solid, sturdy build. I tried to wiggle the keys to test their robustness, but there was very little give — they’re as stiff as the King’s Guards.

The 4.3 x 2.6-inch touchpad positioned below the spacebar is a little small, but come on, you don’t need a whole football field to navigate your mouse, right? f it was any smaller, I’d probably throw a fit, but much like Goldilocks’ tireless search for porridge at a correct temperature, the size is just right Chromebook gestures such as three-finger tab switching, two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom were highly responsive on the smooth-as-silk touchpad.

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 audio

The Chromebook Spin 714 has one top-firing speaker that runs the length of the keyboard. I fired up the Hot Hits USA playlist on the Spotify app. The first song to launch on the DTS-tuned speaker was “Die for You (Remix)” by The Weeknd and Ariana Grande.

Immediately, I noticed that the speaker was too quiet. When I sought to amplify the volume, I was disappointed to find out that it was already set to the max. While the speakers perfectly captured The Weeknd’s sultry vocals and Ariana’s powerful belting, the driving beat sounded a little too tinny for my tastes. However, I can’t expect much from a $700 Chromebook, right? The speaker does the job. *Shrug*

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 performance

The Chromebook Spin 714 comes with an Intel Core i5-1335U CPU and 8GB of RAM, which should be more than enough if you have a lightweight workload (this laptop targets casual users anyway). I tested out my workflow on the Spin 714, which typically consists of 30 Google Chrome tabs with several playing YouTube videos simultaneously. I launched a new document on Google Docs and began typing away. Fortunately, I didn’t experience any lag nor slowdowns. 

Now, this is where it gets interesting. On the Geekbench 6 overall performance test, the Chromebook Spin 714 delivered a multi-core score of 6,335. Although the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook costs $300 more, its performance is significantly worse with a measly score of 4,263 — it couldn’t even beat the average Chromebook score (5,299).

On our JetStream 2.0 benchmark, which tests how quickly large web pages load, the Chromebook Spin 714 achieved a score of 250.2, which bests the Chromebook average (240), but not the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook (256.7)

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 battery life

The average Chromebook lasts 9 hours and 56 minutes on a charge, but we tested the Chromebook Spin 714’s battery life three times and it survived for an average of 12 hours and 43 minutes, according to the Laptop Mag battery test (which consists of continuous web surfing over WiFi at 150 nits.)

In other words, this Acer Chromebook can last nearly three hours longer than a typical Chrome OS machine. The HP Chromebook Pro Chromebook, on the other hand, continues to disappoint with a poor runtime of 9 hours and 17 minutes. Gross!

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 webcam

No, the Chromebook Spin 714 doesn’t have a 720p webcam — and it doesn’t have a 1080p shooter either. Imagine my surprise when an Acer rep told me that this Chromebook sports a QHD, 2460 x 1440-pixel webcam. I was not expecting that on a Chromebook in this price range.

I’m used to looking like a grayish blob on most Chromebook webcams, but on the Chromebook Spin 714, this 1440p shooter perfectly captured my brown complexion. My fiery t-shirt, filled with stunning hues of yellows, oranges and pinks, looked realistic and vivid on the camera. However, images on this webcam tend to be warmer and there's still a great deal of noise. Conversely, the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook has one of the best laptop webcams I’ve ever seen with its 8MP shooter.

If you’re seeking ultra-sharp, super vivid picture that a laptop webcam can’t deliver, consider getting an external webcam. 

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 heat

The Chromebook Spin 714 remained temperate on our heat test, which involves running a 1080p video for 15 minutes. 

The center of the keyboard (75.4 degrees Fahrenheit), touchpad (80.8 degrees), and underside (83.3 degrees) all remained cool and under our 95-degree comfort threshold.

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 software and warranty

It dawned on me that one thing I love about Chrome OS is that I don’t have to go through the hassle of installing Chrome via Microsoft Edge, which isn’t shy about hounding you about how it’s so much better than its Google counterpart. Uh-huh — sure! Plus, after inputting my email and password, I get instant access to my personalized Google accounts via the bottom taskbar.

If the majority of your workflow involves Google apps, I’m talkin’ Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, YouTube, and more, the Chromebook Spin 714 will meet all your needs. I particularly loved the Google Messages app, which allowed me to pair my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with my review unit in seconds. All I needed to do was scan a QR Code, and bam, I could see all of my conversations.

You can also download apps from Google Play’s incredibly vast library, but keep in mind that not all apps are optimized for Chromebooks. For example, I downloaded the new ChatGPT app, but a window popped up saying, “This app is designed for mobile.” In other words, by default, the app just takes up about a third of the display. However, for Android-based apps, you can choose from three modes: Phone, Tablet, and Resizable. I chose the latter; I got a warning that the window “may not resize well” or the app may crash. Fortunately, although the new ChatGPT app isn’t native to Chrome OS, I maximized the window to fullscreen without any issues

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 comes with a one-year warranty. See how Acer performed on our Tech Support Showdown ranking.

Bottom line

The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is the best Chromebook Laptop Mag tested this year. It’s got great battery life (over 12 hours), competition-beating performance, and an attractive 2-in-1 design — all for less than $700. Hell, the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook has a jaw-dropping $1,000 price tag and can’t even match what the Chromebook Spin 714 offers.

Its only flaws are its quiet sound system and it’s not as lightweight as one might expect, but those are negligible foibles. Say hello to the newest addition to our best Chromebooks page (I’ll also let it sit at the best laptops under $1,000 table, too.) 

 The HP Dragonfly G4, the fourth-generation entry of the beloved Dragonfly line, is diving into 2023 with its crosshairs set on one rival: the new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11.

Lenovo has convinced the masses that the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is one of the best business laptops you can get. However, if you read my review, you’ll see that I haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid. The Lenovo laptop’s long list of imperfections leave enough room for HP to swoop in and snatch the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s crown. But the question is, did it manage to do it with its new-gen G4 model?

Stick around to find out whether the Dragonfly G4 earned a spot on our best HP laptops and best business laptops pages.

HP Dragonfly G4 price and configuration options

The review unit I have has an MSRP of $2,279 and you can purchase it at HP’s official website (check to see if it’s on sale — it usually is!). It comes with an Intel Core i7-1365U CPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and a 13.5-inch, 1920 x 1280-pixel touchscreen display.

The cheapest configuration is $1,769. It keeps the 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and 13.5-inch, 1280p screen, but your processor gets downgraded to an Intel Core i5-1335U.

HP Dragonfly G4 design

The Dragonfly G4 continues the traditional design language of its forefathers, sporting a futuristic, lustrous HP insignia on the lid. The Slate Blue hue that wraps around the HP notebook is rich, urbane and slick — it’s the type of color you’d see on any well-dressed, dapper young professional. 

The G4 is a sustainability queen. The lid, as well as the palm rest and underside, is made of 90% recycled magnesium. (Interestingly, the keycaps consist of recycled plastic from DVDs.)

After opening the lid, I wished that the top cover featured a lip to make it easier to lift, but it’s a negligible, miniscule shortcoming. On the deck, you’ll see more of that lustrous detail subtly framing the large touchpad. The contrast on the keys is easy on the eyes, thanks to the white letters and symbols stamped onto the Slate Blue keys.

Above the function keys, you’ll find an up-firing speaker that runs the length of the keyboard (we’ll discuss how well they sound later). The 13.5-inch display is wrapped in thin bezels, save for the top frame that houses the 5MP webcam and two microphones.

The Dragonfly G4 is a 2.2-pound notebook with dimensions of 11.7 x 8.67 x 0.64 inches. The HP laptop is lighter, but thicker than its rivals: the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 (2.48 pounds, 12.4 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches) and the Acer Swift Go 14 (2.87 pounds, 12.3 x 8.6 x 0.59 inches).

HP Dragonfly G4 ports

The HP Dragonfly G4 has a sweet mélange of modern and legacy ports. On the left side, you’ll find an HDMI 2.1 port, a nano SIM slot, and a Thunderbolt 4 port. The right side features another Thunderbolt 4 port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a drop-jaw USB Type-A port, and a Kensington lock slot.

Need to squeeze out some more I/O ports to suit your workflow? Check out our best USB Type-C hubs page. 

HP Dragonfly G4 display

The HP Dragonfly G4 comes with a 13.5-inch, 1920 x 1280-pixel touchscreen. Like its predecessor, it sports that 3:2 aspect ratio, allowing you to take advantage of more vertical screen real estate while reading long-form articles and content-heavy websites. However, it’s not as useful for watching YouTube, Netlfix and other streaming sites (they work best with 16:9 displays). Black letterboxing will flank your videos to fill out the excess space, but this isn’t something that bothers me personally.

I watched the Five Nights at Freddy’s trailer on YouTube. I was particularly taken aback by a scene with Matthew Lillard sitting in an office. As he held a phone to his ear, I was surprised that I could spot subtle, barely perceptible features on his face, from his faint forehead wrinkles to the ultra-tiny papules near his salt-and-pepper beard.

No, it’s not one of the most vivid displays I’ve seen, but it’s not designed to be. Its color rendering is just right. It’s not washed out, but it’s not oversaturated, either. This is proven by the bright-red eviction notice that appeared on the door of Josh Hutcherson’s character — it’s striking enough to catch your eye, but it manages to not be garishly vivid.

Now, let’s take a look at the actual display test results to see if they match my anecdotal experience.

According to our colorimeter, the Dragonfly G4 covered 80.2% of the DCI-P3 color gamut (the same exact figure we got for the G3 last year). This is better than the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 (69.8%), but slips behind the average premium laptop (93.7%) and the spectacular Acer Swift Go 14 (175.7%).

The Dragonfly G4 is elite when it comes to color accuracy. With a Delta-E score of 0.14 (closer to 0 is better), the HP laptop demolished all rivals in its path, including the average premium laptop (0.22), the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (0.22), and the highly inaccurate Swift Go 14 (0.32).

HP says that the Dragonfly G4 can output 400 nits of brightness, and according to our testing, its luminance gets pretty close to that — 391 nits to be exact. This is slightly dimmer than the average premium laptop (394 nits) and the Swift Go 14 (395 nits), but beats the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 11 (327 nits).

HP Dragonfly G4 audio

The Dragonfly G4 is packed with four Bang & Olufsen-tuned speakers: two are top-firing while another two are bottom-firing. I launched the Hot Hits USA playlist on Spotify, which played “Mojabi Ghost” by Tainy and Bad Bunny.

The futuristic-sounding song, thanks to the funky synthesizers, sounded rich and full on the G4’s audio system. The drums were punchy and driving, but never overpowered Bad Bunny’s smooth, vibey vocals. As a cherry on top, these speakers can get super loud at max volume — you could host a small party with this laptop if you wanted to.

I opened the HP Audio Control app to see if it could sound better (even though it sounds totally fine). There are four presets: Auto, Music, Movie and Voice. My favorite, of course, is Music, providing a perfect balance between the vocals, baseline, and funky synthesizers. 

HP Dragonfly G4 keyboard and touchpad

Cue the wedding bells! I’m a keyboard snob, and man, I love the Dragonfly G4’s keyboard so much I could marry it. HP has always been masterful at delivering satisfying keyboard experiences (I adore the keyboard on the HP Envy 13, for example), and this 13.5-inch notebook proves that its expertise hasn’t wavered.

The island-style keyboard has a white backlight that delivers three levels of brightness, and you’ll find a fingerprint reader between the ALT key and the left arrow. (This is something I appreciate because I’m not a big fan of the current trend of OEMs integrating fingerprint sensors into power buttons).

On the 10FastFingers.com typing test, I reached an 89 word-per-minute average, which aligns with my typical typing speed. It’s tactile, delivers great travel, and super clicky — it’s as if the keys intuitively know when I’m about to touch them and immediately launch me onto the next letter in nanoseconds. 

The Dragonfly G4’s 4.7 x 3.1-inch touchpad is spacious and, on top of that, it has a smooth-as-silk texture that’s damn-near addicting. At the same time, it’s not too slick that it feels like you need to exert a lot of effort to move the cursor — it has the perfect balance of friction and gloss. Plus, Windows 11 gestures, including three-finger tabbing and two-finger scrolling, worked like a charm.

HP Dragonfly G4 performance

Under the hood, the Dragonfly G4 sports an Intel Core i7-1365U vPro CPU and 16GB of RAM. I tried to overwhelm RAM-hungry Google Chrome with 50 tabs, three of which were playing YouTube videos simultaneously, but the HP laptop, if it were personified, giggled and said, “That’s all you’ve got?” I experienced zero slowdowns nor lag.

On the Geekbench 6 overall performance benchmark, Dragonfly G4 achieved a multi-core score of 7,408. Unfortunately, this lags behind the average premium laptop (7,877) and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 (8,979), which shares the same processor as the HP laptop. The unstoppable Acer Swift Go 14, packed with an Intel Core i7-13700H CPU, delivered a jaw-dropping score of 11,815. (Interestingly, the Go 14 is cheaper than the G4 and the X1 Carbon, but blows its pricier competitors out of the water with its H-series chip, however, the battery life section reveals that this power comes with a price.)

The Dragonfly G4 took 12 minutes and 41 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, which is slower than the average premium laptop (8 minutes and 33 seconds). It’s also more sluggish than the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (9 minutes and 5 seconds) and the Swift Go 14 (5 minutes and 35 seconds).

On the file transfer test, the Dragonfly G4’s 512GB SSD took 37 seconds to copy 25GB of data, which translates to a rate of 735.7 megabytes per second (MBps). Sadly, this is slower than the average premium laptop (1,306.2 MBps), the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s 512 SSD (1,703.8 MBps), and the Swift Go 14’s 512GB SSD (1,481.1 MBps).

HP Dragonfly G4 graphics and gaming

The HP Dragonfly G4, like its rivals, is outfitted with integrated graphics (Intel Iris Xe). No, it’s not ideal for gaming, but let’s see how well it can handle casual titles like Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. On this test (Medium, 1080p), it produced 25 frames per second. This failed to surpass the average premium laptop’s 50-fps average, but to be fair, laptops with discrete GPUs skew this figure. The HP managed to outdo the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (19 fps), but not the Go 14 (27 fps).

On the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, which tests for DirectX 12 prowess, the Dragonfly G4 delivered a measly score of 1,590, which is worse than the average premium laptop (3,176), the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (1,684) and the Swift Go 14 (2,025).

HP Dragonfly G4 battery life

Compared to the G3, it looks like the Dragonfly G4 took a two-hour hit in battery life. The last generation lasted a glorious 14 hours and 20 minutes. The current generation, however, according to the Laptop Mag battery life test (which involves surfing the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness), has a runtime of 12 hours and 44 minutes.

Don’t get me wrong. Considering that the average premium laptop lasts 10 hours and 39 minutes, this is still great — the G4’s U-series chip is showing off its marvelous power efficiency here. Conversely, the Acer Swift Go 14, packed with a more power-hungry chip, can only last a measly 8 hours and 5 minutes. However, the Dragonfly G4 couldn’t beat the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s 14-hour runtime (13 hours and 45 minutes).

HP Dragonfly G4 webcam

HP gets it. This OEM appears to be one of the few laptop manufacturers that is aware of users’ need for decent video conferencing equipment. I mean, hello, most of us either work remotely or do the whole hybrid thing, so why not pack the laptop with a good webcam?

HP’s Dragonfly Pro Chromebook, for example, has one of the best laptop webcams I’ve ever seen with a dazzling 8MP webcam. The last-gen Dragonfly had a great shooter, too, and the current-gen model,, is no different.

The G4’s 5MP webcam picked up on the tiny, barely there freckles on my cheeks that often get lost on other less-sharp webcams. Color rendering is great, too, accurately recreating the burgundy and rich-red hues emanating from my curtains and pillows.

But is it as great as an external webcam? Not really. Be sure to peruse our best webcams page to snag something even better for video calls.

HP Dragonfly G4 heat

HP could have done a better job at finding a way to dissipate heat that keeps hot air away from your fingers. While diving into intensive workflows, I felt some warm air blowing from the upper-right quadrant of the keyboard. It’s not a dealbreaker — just a nuisance.

We streamed a 15-minute, 1080p video on the HP notebook, and the touchpad and keyboard climbed to 81 and 91 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively, which is below our 95-degree comfort threshold. The underside couldn’t keep its cool, however, climbing to 100 degrees. 

HP Dragonfly G4 software and warranty

 The Dragonfly G4 runs on Windows 11 Pro and comes with a slew of HP-branded apps, including HP Easy Clean (lets you temporarily disable your keyboard so you can clean it), HP Power Manager (offers info regarding your battery status, temperature and capacity), and HP Support Systems (runs system diagnostics and provides guided troubleshooting). 

You won’t find the G4 fattened with bloatware, fortunately. You’ll find your standard fare of Microsoft apps, including Solitaire Collection, Weather, Phone Link, Paint, Sticky Notes, and more.

The HP Dragonfly G4 comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how HP performed on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Laptop Brands ranking. 

Bottom line

 The Dragonfly G4 gets the following right: 

• Excellent keyboard
• Nearly 13 hours on a charge
• Great webcam
• Compact and portable
• Decent speakers
• Good display

The Dragonfly G4 is ideal for both worker bees and students, particularly those who frequently commute and hate the thought of being shackled to an outlet for hours on end. 

However, the HP laptop struggled to outpace its rivals when it comes to performance. In other words, there are cheaper laptops (e.g., the Acer Swift Go 14) that offer better performance, but you may have to compromise battery runtime.

Overall, the G4 is still an excellent 13.5-inch laptop for on-the-go professionals and pupils who don’t necessarily need a powerhouse, but will thrive with a clicky, tactile keyboard, a sweet 5MP shooter for videoconferencing, and a great display and speakers for late-night entertainment.