Best Windows Laptop
Dell XPS 13 - Late 2016
Our favorite Windows laptop has already been upgraded to Intel's 7th generation Kaby Lake processors and comes packing a slightly larger battery. The standout feature of the Dell XPS 13 is of course its near bezel-free display and solid construction that allows the 13-inch panel fit a slick metal and carbon fiber chassis that would normally house a 12" laptop
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The XPS 13 comes in three variants, packing either the Core i3-7100U, Core i5-7200U, or Core i7-7500U — all of which are 15W low-power parts with respectable performance, on par with other laptops in this category, and efficiency gains over Skylake. You can get it either with a non-touch full HD (1920 x 1080) screen, or a touch-enabled 3200 x 1800 res panel. Both are great but the former is easier on battery life and less expensive, so that’s something you’ll want to consider.
Dell claims the 2016 XPS 13 boasts up to 22 hours of battery life if you opt for the 1080p panel, or about 13 hours with the QHD+ variant. In real world tests neither LaptopMag nor Notebook Check were able to squeeze those numbers, but both saw an improvement over last year’s model, which was already one of the longest-lasting ultraportables on the market. The XPS 13 also compared favorably against the Asus UX306UA, Apple MacBook, and HP Spectre.
The only other notable change in this year’s model is the switch from Intel and Dell wireless controllers to a solution from Rivet Networks. Elsewhere there's a single Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C port, up to 1 TB PCIe solid state drives, and up to 16 GB of memory. Dell has kept the same keyboard, which is backlit and comfortable to type on, as well as its soft-touch deck and competent touchpad. The webcam is still in a weird place, but overall, the XPS 13 remains the laptop to beat.
The Dell XPS 13 starts at $799, but we don't think that configuration gives you the most bang for your buck, so we recommend stepping up to a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD for $999, or get the roomier 256GB SSD for a total of $1,149.
Two great alternatives
The sleek HP Spectre is a solid contender to the Dell XPS 13. It's a bit thinner and lighter, has an excellent keyboard, a decent trackpad, a bright, color-accurate screen and can be configured with similar specs for roughly the same price. It doesn't have the thin bezel, battery life or port selection to match our main pick, but it's definitely among the best Windows ultraportables in the market right now.
HP also offers a convertible version of the Spectre, it's not as svelte but it can flip back 360 degrees to turn from laptop to a tablet of sorts. The Spectre x360 was recently updated with new Kaby Lake processors plus an edge-to-edge display and a thinner, lighter design. It has similar specs to those of the XPS 13 and Spectre but costs a little less and has a stronger focus on its 2-in-1 nature
Best Laptop for Most Mac Users
Apple MacBook Pro 13" - Late 2016
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Apple's MacBook Air has been at the top of our recommendation list for years and it’s commonly credited with revolutionizing lightweight yet dependable laptops. But as revolutionary as it once was, it doesn't appear to fit in Apple's future anymore, given the lack of meaningful upgrades since early 2015
and the deliberate decision to keep its display outdated while everything else has moved on to high-DPI retina panels.
If a super-thin and lightweight laptop is your top priority, the 12-inch MacBook is one way to go. But if power and versatility are more important, the brand new 13-inch MacBook Pro is the modern drop-in replacement for the Air. It weights about the same (~3 pounds), but receives a proper 2560 x 1600 display and performance upgrades that the aging Air has been in desperate need of.
The MacBook Pro 13", sans fancy Touch Bar, does not come cheap at $1,499. It sports just two USB ports for external connectivity, and these are of the USB-C variety, so you’ll have to rely on adapters to connect your existing peripherals. Its base configuration includes a 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5-6360 processor with Iris Graphics 540, 8GB memory, and a 256GB PCIe SSD. The combination produces respectable performance that's above than what both the MacBook and MacBook Air can offer and on par with competing Windows ultrabooks. Apple continues its recent tradition of shipping really fast storage with its laptops and the new MacBook Pro is no exception.
Battery life is pretty good, coming close to achieve Apple’s claimed 10 hours. Other upgrades over the previous generation MacBook Pro include an oversized trackpad and a redesigned keyboard that uses the flatter keys that were first introduced in the MacBook.
For an extra $300 you can get a slight performance bump, two additional USB-C ports, and the all-new Touch Bar. We can't call this an essential upgrade for most, especially because of how expensive the laptop gets (bringing total cost to $1,800), and while the Touch Bar sure brings some novelty into the equation, its true utility remains to be seen.
Best Windows Workstation
Lenovo ThinkPad T460s
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Business notebooks offer a combination of mid- to high-end components, but with an emphasis on durability, long battery life and increased security features that aren't normally found in mainstream consumer laptops. The venerable ThinkPad T series has long been a favorite in this segment and for good reason.
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The latest models include the 14-inch T460, the slimmer T460s, the performance-focused T460p, and the 15-inch T560. They all offer similar configuration options with slight variations, but we particularly like the “s” variant for power users and business buyers who need a fine balance of power and mobility. At 3.1 pounds and with a tapered shape ranging from 0.67 to 0.74 inch thick, the T460s is 0.8 pounds lighter and 0.09 inches thinner than last year’s impressive ThinkPad T450s, while still managing to deliver outstanding performance with enough ports for a full business-class PC experience.
As with almost all ThinkPads, the T460s includes both a standard touchpad and a classic red TrackPoint in the middle of the keyboard. Dedicated left, right and center buttons are located above the touchpad. Its spill-resistant island-style keyboard delivers an almost identical look and feel as the previous T450s, which is to say it offers comfortable spacing, gently cupped keys, excellent tactile and audible feedback and just the right amount of travel. It also features a gentle white backlight, with two brightness levels, that glows through the characters so you can type in the dark.
The base model starts at $980 featuring a high-quality IPS display with a 1920x1080 resolution (157 PPI), an Intel Core i5-6200U processor, 4GB DDR4, and a 128 GB SATA 3 SSD. But configuration options are plenty. For about $1,650 you can upgrade to an Intel Core i7-6600U, WQHD (2560 x 1440) IPS non-touch display, 12GB of DDR4 RAM and a 256 GB PCIe SSD.
Unfortunately, the new ThinkPad T460s only manages its impressive weight loss by dropping its predecessor’s best-in-class battery life. The battery on the ThinkPad T460s is still good for about 7 hours of use, but can’t be configured with a larger 6-cell unit and the battery is no longer swappable. Despite this trade-off, all told, the ThinkPad T460s is a successful revamp of an already excellent laptop.
Bulkier But Beefier Hardware
The T460s offers enough performance for most office workers, but if you need more powerful 45W Intel Core i5 or i7 quad core processors and discrete graphics the Dell XPS 15 offers a little more flexibility for people with more demanding processing requirements without adding much bulk.
A $1,400 configuration gets you a Core i7-6700HQ quad core processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB PCIe SSD, GeForce GTX 960M graphics, a 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) InfinityEdge panel and 56 WHr 3-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery. For an additional $250 there's the option for a 4K display and a larger battery.
Best macOS Workstation
Apple MacBook Pro 15" - Late 2016
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The MacBook Pro has undergone its biggest redesign in years with an all-metal design that's 15.5 millimeters thin, weighting in at just 4 pounds. There’s a new oversized trackpad, a redesigned keyboard, upgraded specs, all Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports (four of them), Touch ID and an OLED touch strip dubbed
'Touch Bar' that replaces the function key row and shows contextual shortcut buttons based on the app you are using.
Reviewers are still undecided about the latter — some see it as gimmicky and others see the potential as long as developers start supporting it. Touch ID on the other hand is definitely a nice addition to the Mac, as logins are faster than entering a password, and it also enables quick Apple Pay purchases.
The new MacBook Pro 15" comes with Intel Skylake Core i5 and Core i7 processors, Intel Iris + Radeon Pro graphics, fast SSD storage and a new cooling system. The display is 67% brighter and shows 25% more color than Apple’s previous generation Pro laptop, while battery life is quoted at 10 hours — though tests show it’s actually closer to about 7 hours for normal use. The 15-inch MacBook Pro will set you back at least $2,399 for a quad-core 2.6 GHz Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and discrete Radeon Pro 450 graphics.
There’s been a ton of controversy surrounding the new MacBook Pros, specifically with Apple’s design decisions and its vision for the popular laptop family versus the actual needs of pro users. Many things have been said about the decision to make the notebooks incredibly thin at the expense of expandability and battery life, or dropping MagSafe and the SD card reader (but keeping the 3.5mm headphone jack it considered too legacy for the iPhone), and the fact that because all the ports are USB-C now you’ll have to deal with a bunch of dongles to hook up all your peripherals.
At the end of the day if you are invested into the Apple ecosystem, chances are you are not considering a Windows alternative to the MacBook Pro... you’ve already made a platform choice.
These are valid concerns, though Apple defends those decisions as a way to take the lineup a step forward. Even Phil Schiller went on record saying that “the result is the best notebook ever made, but it might not be right for everyone on day one.” This is a sort of transition device and a bet on a standard I/O across the board. Not everyone is ready to endure the inconveniences this will present.
At the end of the day if you are invested into the Apple ecosystem, chances are you are not considering a Windows alternative to the MacBook Pro... you’ve already made a platform choice. And in that scenario if you are in the market for a new workstation you choices are to either wait it out at least a generation — which is a sensible way to go if your current MacBook is 2-3 years old — or go ahead and be an early adopter knowing what that entails right now.
The new MacBook Pro is a great laptop. The hardware is excellent and so is macOS, but it may be a year or two too early for it to fully deliver on the vision of portability mixed with enough processing power for all kinds Pro users (no RAM option above 16GB, for example), one port to rule them all and a peripheral ecosystem that doesn’t require a separate bag for carrying adapters.
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