The best 15-inch laptops | Popular Science

Small-screen laptops are easy to lug around, but the screens can feel cramped, especially when there are so many great 15-inch models out there on the market. The term “15-inch laptop” has evolved in recent years, with screens shifting in aspect ratio and 16-inch models occupying the same size chassis that used to encompass 15-inch screens. We’ve chosen the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) as our best overall pick, but the Apple ecosystem isn’t for everyone. There are options out there for every usage and budget, so check out the full list to find the perfect machine.

How we chose the best 15-inch laptops

A laptop is a personal choice, and most of the PopSci staff spend our days staring at them. For this buying guide, we’ve based our picks on a wide selection of variables, including extensive hands-on testing, user feedback, in-depth spec comparisons, editorial reviews, and brand reputation. We don’t typically rely on hardcore benchmarking tests and charts, but rather real-world experience and performance.

The best 15-inch laptops: Reviews & Recommendations

Below are our current top picks, updated with newer models and more search-relevant categories—so whether you’re buying for school, work, gaming, or creative production, you can quickly land on the right kind of machine.

The 15-inch MacBook Air stays impressively light for the screen size, the M4 chip has more than enough headroom for everyday work, and the fanless design means it stays quiet even when you’re multitasking hard. It’s the kind of machine that will last for years, even if you use it for serious work.

The 15.3-inch display is big enough to make split-screen work feel normal, not cramped. And while the Air isn’t a dedicated workstation, it’s capable enough for photo editing, light video work, and creative apps. It feels just like a familiar MacBook Air, but with more screen real estate to get work done. It’s a fantastic all-around machine for most people.

Some gaming laptops make it feel like you’re carrying a patio stone around in your backpack. The Zephyrus G16 is one of the few that manages to legitimate gaming performance without excessive weight or bulk. That matters if you’re commuting, traveling, or just moving between rooms and not trying to drag a 7-pound space heater around.

Many creatives use gaming machines for editing tasks, and this machine will do just fine in that regard. Choose a flavor of NVIDIA RTX graphics card for your specific needs. Just keep expectations realistic: like most thin performance laptops, it can get loud and battery life depends heavily on what you’re doing.

The Spectre x360 16 takes a thoughful approach to touchscreens. If you take notes, sketch, mark up PDFs, or just want the flexibility of flipping the screen into tent mode for streaming, this is one of the cleanest implementations in a big-screen laptop.

It’s a genuine productivity machine in either configuration.The burly chassis makes room for a comfortable keyboard, good audio, and the kind of webcam/mic setup that makes remote meetings slightly less miserable. The tradeoff is weight: 2-in-1s are rarely the lightest option in any size class.

The Vivobook S 15 OLED is a lot of machine for under a G. You get a large, OLED screen that looks legitimately good, plus enough performance for everyday work, school, and light creative tasks. The Intel Core Ultra options provide enough power and flexibility for any task depending on how much you want to spend.

The main thing to watch is configuration creep. Listings can vary wildly (RAM and storage in particular), so treat the name as a starting point and make sure you’re buying something with at least 16GB of memory if you want it to stay snappy long-term.

When shopping for a budget laptop, it’s crucial to manage expectations. The Aspire Go 15 is here for realistic needs: web, docs, streaming, school systems, and general daily computing. If that’s your life, you don’t need a monster GPU—you need something stable, with a screen that doesn’t feel tiny and specs that won’t choke on 40 browser tabs.

As always, prioritize memory and storage over flashy extras. A model with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD will feel dramatically better over time than a cheaper config that forces you into constant tab triage.

The Yoga 7i 16 is a great campus pick if you want one device that can behave like a laptop and a big-screen tablet—especially for reading and annotating. The larger 16:10 screen is particularly useful for students because you can see more vertical content (documents, PDFs, web pages) without constant scrolling. The tradeoff is portability. If you’re walking across campus all day, a smaller laptop is easier—but if you mostly bounce between dorm, library, and class, the extra screen space is worth it.

The ThinkPad has been the quintessential work laptop for decades. The T16 line is built around the components that matters when your laptop is part of your job: a great keyboard, a practical port selection, and a durable chassis that can withstand the rigors of a daily commute. This is also the pick for people who live in spreadsheets, dashboards, and browsers all day and just want the machine to keep up without drama. It’s not the flashiest option on the list, but it’s one of the most sensible.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro-class chip is slightly larger and more expensive than other models on the list, but those small compromises are worth it in the name of performance. That’s especially true if you’re editing photos and videos on a daily basis. I work in Lightroom Classic all the time and edit video in Final Cut Pro X, which makes this a more logical option for an all-in-one machine.

Beyond performance, the screen sets a standard. Apple’s Liquid Retina XDR panel is a strong fit for color-critical work and HDR workflows, and the port selection (including SD card support) is legitimately useful for camera shooters. It’s expensive, but if you’re doing paid work, time saved is the real spec.

What to consider when selecting one of the best 15-inch laptops

Screen size is only the beginning. In this class, the “best” laptop is usually the one with the right balance of performance, battery life, display quality, and ports for your specific workload.

Processor

Most current laptops you’ll see fall into a few buckets: Apple’s M-series chips (now including M4 models), Intel’s Core Ultra chips, and AMD’s Ryzen laptop processors. A newer CPU generally means better efficiency (battery life), better integrated graphics, and often better “AI” hardware (an NPU) for features like background blur, voice cleanup, and some on-device tasks. If your work is mostly browser + Office-style apps, you don’t need the fastest chip—just avoid ultra-low-end configs and prioritize memory.

Graphics

Integrated graphics are fine for everyday work, streaming, and light creative tasks. If you game seriously or work in GPU-heavy apps (3D, effects-heavy video, some AI workflows), you’ll want a laptop with a dedicated NVIDIA GPU. Those machines cost more and usually run louder and hotter, but they deliver far better performance for the right tasks.

Memory

For most people, 16GB of RAM is the new “safe minimum” if you want a laptop to stay fast for years. Eight gigabytes can work for light use, but it’s easier to hit the ceiling today with modern browsers, meeting apps, and larger files. Many laptops aren’t upgradeable after purchase, so buy the memory you’ll need now.

Display

In 15–16-inch laptops, 16:10 screens (taller than the older 16:9 standard) are increasingly common, and they’re great for productivity because you see more content vertically. OLED panels deliver deep blacks and punchy contrast, which is excellent for movies and creative work—but they can vary in brightness and glossiness, so consider where you work (bright office? coffee shop window seat?) before you commit.

Storage

A 256GB SSD can work if you live in the cloud, but it fills quickly with photos, video, and big apps. For most buyers, 512GB is the practical baseline. If you do creative work, consider 1TB—especially if you don’t want external drives permanently attached to your life.

Connectivity

USB-C is the default now, and higher-end models often support Thunderbolt/USB4 for fast docks and external displays. If you regularly connect to projectors, monitors, SD cards, or legacy accessories, prioritize laptops with the ports you actually use. A dongle can solve a lot, but it’s one more thing to forget at home.

FAQs

Final thoughts on the best 15-inch laptops

If you want one high-confidence pick, the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) is still the best blend of screen size, portability, and real-world speed for most people. From there, it’s about matching the laptop to your life: a Zephyrus G16 if games (and GPU work) matter, a Spectre x360 if you’ll actually use touch/pen features, a ThinkPad T16 if this laptop is basically your office, and a MacBook Pro if you’re editing photos and video for real. In the 15–16-inch class, the best laptop isn’t the one with the biggest numbers—it’s the one that stays fast, comfortable, and reliable in the work you do every day.

 

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