You'll find a number of Copilot Plus PCs among my favorite Windows PCs. Two have an Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X and deliver strong application and AI performance along with exceedingly long battery life. I love the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 for its slick and sturdy design and awesome haptic touchpad. The Asus Zenbook A14 is a winner for its ultralight yet rigid enclosure and the OLED display it supplies for the price, and the HP OmniBook 5 14 has the longest battery life of any laptop CNET has ever tested. Meanwhile, the Intel-based Acer Aspire 14 AI is a great budget option. Keep reading to see the best Windows laptops I’ve tested this year. OUR PICKS Best overall Windows laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 $950 at Amazon Jump to details Best Windows laptop with longest battery life HP OmniBook 5 14 $650 at Amazon Jump to details Best budget Windows laptop Acer Aspire 14 AI $546 at Amazon Jump to details Best gaming laptop Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 $1,699 at Walmart Jump to details Best budget gaming laptop Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 10 $1,569 at Newegg Jump to details Show 5 More LAPTOP DEALS OF THE WEEK Save Up to $750 on Dell PCs, Accessories and More Save on Dell Business PCs With Limited-Time Deals Get a MacBook Air for as low as $749 at Best Buy Best Buy – Save on Select Google Chromebooks Dell 16 DC16255 Ryzen 7 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 16-inch 2K Laptop: $600 (save $600) Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article. Table of Contents The best Windows laptops come in all shapes and sizes If you aren't ready to take the plunge with a Snapdragon X series processor and worry about potential Windows-on-Arm compatibility issues, then I have Intel- and AMD-based favorites, from budget models and two-in-one convertibles to high-powered laptops for gamers and creators. And many of the best Windows laptops I've tested this year are at or nearest their lowest prices of the year for the holiday shopping season. With decades of experience testing and reviewing laptops, my colleagues and I conduct performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET labs and perform extensive hands-on tests to assess the design, features and performance of each laptop we review. You'll find a good number of recommendations here but I also have more specific picks in different categories, starting with the best overall laptop, the best gaming laptop, best cheap gaming laptop, best laptop for college students and best two-in-one laptop. If you narrowed it to a specific brand, check out our picks for the best Asus laptop, best Dell laptop, best HP laptop and best Lenovo laptop. Beyond Windows, I have recommendations for the best MacBook and best Chromebook.The Surface Laptop 7 reverses earlier Arm-based efforts that were plagued by lackluster performance and limited compatibility. Many x86 apps were unable to run on an Arm-based system. This time around, performance has improved and so has compatibility.