Best Windows 10 laptops

Looking for a new Windows 10 laptop? The world of laptops can be confusing, with some designed for light use, others designed to replace a desktop and hybrids made for mobility.

We roundup the best Windows 10 laptops, whatever your most important factor to make sure you choose exactly the right laptop to suit your needs and of course, your budget.

HP Spectre 13

The HP Spectre is a fine looking machine. Although it's not the best-performing Windows 10 laptop we've included in our line-up, with connectivity options a little limited (no full USB ports here), lack of a high-resolution screen and a battery that will need charging more than other laptops of the same category, it looks simply beautiful.

However, the screen is still top-class and with either a Core i5 or Core i7 processor packed into its tiny chassis, there's certainly no power lacking here.

It's also one of the most fairly priced laptops in our roundup, costing 1,149 for the basic version (Core i5-6200U, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD), but if you want to bump that up to the Core i7-6500U version with a 512GB SSD, it'll only set you back another 150, which isn't much of a leap considering the extras.

Asus ZenBook UX330UA

The ASUS ZenBook UX3300UA is the budget laptop we've included in our roundup. Coming in at 900 for a Core-i7 processor, high-resolution screen, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SATA3 SSD, it's certainly one of the best cheap laptops we've seen around this year.

Battery life is also impressive, offering up 6 hours 47 minutes of battery power, despite such a high-resolution screen and powerful processor.

Although Asus' laptop brings a lot to the table, it feels cheap and cheerful due to substandard materials used in its construction. The casing offers a whole lot of flex which wouldn't make us particularly comfortable about carrying it around, but for 900, it's a decent laptop for a very low price.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

We were expecting a minor upgrade to Lenovo's already excellent X1 Carbon, but were blown away by its new features that push it even further up our ratings.

The display is a stunning 14-inches, even though the weight of the laptop remains just a touch over 1kg and it's thinner than the 2016 version too. The battery life is also awesome - offering over 15 hours of juice - but that's not surprising considering this laptop doesn't have a high-resolution screen.

Packed inside this skinny laptop is an Intel Core i7 7th generation processor, up to 16GB LPDDR3 memory and up to 1TB SSD storage and will be available for around 1,100 when it launches later in the summer.

Microsoft Surface Book

As Microsoft's first own-branded laptop, it certainly earns a place in our best Windows 10 laptops feature. However, it's the most expensive too, costing double the price of the ASUS ZenBook UX3300UA at a whopping 1874.

However, what you get for that is both a laptop and a tablet. We're not talking a hybrid, because the Surface Book is most certainly first and foremost a laptop, with a 16GB of memory, a 512GB SSD and a dual core 2.6GHz Intel Core i7 6600U processor. The performance outstrips a lot of the market, even being good enough for gaming.

To turn it into a tablet, you can just press a button to release the keyboard, with both components running their own battery. But if you want to use it as a very expensive tablet, battery life is where you'll see the dent, because it lasted only three hours and 40 minutes scrolling through a document, but add the keyboard back on and that time is trebled.

Acer Swift 3

The Acer Swift 3 may be even cheaper than our budget choice, but it's a super little all-rounder, with a 14-inch 1080p IPS panel.

At around 500, it's a super-cheapie option that many may overlook because of its low price point, but it deserves a mention because it's on par with many of the higher-specced laptops on offer.

The chassis is all-aluminium and feels sturdy. Because the hinge allows it to lie flat, it can be placed into the perfect viewing angle for anyone and at 18mm thick, it feels thin and light in the hand.

Internals are pretty decent too, with an Intel Core i5-6200U processor, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD topping off the spec sheet.

Dell Precision 5520

The Dell Precision 5520 is at the top end of our roundup, budget-wise, with a hefty price tag like the Microsoft Surface Book.

It has one of the larger screens at 15.6-inches, available in both a 1080p and a 4k version, depending on how crisp you need the display to be (and how much cash you have to spend on a laptop).

Inside the laptop, you'll find an i5-7300HQ processor, with an Nvidia Quadro M1200 serving up graphics and 8GB RAM, with a 256GB SSD, although this can of course be upgraded to a Core i7 processor, Xeon E3-1505M v6 and 512GB SSD for extra cost.

However, it doesn't have the same tablet functionalities as the Microsoft Surface Book, making it a little less versatile for the high cost.