Best laptops 2022: Top business notebooks from Acer, Asus, Dell, Apple and more

Pandemic or no pandemic, it looks like the world of hybrid working is here to stay, and that means it pays to ensure your hardware is up to the task. Purchasing the best laptop you can afford will ensure that you’re covered whether commuting to the office, or setting up temporary digs at the kitchen table. 

Not all laptops are created equal, however, and so it’s important to pick the best laptop for your personal circumstances. If your workload consists of emails, word processing and spreadsheets, then the portability of an ultrabook would be ideal, but if you routinely edit photos, videos and manage databases, then you’ll need something more powerful. 

There are factors that are universally important, of course. A comfortable keyboard, a reliable trackpad and decent battery life are all massively important, and something we’ve always prioritised in our laptop reviews. Below you’ll find our current favourites: the best laptops for business in 2022, with something for every budget and need.

Best laptops 2022

Dell XPS 15

Best laptop for power users

IT Pro

Dell’s mid-sized flagship laptop packs a phenomenal amount of power into a surprisingly discreet package, and is almost rivalling mobile workstations in terms of sheer performance. Combined with the gorgeous screen, it makes a tempting proposition for professionals looking for a portable rig that can keep up with their needs.

We do have a few quibbles - namely a slightly underwhelming battery life, the lack of USB-A ports and a distinctly disappointing webcam - but overall, this is one of the most robust options for serious power on the move.

Price when reviewed: £2,040 exc VAT

Read our full Dell XPS 15 review for more information.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513

Best laptop for budget-conscious users

If you want the last word in affordability without having to sacrifice on user experience or design, it’s hard to do better than a Chromebook, and Acer’s Chromebook Spin 513 is one of the best-value options around. Not only does it come in at less than £350 before tax, it’s got the looks of a much more expensive device.

Of course, there are some compromises - the build quality could be better, and performance isn’t going to blow anyone’s socks off - but it’s capable enough to handle basic office workloads, and the battery life is actually rather good.

Price when reviewed: £332 exc VAT

Read our full Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review for more information.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio

Best laptop for creative professionals

Microsoft’s Surface range has always been popular with digital artists, and the Surface Laptop Studio is a perfect option for graphic designers who need a versatile creative workstation. Combining a clever multi-function screen with outstanding pen support and the performance to power professional creative apps, this laptop is an artistic powerhouse.

Bear in mind that you’ll have to pay a considerable amount for the privelege of all this functionality, but for individuals (or agencies) that can stomach the price, this machine really does do it all.

Price when reviewed: £2,399 exc VAT

Read our full Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio review for more information

Acer Swift 5

Best laptop for mobile workers

If you’re on the hunt for a new business laptop, the Acer Swift 5 should absolutely be on your shortlist. Feather-light at 990g and remarkably compact, Acer still manages to pack a 14in touchscreen into its svelte frame thanks to impossibly thin seeming 5mm bezels. 

With an Intel Core i5 chip and 8GB RAM powering things, it’s no slouch either. And the fact that its only drawbacks (a middling battery life and weak speakers) can both be easily mitigated makes it a great choice for anyone looking to balance power and portability. 

Price when reviewed: £833 exc VAT

Read our full Acer Swift 5 review for more information.

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 2-in-1

Best laptop for flexibility

If you require the power and comfort of a laptop, but sometimes value a tablet’s form factor then the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 is a very appealing product indeed. As a 2-in-1, the screen flips 180 degrees turning it temporarily into a tablet — and one that can be enhanced further with the optional £27 Dell Active Pen for doodling and note-taking.

The keyboard and trackpad aren’t the best we’ve used, but they’re far from disastrous. If you want the flexibility of a 2-in-1, this is as good as you’ll get for a surprisingly competitive price.

Price when reviewed: £691 exc VAT

Read our full Dell Inspiron 15 7000 2-in-1 review for more information.

Apple MacBook Pro 13in (Apple M1, 2020)

Best laptop for all-round performance

While Apple has always produced its own mobile chips for iPhones, the company abandoning Intel for its own ‘Apple Silicon’ processors felt like an enormous gamble at the tail end of 2020. It turned out to be a masterstroke, and the M1 chip used in the new family of MacBook Pros is not only unnervingly nippy, but offers superb energy efficiency leading to ridiculous 17-and-a-half hours of battery life in our standard test. 

The new chip may lead to some compatibility issues on legacy software, and MacOS isn’t for everyone, but if these aren’t problems for you then this is a laptop with very few drawbacks to speak of. If you want near identical power with a slimmer footprint, the 2020 MacBook Air is also worth considering.

Price when reviewed: £1,083 exc VAT

Read our full Apple MacBook 13in (2020) review for more information.

Razer Book 13

Best laptop for ultraportable performance

Keumars Afifi-Sabet/IT Pro

Gaming brand Razer in a list of the best business laptops? No, that’s not a mistake. The Razer Book 13 is the company’s first attempt at a laptop aimed purely at productivity rather than relaxation, and it’s astonishingly good, even if it will set you back a pretty penny. 

With its Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB RAM, performance is top notch even for multitaskers needing to engage in more performance-intensive tasks like photo editing, while the screen and keyboard are both fantastic quality too. The only real issue is the high cost of entry, but if you have the cash to burn you won’t be disappointed.

Price when reviewed: £1,317 exc VAT

Read our full Razer Book 13 review for more information.

Samsung Galaxy Book S

Best ultraportable laptop 

Despite tipping the scales at just 961g and being just 11.8mm thick, the Samsung Galaxy Book S has a truly astonishing battery life. In our tests, it was able to go a surprising 14hrs 28mins without needing to see its charger, knocking bulkier laptops into a cocked hat. 

That’s mainly down to the incredibly efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx SoC powering things, of course. That may be an issue for some: the majority of Qualcomm’s chips are destined for Android smartphones, and that can lead to compatibility issues in Windows. But if you don’t need specialist software, the Samsung Galaxy Book S is an excellent choice, with a great display and solid keyboard backing up its remarkable form factor.

Price when reviewed: £833 exc VAT

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Book S review for more information.

MSI Prestige 14 Evo

Best laptop for high-value performance

The MSI Prestige 14 Evo isn’t the cheapest laptop on this list, but it offers impressive value for money considering its powerful internals and high-quality IPS panel.

Eschewing the company’s gaming heritage, the MSI Prestige 14 Evo’s design is pleasingly understated, and there’s a reassuring heft to the laptop which packs a punch with its Tiger Lake Intel Core i7 processor. There are a few niggles — extremely noisy fans and a keyboard layout that’ll take some getting used to — but nothing that stops this from being a solid business laptop recommendation.

Price when reviewed: £999 exc VAT

Read our full MSI Prestige 14 Evo review for more information.

Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482

Best laptop for multi-taskers

By far the most unusual laptop in this list, the Asus ZenBook Duo justifies its name by doubling the number of panels you’d expect from the formfactor, with a 12.6 x 3.4in IPS touchscreen accompanying the main 14in one. It’s ideal for multitasking and creative apps, with the included 4,096-point stylus making it especially handy for artists.

But that extra screen does have a knock-on effect - and not just to the price, which is on the more expensive end of the spectrum. Because the second screen sits above the keyboard, the keys are all pushed down and can feel a touch cramped, with no space for your wrist to rest. The trackpad has also been pushed to the right hand side and is subsequently a bit fiddly to use.

In other words, it’s not recommended for those who’d struggle to explain why they’d want a second screen, but for those that instinctively understand, it’s a game changer.

Price when reviewed: £1,249 exc VAT

Read our full Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482 review for more information.

LG Gram 17 

Best laptop for portable productivity

With its imposing 17in screen, the LG Gram 17 is the biggest laptop in this list — which makes it all the more amazing that it’s nowhere near the heaviest. At just 18mm thick and 1.35kg in weight, it’s surprisingly easy to forget you’re carrying it.

The size doesn’t just give you an incredible 2,560 x 1,600 display to gawp at — it means you get plenty of ports, a large trackpad and room for a full-size keyboard. The thin design does limit its performance somewhat, with multi-core scores being a touch underwhelming, but it’s still a great choice if you can’t decide between size and portability.

Price when reviewed: £1,599 exc VAT

Read our full LG Gram 17 review for more information.

HP Envy 13

Best laptop for all-round value

At £749 excluding VAT, the HP Envy is an appealing proposition which gets a lot of the business basics right: it has a comfortable keyboard, the 15.6in screen is big, bright and bold, and the battery lasted an impressive 14-and-a-half hours in our looped video test.

But it’s not without its drawbacks: it’s quite chunky, isn’t the nicest looking machine, and performance wise it’s middle of the road with its Intel Core i5 processor. Nonetheless, it’s good enough in all the areas that really matter, and fully deserving of a place on our list of the best laptops of 2022.

Price when reviewed: £749 exc VAT

Read our full HP Envy 13 review for more information.

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