The best laptops to buy in 2023

UPDATE: Aug. 8, 2023, 5:00 a.m. EDT This story has been updated with new picks for the best laptops of 2023.

The back-to-school season is prime time for laptop shopping, with many stores offering deals for students and teachers in need of new tech. But trying to pinpoint the very best laptop of 2023 isn’t a quest for the faint of heart: Not all laptops are created equal, and the sheer number of models out there is enough to make anyone’s head spin. To put things in perspective, Apple is selling three different MacBook Pros and three separate MacBook Air models as of mid-2023, and almost all of them come in multiple configurations with different M-something chips. That’s not even counting the older models still floating around at various third-party retailers (often at tempting discounts).

When choosing a laptop, consider three main questions: What sort of technical specs do you care about most? How are you going to be using your machine? And perhaps most importantly, what’s your budget?

Keep reading for Mashable’s guide to the best laptops, including the newest Apple MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, plus models from Dell, Microsoft, and Lenovo.

Note: All listed specs and prices apply to each model’s base configuration.