The 6 Best Laptops For Battery Life - Fall 2023 Reviews

The best laptop for battery life we've tested is the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023), a premium mobile workstation. It has a compact and lightweight design, a sturdy all-aluminum build, and all-day battery life. You can spec it with an M2 Pro or Max SoC (System on Chip); both are fast enough to handle demanding workloads like video editing, 3D graphics and animation, and programming. Memory and storage max out at 96GB and 8TB, respectively.

In addition to its excellent performance, the MacBook Pro 14 provides a fantastic user experience with its sharp, 120Hz Mini LED display, spacious keyboard, and easy-to-use haptic touchpad. Its excellent port selection includes three USB/Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI 2.1, and a full-size SD card reader. You get Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity, a fingerprint sensor for quick logins, and an outstanding 1080p webcam. You'll get longer battery life on the larger Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023), but it's a bulkier device and costs more.

Our best upper mid-range pick is the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2022). Like the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) above, it's also a premium, well-built model that provides a fantastic user experience. It doesn't have as much processing power, so it's better suited for lighter general productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, and video playback. It can handle some demanding stuff like video editing, but you won't get as good an experience as on the Pro models. It has a bright Retina display, a comfortable keyboard, and a gigantic haptic touchpad. The battery lasts easily through a typical eight-hour workday with plenty to spare. The main downside is that it only has two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports with support for a single external display.

For Windows users, we recommend the LG gram 14 (2023). This 14-inch ultraportable provides a good user experience overall, and its battery lasts around 11 hours of light use. It has a significantly better port selection, sporting two USB-As, two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s, an HDMI, a MicroSD card reader, and a headphone jack. Its Intel 13th Gen CPU has no problem handling general productivity tasks. There are two main tradeoffs: the display isn't as sharp or bright, and its magnesium alloy chassis doesn't feel as solid or premium as the MacBook Air's all-aluminum build.

If you want a more modest mid-range model, check out the Lenovo Yoga 7i 16 (2023). It has a large 16-inch display that's well suited for split-screen multitasking, and since it's a 2-in-1, you can flip the screen around and use it as a tablet. You can choose between an FHD+ or QHD+ panel; we recommend the latter, as it looks sharper and gets brighter to combat glare. The keyboard feels great to type on and includes a Numpad, which is great for those working with lots of numbers. There's a fingerprint sensor and a facial recognition camera to log in quickly. For ports, you get two USB-As, two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s, an HDMI, and a MicroSD card reader.

You can configure it with Intel 13th Gen U- and P-series CPUs, which are plenty fast for general productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, presentations, and spreadsheets. The battery lasts a little over 12 hours of light use and charges over USB-C. The only complaint is that the webcam image has an unnatural tint, and the microphone picks up some background noise. Lastly, the display supports pen input, but you may have to buy the stylus separately, depending on the model. The pen uses Wacom AES technology and supports 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt.

For those on a tighter budget, we recommend the Acer Swift 3 14 (2020), a 14-inch Windows laptop that lasts over 13 hours on a full charge. Acer's Swift laptops are typically more expensive, but since this is a model from 2020, you can get it at a much lower price, making it a great value. Its Intel 11th Gen CPU is also a few years old but still more than adequate for general productivity. It has a great port selection that includes two USB-As, one USB-C Thunderbolt 4, an HDMI, and a headphone jack. You also get a fingerprint sensor for quick logins.

The display looks sharp and gives you just enough room for split-screen multitasking, although it isn't the brightest, so glare may be an issue in well-lit rooms. Unfortunately, the webcam's video quality is bad; the image looks underexposed, and the microphone sounds staticky.

Our best cheap pick is the Lenovo Chromebook C340 15 (2020), a well-built, portable 2-in-1 convertible. It's available with an Intel Pentium Gold or Core i3 CPU, which are a few years old but still fast enough to provide a responsive experience on Chrome OS. These CPUs are also very power efficient, resulting in long battery life. The only thing about the configuration that might be a dealbreaker for some—especially heavy multitaskers—is the memory; you can only get a maximum of 4GB, and the memory module isn't user-upgradeable.

Naturally, its low price tag does come with a couple of tradeoffs, the first of which is its dim display. It only gets bright enough for indoor use, and even then, you might have some visibility issues in well-lit rooms. Another downside is that the available CPUs (Intel Celerons) can only handle light workloads, so don't expect to do anything remotely intensive. Lastly, there is no fingerprint sensor or facial recognition IR camera for quick logins, although that's somewhat normal for a budget model.

The best 2-in-1 tablet for battery life we've tested is the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 (2021), a 13-inch Chrome OS tablet with a kickstand and detachable keyboard. This form factor is more comfortable to use as a tablet than 2-in-1s with a 360-degree hinge because you can take the keyboard off when you're just watching videos, making the device lighter and easier to hold, and you can pop it back on when you need to type something out. Plus, the keyboard comes with the device, so there's no need to spend extra. It isn't the most comfortable keyboard to type on; it's fine for a couple of emails but not a long essay.

The great thing about this device is its OLED display, which is rare among Chromebooks in this price range. It's sharp and bright, and like all OLEDs, it produces deep, inky blacks. The speakers get reasonably loud but don't have much bass and sound slightly unnatural. The battery lasts around 10 hours of light use or eight hours of video playback and charges over USB-C. Remember that Chrome OS doesn't support x86 Windows programs, so you must ensure you can do everything through a Chrome browser or Android app.

If you need to install x86 programs or prefer a Windows device, get the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 (2021). It's also a 2-in-1 tablet with a kickstand and detachable keyboard. Its type cover keyboard provides a better typing experience, but unlike the Lenovo, you need to buy it separately, which isn't cheap. You'll have to buy the stylus separately to use pen input. Another downside is that the battery lasts less than eight hours of light use. Its Intel 11th Gen CPU can handle much more, so it's a better option for heavy multitaskers. Just so you know, there's a newer Microsoft Surface Pro 9; however, it's only a minor upgrade to Intel 12th Gen CPUs and is more expensive.