20 best alternatives to Dell XPS 13 as of 2018 - Slant

Dell XPS 15

Top Pro

Amazing display

Two display choices are available for the XPS 15, an Ultra HD touchscreen or a Full HD non-touch screen. Both screens have a very wide array of colors as they cover approximately 100% of sRGB color space. The viewing angle is around 170 degrees. However, at 45 degrees, slight color change can be noticed. With around 350 nit output for brightness, it’s a viable choice for outdoor usage. All of this makes it an amazing display. See More

Top Con

Battery doesn’t hold long with the Ultra HD screen

If you’re choosing the configuration with an Ultra HD screen, expect a very short battery life of around 6 hours for general usage. With more intensive tasks it's even less than that. See More

Top Pro

Good battery life if you pick the 1080p display

Models with the 1080p screen last about 10 hours with general usage. Naturally, if more intensive tasks are involved, the battery will be drained faster. See More

Top Con

9560 model's GPU has compatibility issues on Linux

The new 9560 model has some trouble accepting its GTX 1050 Ti video card while running a Linux operating system. Fortunately, the integrated Intel graphics card is capable enough to substitute it. The manufacturers are probably aware of the issue and will, most likely, release an update for it. See More

Top Pro

Solid keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard and trackpad are reliable and solid all-around. The keyboard is responsive but is not super “clicky”, rather a bit soft. It has a white backlight on black keys that illuminates them at night. The touchpad is rather large while having no buttons. Despite this, the XPS 15 can reliably distinguish between the left and right clicks which are done on the trackpad itself. See More

Top Con

Palmrest collects sweat

The palm rest is made from carbon fiber which attracts fingerprints and sweat. After some time it gets kind of unpleasant to touch and needs to be cleaned. See More

Top Pro

Optional password-free-sign-in via a fingerprint reader

For an additional $25 it’s possible to enjoy a password-free-sign-in by having a fingerprint reader. It will keep your laptop safe while still providing convenient access to it. See More

Top Con

Some ghosting in games

The display is not intended for gaming purposes so it can produce an effect called “ghosting”. Ghosting is when the pixels are not able to change their colors fast enough, so the color of the preceding frame can still be slightly seen on the next frame. This causes a blurring effect. Note that it only happens on high framerates coupled with fast objects. See More

Top Pro

Slick design

The whole design is quite stylish. The aluminium chassis provides a very clean look while the black carbon fiber palm rest with an almost borderless display cements it as a visually modern laptop. All of this is made with a premium build quality. See More

Top Con

Noisy fans

The laptop is very quiet during idle and light usage but when there is some workload, the fans get quite loud and distracting. See More

Top Pro

Very well-rounded laptop

The cheapest configuration is a great choice for general non-intensive use - things like internet browsing, watching movies and similar tasks. Whereas the more expensive configurations are gradually more capable of intensive tasks, like video editing or gaming. It’s not as good as a specialized computer built for a specific purpose, like a video editing laptop with an enormous RAM size or a gaming laptop with a superior graphics card, but it’s a very well-rounded, reliable laptop. See More

Top Con

Awkward webcam location

The webcam is located under the screen instead of on top. It means that your face will be shown from a lower angle which can seem a bit weird. It also means that your fingers can partially obstruct the webcam while you’re typing. See More

Top Pro

Operates well on a Linux system

All essential things, like network connectivity, ports and sound, work right “out-of-the-box” with a Linux operating system. There is a compatibility issue on the new 9560 model with its graphics card but the laptop is still very usable with its integrated Intel graphics card. See More

Top Con

Audible coil whine

Coil whine can be heard when it’s generally quiet and the fans are not running. Audible when the laptop is connected to the power supply. The manufacturers have acknowledged it as a problem and, if possible, will push out an update which should eliminate it. Until then, it’s still a gripe. See More

Top Pro

Can run most modern games

Being an excellent all-rounder, it can be used as a gaming laptop for games that are not exceptionally demanding, like Overwatch or Dota 2. Unless you’re using the cheapest model, you can expect a reasonable 60 frames per second for almost all modern games, provided that you’re willing to lower the game’s settings. See More

Specs

Weight:2kg (4.44 lbs)

Size:14.06 x 9.27 x 0.45-0.66-inches

RAM:8 / 16 / 32GB DDR4 at 2400MHz

CPU:Intel Core i3-7100H / Intel Core i5-7300HQ / Intel Core i7-7700HQ

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135 41

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Top Pro

Great battery life

The battery supports over 10 hours of light activity like web browsing, watching videos and editing documents. This can be doubled to 20 hours by swapping in the extended, 6-cell battery, which can be hot swapped without turning off the laptop since it also has an internal 4-cell battery. See More

Top Con

Extended dual battery adds weight

6-cell extended battery adds 0.4 pounds to take this ultrabook's weight far above that of the ultrabook standard (<3 pounds). See More

Top Pro

Great build quality

The Carbon X1 is a very light and durable laptop. It has the characteristic raven-black finishing of other Thinkpads on top of a carbon-fiber reinforced chassis. The carbon fiber increases the overall durability of the laptop, making it a great fit for people who travel a lot since it can withstand a lot of physical damages. See More

Top Con

Missing an Ethernet port

The X1 Carbon is missing an Ethernet port, so people who prefer having that option as well are forced to use Wifi only. See More

Top Pro

Excellent typing experience

Like most Thinkpads, the X1 Carbon has an excellent keyboard as well. The keys have about 1.8mm of travel and provide great tactile feedback. Their gently curved keys also make it very easy to target without looking at them. The keyboard also has optional backlighting which can be turned on or off with a simple key press. See More

Top Pro

Built-in support for Amazon Alexa

The 2018 model of the X1 Carbon has far-field microphones built-in to work with Amazon Alexa. This will allow you to give commands to Alexa from across the room. See More

Top Pro

Built-in support for Amazon Alexa

The 2018 model of the X1 Carbon has far-field microphones built-in to work with Amazon Alexa. This will allow you to give commands to Alexa from across the room. See More

Top Pro

Great speakers

The X1 Carbon has bottom-mounted speakers which provide excellent audio output. The sound is loud enough to fill a large room and there's clear separation of sound coming from the speakers, making them great for any sorts of recreational activity involving audio be it listening to music, watching movies or playing videogames. See More

Top Pro

Excellent display

The X1 Carbon comes in two different versions. With a 1080p or a 1440p display, with the latter being $70 more. Both displays are excellent. The image is sharp and the colors are very noticeable. Although, understandably, the 1440p display has images that are a bit sharper than its 1080p counterpart. According to colorimeter tests, both versions of the display can produce 104 and 103 percent of the sRGB color gamut, respectively. That's very impressive when compared to the average for 14" displays (83%). The 1080p screen is noticeably brighter than the 1440p screen (292nits vs 257nits) and the colors generally start fading only at about 45 degrees viewing angle. See More

Top Pro

Very portable

At around 2lbs this is a very light laptop. Especially when you compare it to other Thinkpads. It's light enough to carry in one hand and when it's carried in a backpack it's easy to forget that you are carrying a laptop because of how light it is. See More

Specs

Weight:2.49 lbs / 1.13 kg

Dimensions:WxDxH: 12.74" x 8.55" x 0.63" / 323.5mm x 217.1mm x 15.95mm

RAM:8GB/16GB LPDDR3 1866Mhz

Storage:512GB/1TB SSD

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190 97

HP Envy 13-ab016nr

Top Pro

Extremely portable

The HP Envy 13 is one of the thinnest laptops on the market at just 12.9mm thick. This detail, coupled with the fact that it weighs just above 1.3kg make the Envy 13 one of the lightest and most portable laptops on the market. See More

Top Con

Poor battery life

The Envy 13 has a relatively poor battery life. You may get about 9 hours out of it if you use it for general web browsing and some productivity work, but anything more than that (watching videos, light gaming) and you will start noticing that the battery life is considerably lower. See More

Top Pro

MX150 GPU

Adds extra grunt in a small form factor. See More

Top Con

The touchpad may be unreliable

Sometimes while dragging the cursor to select text, the touchpad will not interpret the input correctly and may start zooming in or zooming out. See More

Top Pro

People who usually use their laptop on a desk will feel very comfortable with this

The Envy 13 has a hinge on the back which gives the laptop a slight extra boost in keyboard height. This puts the keyboard at a much more comfortable typing position and reduces RSI and finger-fatigue from extensive periods of typing. See More

Top Con

No touchscreen version

HP does not provide a touchscreen version of this laptop. See More

Top Pro

Good performance for the price

The HP Envy 13 offers good performance for its price. It can handle up to 16 Chrome tabs open simultaneously without even a bit of lag. Daily mainstream activities such as web browsing, editing files and even development work can be done on this laptop without any particular issues. See More

Specs

CPU: 7th Generation Intel Core i5-7200U

Storage:256GB SSD

GPU:Intel HD Graphics 520

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37 6

Apple MacBook Pro

Top Pro

The default macOS is relatively developer friendly since it's a Unix

OSX is based on XNU (Darwin) kernel, it's certified Unix and arguably a lot more developer friendly than Windows. Development for Unix is native on OS X. There's a large selection of great development tools available for OSX. The operating system itself comes bundled with a powerful terminal emulator, called Terminal. Additionally, Apple provides tools, like Xcode, an IDE that contains a comprehensive collection of tools for developing OSX and iOS software, for free. See More

Top Con

It's expensive

Compared to other ultrabooks such as the Dell XPS 13, the MacBook Pro is very expensive. For the latest (as of Dec 2017) MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 13 with dual-core i5 Processor, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD, the prices are $1.2k for the Dell XPS 13 and $1.5k for the MacBook Pro. See More

Top Pro

Fantastic display

The MacBook Pro has a sharp, color accurate 2560 x 1600 IPS display. It's bright at 500 nits, has great viewing angles (viewable at up to 178 degrees) and capable of displaying 87.3% of sRGB color gamut. See More

Top Con

You need dongles or a dock to connect USB-A devices

There are no USB-A ports, so you'll need a dongle or a dock to use things like webcams. See More

Top Pro

Very portable

The latest MacBook Pro has a trimmed down design compared to predecessors. It's 0.61 inches (15.5 mm) thick and weighs 4.02 pounds. It's even thinner than MacBook Air. See More

Top Con

It's missing the ESC key

There is no physical function or escape keys as they have been replaced by a touchscreen, so for example, if you're a big Vim user and don't want to change your habits, the MacBook might be a poor choice. See More

Top Pro

Good battery life

The battery drains in about 9 hours of typical use. See More

Top Con

You can't upgrade the internal RAM

RAM is soldered in, so you can't upgrade it. See More

Top Pro

Can run up to 3 external monitors and output 4K

With 2 Thunderbolt (DisplayPort) plugs and 1 HDMI, MBP can run up to 3 external monitors and output 4K over HDMI. See More

Top Con

No official Linux support

Apple doesn't support Linux. As for unofficial support by Linux community: as of 2017, Linux still has limited compatibility with 2016 Mac hardware (in particular, WiFi is working in a limited fashion, and audio and suspend/resume don't work at all). For details on "how to install Linux on a 2016+ Mac" click here. See More

Top Pro

Amazing build quality

The MacBook Pro has an all-aluminum body that looks great and is sturdy enough that worries of accidentally damaging are mostly alleviated. It has a robust lid, well-spaced back-lit keyboard with speakers on each side of the keyboard and an excellent button-less trackpad. See More

Top Con

Keyboard issues

The membrane can wear out rather quickly, which causes keys to become more and more unresponsive. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

The MacBook Pro offers great performance both for day-to-day stuff and more niche graphic-related activities. The latest model also has had an update in hardware specs where both the CPU and GPU have been upgraded to their respective latest generations. The 16GB to 32GB help with performance as well and the SSD speeds are unmatched in the laptop market which also helps with general performance. See More

Top Con

Hard to repair or upgrade the hardware

The battery and other components are glued in, and the battery blocks access to other parts. The battery will wear out eventually, and the fact that it's glued in means that you cannot easily repair or upgrade a MacBook Pro. See More

Top Pro

One of the best trackpads around

The Macbooks are renowned for having the best trackpad out of any laptop. It has full gesture support, you can configure in the software how much pressure you want before it physically clicks and the finger tracking is perfect. See More

Top Con

The keyboard has a unique feel and some people may need some time to get used to it

The keyboard on the MacBook is unique and some people may not like the way the keys feel to press or not having physical function keys. See More

Top Pro

Good customer support

Apple offers support over the phone worldwide, provides support in Apple retail stores and authorized resellers and has community forums where users can help users. See More

Top Con

No real Delete key

Apple's particular ignorance about this is just baffling, and they've had a lot of opportunity to fix it. But their laptops (and small Bluetooth keyboards) still have no Delete key. They only have a Backspace key that's mislabeled "delete." This is annoying for every use, but particularly for programmers; we tend to delete things from the middle of lines and refactor code. The best keyboard-remapping utility (KeyRemap4MacBook, now called Karabiner) was disabled by an OS update a couple of versions ago and had to be rewritten entirely. It's still not fully functional, but can be used to convert another key (I use F12) into Delete. But Apple could have addressed this problem (which other vendors never suffered from) by simply making the now-defunct Eject key into Delete. They inexplicably didn't. See More

Top Pro

Good stability

Mac OS is very stable. It can run for multiple days without even needing a reboot, and the system is very crash proof. See More

Top Con

RAM maxes at 16GB

Most pundits thought that a 32GB upgrade was in the offing for the 2016 refresh, but no still 16GB. See More

Top Pro

One of the best SSDs that can be found on a laptop

With read speeds at 3.1Gbps and write speeds at around 4.7Gbps, the SSD used in the MacBook Pro is the best in the market by far. This doesn't just mean opening/saving files is quicker, but it also has a pretty huge impact on general application performance. See More

Top Con

Limited ports

The old adage form follows function seems to have been reversed. The laptop is elegant and thin, but missing PORTS and RAM. Once you add dongles or hubs it becomes unwieldy. Sure USB C may be the way of the future, but not right now. And again, if you are using VMs in your development, RAM is king and Apple took the decision to keep the laptop thin and max RAM (soldered in) at 16 Gb. The SSD is proprietary and welded in, again, you buy the 256Gb model and decide you want 1TB you are either SSD on USB C or trading in for a hideously more expensive model. See More

Top Pro

New OSX updates run on older models for quite a long time

Even older MacBooks are updated for a very long duration. Your MacBook won't get deprecated for quite a while. See More

Top Con

Requires the use of proprietary firmware

The source code of the firmware isn't available for users to audit or modify. See More

Top Pro

OSX/macOS and most software apps have great HiDPI support

Top Con

No Ethernet or FireWire ports

An adapter is required to transfer data over FireWire or connect to the Internet using an Ethernet cable. See More

Top Pro

Plenty of RAM for multitasking

The MacBook Pro has up to 16 GB of RAM. That much RAM is perfect for running IDEs, emulators, and virtual machines. See More

Top Con

Glossy screen

Apple has deleted the matte-screen option from its lineup, an unfortunate decision that reduces the usability of the computers and means you get less work done. You won't realize how much time you spend moving your head around to get reflections off whatever you're trying to see until you switch to a matte screen. Those "deep blacks" and "rich colors" that you were supposed to get from a glossy screen are not present since they're buried behind a sheen of reflection under all lighting conditions. See More

Top Pro

Great keyboard

The 2017 Macbook uses the second generation of the "butterfly" keyboards first introduced in 2015. They feel different to use than most laptop keyboards as they are very shallow, but most people report really enjoying the keyboard after getting used to it. See More

Top Con

Touchbar

It would be nicer to have a proper escape key, and the function keys back. See More

Top Pro

USB C Thunderbolt 3

On MacBook Pro, the ports support Thunderbolt data transfer at up to 40Gbps and USB data-transfer at up to 10 Gbps (USB 3.1 Gen 2). See More

Top Con

Screen anti-reflective coating issues

Top Pro

The OS is exceptionally easy to use

Macbooks are famous for working out of the box. The default operating system (macOS) is also exceptionally easy to use even for people who have never used it before. Most people will not need to customize or change anything since all the apps work perfectly as it is. The people who like to customize things and tinker with their systems will also find it pretty easy to do, considering the fact that macOS is a Unix and allows varying degrees of control to users. See More

Top Con

Battery life

Apple claims to squeeze 10 hours out of the battery. No where near close. When the 2017 model first launched, there were issues being reported left, right, and centre. Apple responded with a software update that removed the time estimate from the battery icon. See More

Top Pro

Both the hardware and software are designed in-house

Both the operating system and the hardware are designed by Apple and are made to be as compatible as possible from the get-go. Any drawback that the hardware might have compared to competitors, is made up by the great compatibility between the hardware and OS. Furthermore, because Apple controls the hardware that goes inside their laptops, they can be sure that every OS release will be fully compatible even with their older hardware, ensuring software compatibility for many years after the laptop is released. See More

Top Pro

Radeon graphics, which enables basic gamedev

Radeon is not exactly ideal for gamedev, but is certainly a viable option (unlike some of the competition with onboard Intel). See More

Top Pro

Availability of Xcode

Xcode is an program with which iOS applications are made. Xcode is exclusively available for Macs. You can download it in the Mac App Store. See More

Specs

CPU:2.0/2.9 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

Storage:256GB/512GB SSD

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254 92

HP Spectre x360 15t

Top Pro

Long battery life

For simple activities such as web browsing and editing files, the HP Spectre clocks in at around 11 hours of autonomous battery life. See More

Top Con

Can easily trap heat and overheat

The extremely thin chassis is a drawback as far as heat management goes. Even a relatively simple activity like streaming HD videos will overheat the laptop and put the internal heat at about 105 degrees Fahrenheit which is 10 degrees higher than the 95 degrees "comfortable" threshold. See More

Top Pro

Good keyboard

HP put a lot of effort in the creation of this keyboard and it shows. With 60 gram actuation weight and a travel length of 1.3mm, typing on the Spectre x360 is a great experience, reminiscent of typing on a mechanical keyboard. See More

Top Con

Has some bloatware

While it's less than HP usually has, there are still apps like Netflix, The Weather Channel, Hearts Deluxe, Connected Photo etc. See More

Top Pro

Excellent performance

Performance of course depends on the configuration, but a medium-powered configuration with 8GB RAM and i7 provides an excellent performance. Multitasking is a breeze and the laptop doesn't stutter or lag even with 20 Chrome tabs open simultaneously. The SSD is also extremely fast and is able to copy 40GB of data in about 2 seconds. Gaming performance is decent as well, managing to hit 40FPS with Dirt 3 on medium settings. See More

Top Pro

Great, colorful display

The Spectre x360 has a great glossy Full-HD screen to complement its amazing design. At 317 nits, the screen is pretty bright and it has a decent color range as well, covering 101.7 percent of the sRGB color spectrum. See More

Top Pro

Great design

The HP Spectre x360 has an all-aluminum body that gives it a very premium feel. The edges are all smooth and polished which provide a great highlight accent to the laptop. See More

Specs

CPU:8th Generation Intel Core i7

Storage:256GB SSD

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97 32

System76 Oryx Pro

Top Con

Very heavy and bulky

Weighing at 5.5lbs for the 15.6" version it's relatively heavy and it's one inch thicker than the XPS 13. But the extra space is not put to waste, considering how it has an Ethernet port, SD card slot, 2 Mini DisplayPrts, HDMI port, 2 USB 3.1 Type-C ports, 3 USB 3.0 Type-A ports and headphone and mic jacks. The GTX 1070 version also includes a headphone amplifier. However, the power brick that comes with the charger is ridiculously large at 2lbs which understandably adds to the weight of the laptop since most of the time you have to carry both with you. See More

Top Pro

Great Linux support

All System76 laptops come with Linux out of the box. The Oryx Pro comes with either Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or Ubuntu 16.10. But that does not mean that other Linux distributions are not supported, quite the contrary. Most Linux distros should work without any major problems with the Oryx pro and most (if not all) drivers are available. See More

Top Con

Customer service could be much better

System76's technical support is pretty bad. When there's a problem that should be solved by them, they usually resort to sending replacement parts instead or blaming third-parties (even if those third-parties are not at fault) of something that they should be fixing. See More

Top Pro

Excellent choice for gaming on Linux

The Oryx Pro is probably the best laptop with Linux support out of the box that is great for gaming as well. This is mostly because of the NVIDIA graphics cards. It comes by default with the GTX 1060 but for $289 more, you can add a GTX 1070 instead. The default 8GB of RAM is good for gaming but the 16GB RAM is ideal. See More

Top Con

No 4K option

It lacks the option to have a 4K display. While not a deal breaker, it's a shame that a laptop with a display as good as Oryx Pro's does not have a 4K option which would also be a great plus for gamers. See More

Top Pro

Amazing overall performance

The default 6th generation i7 Processor coupled with the 16GB of RAM (even better with the versions with 32GB and 64GB) make for an absolutely amazing machine. It has a dedicated SSD for the OS only which massively increases startup time and for anything else you can choose up to two SSDs or HDDs of varying sizes. The Oryx Pro is perfectly capable of doing some heavy-lifting including 4K video editing and gaming at highest settings without a hitch. See More

Top Pro

Good speakers

One of the bonuses of having a larger body is that you get to use good speakers instead of some small ones stuck underneath the laptop. They are also angled toward the user and the sound is crisp and loud enough, even though it lacks some bass. See More

Top Pro

Good keyboard

The keyboard is very nice, it's not amazing by any means but quite comfortable to work with. The keys are pretty thick, thicker than what you may find in laptops today and with a nice springiness to them. The keyboard also supports multicolor backlighting. See More

Top Pro

Good display

Has a 1080p matte display with an optional IPS matte display version. With great colors and brightness and almost no eye strain even when it's used for extended periods. See More

Top Pro

Very customizable

Before buying the System76 Oryx Pro from the System76 website, you get to customize almost every aspect of the laptop as far as specs go. The price depends on what you choose to put inside your laptop and prices vary from $1475 for the basic version to $7000 for a laptop with a 17.3" Matte IPS Display, a GTX 1070, 6th Gen i7 CPU, 64GB RAM, and two SSDs of 5TB and 4TB respectively. See More

Specs

Weight: Dependent on display size 15″: 4.37 lbs (1.98 kg) 17″: 6.61 lbs (2.99 kg) Base weight. Varies on configuration

Dimensions:Dependent on display size 15″: 14.96″ × 9.92″ × 0.73″ (37.99 × 25.19 × 1.85 cm) 17″: 16.48″ × 11.30″ × 0.98″ (41.86 × 28.70 × 2.49 cm)

Storage:Dependent on display size 15″: 1× M.2, 1× 2.5″ 7mm height drive. Up to 5 TB total 17″: 2× M.2, 1× 2.5″ 7mm height drive. Up to 6 TB total

Display:15.6″ or 17.3″ 1920×1080 144 Hz refresh rate or 3840×2160 4K HiDPI, Matte Finish

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60 19

Acer Aspire S13 S5-371T-78TA

Top Pro

Good performance for casual use

The Aspire S13 is a decent laptop for most day-to-day activities for students or normal users. The 8GB of RAM and i7 CPU work amazingly well for web browsing, watching videos or working with files and documents. See More

Top Con

The touchpad has accuracy issues

This laptop's touchpad works fine with two-finger scrolling but has issues when navigating around the desktop. There's some slight stuttering with the cursor and it's easy to accidentally select text if your palm brushes the touchpad by accident. See More

Top Pro

Has a top-notch display

This laptop's display outshines most of the competition, from various lab tests it managed to score 106.8% sRGB color gamut. Which is better than the average for this display size (83%). The display is quite bright as well. At 327 nits you can clearly see what's on the screen even under direct sunlight. See More

Top Con

The thick plastic bezel around the display is a bit off-putting

The display is surrounded by a thick plastic bezel which should have been avoided as it makes the laptop seem cheaper and less attractive than it should be. See More

Top Pro

Has both touch and non-touch display options

The Aspire S13 can be ordered with either type of display. They are both 1080p but the non-touch version is a bit brighter. See More

Top Con

Slight sound distortion on high volume

There is some slight sound distortion when volume is over 90%. Below that level everything sounds perfect. See More

Top Pro

Good build quality

Most of the chassis is covered by a textured nano-imprint cover which adds a very "premium" feel to it and is great to the touch. The keyboard and wrist area are made of aluminium, which looks great when the laptop is opened. See More

Top Pro

Great design

The Aspire S13 comes in two colors, obsidian-black and white. Both of them have a nano-imprint cover, which gives the laptop a nice and slick aesthetic. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Core i7-7500U

Storage:256GB SSD

Ports:2xUSB 3.0, 1xUSB Type-C, SD Card Reader

Screen size:13inch

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35 4

MacBook

Top Pro

Extremely portable

The laptop weighs just 2 pounds and is 13.1 mm thin. It's one of the thinnest and lightest laptops on the market and it's extremely portable and easy to carry around. See More

Top Con

Connecting more than one thing requires a hub

The laptop comes with a single USB-C port that's used for charging as well as any other peripherals or external storage devices. Connecting more than one thing at a time requires using a USB hub. See More

Top Pro

macOS is developer-friendly

macOS is based on XNU (Darwin) kernel, it's a certified Unix and arguably a lot more developer friendly than Windows. Development for Unix is native on macOS. There's a large selection of great development tools available for macOS. The operating system itself comes bundled with a powerful terminal emulator, called Terminal. Additionally, Apple provides tools, like Xcode, an IDE that contains a comprehensive collection of tools for developing macOS and iOS software, for free. You can also install Homebrew, an extremely useful package manager. See More

Top Con

Not very powerful

With an Intel Core M processor, the Macbook isn't a serious development laptop. While it will get the job done for lighter tasks, it will struggle with heavier jobs. See More

Top Pro

Amazing display

Everything about the display is very good - from its high resolution (2304x1440) to the brightness (325 nitts), uniform brightness distribution (90%), and high contrast ratio (1000:1) with over 95% of the sRGB spectrum. Overall, a great display which will come in handy for people who work with visual arts. See More

Top Con

Non-free software

Apple doesn't release the source code for most of their software & firmware. This makes it significantly more difficult to customize, automate tasks, and verify security. See More

Top Pro

Excellent trackpad

The MacBook has a large 4.4 x 2.7-inch Force Touch trackpad with a Taptic Engine that delivers haptic feedback whenever the user taps on it to give them the impression that they are actually clicking on it. It also supports gestures and multi-finger swiping. The accuracy is almost perfect and there's virtually no lag or stutter when using the trackpad. See More

Top Con

It's a bit hard to get used to the keyboard

The keys are pretty shallow, with a travel length of just 0.5mm. They still provide good feedback and the writing experience itself is not bad, but it's just a bit hard getting used to, especially if you are coming from a laptop that's not a MacBook. See More

Top Pro

Decent battery life

The battery lasts around 7h30m of continuous web browsing which is about average for this class of laptops. Where this laptop's battery truly shines though is under heavy stress where it manages to last an impressive 2h35m under a total stress test (maxed out brightness and processor usage - circumstances that you are likely never going to encounter in the real world). See More

Top Con

Premium price for not-so-premium hardware

Macbooks are one of the most expensive computers for the hardware they have. Mac is the most expensive UX to buy, as the price has low relationship to how good the hardware is and, instead, is related to how the whole experience from opening the box, to the physical shop, to the cloud and sync services they have. See More

Top Pro

Completely silent operation

Thanks to the Core M processor (which doesn't require a fan) and the SSD storage, there are no moving parts the in MacBook. It will operate in complete silence. See More

Top Con

Too fragile, compared to the competitors

Can barely handle liquid, breaks easily with bumping and, at a premium price, has the largest probability of something just breaking without apparent reason. See More

Top Pro

Very good speakers

The speakers, found above the keyboard produce loud and clear sound with minimal to no distortion whatsoever. They can be used for both listening to music and watching movies with no problem at all. See More

Top Con

Very expensive (official) repairs

Fixing any problem with a Macbook through the official means is a very expensive investment. Usually, any problem that happens means replacing most of the laptop for 80% of the price, even if the problem can be solved by replacing a 5$ transistor or a 15$ chip or even bypassing with a 1$ wire. See More

Top Pro

Decent keyboard

Top Pro

Available in 4 colors

The laptop is available in space gray, gold, silver and rose gold (pink) finishes. See More

Specs

Weight:2.03 lbs

CPU:1.1GHz Intel Core M Turbo Boost 2.4GHz / 1.2GHz Intel Core M Turbo Boost 2.6GHz

Storage:256GB / 512GB PCIe SSD

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42 28

System 76 Lemur

Top Pro

Ubuntu just works out of the box

System76 machines come with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS pre-installed with all drivers and necessary software ready to go. For Ubuntu users there's no need to install their distro of choice from scratch. See More

Top Con

Poor build quality

Like with most System76 products, the build quality for the Lemur is rather poor, especially when you compare it with other laptops at this price point. The plastic feels a bit cheap and flimsy and is not as durable as other laptops. See More

Top Pro

Choice of version of Ubuntu

System 76 allows the user to choose between the LTS release of Ubuntu and the latest release as the installed OS of the shipped device.. While installing a new version of the OS is done easily at home, it is convenient to see that System 76 will do it for you. See More

Top Con

Terrible battery life

Even when just web browsing, the battery will last five hours tops. See More

Top Pro

Base model is pretty cheap

For $599 this is the cheapest model System 76 sells, who are one of the few companies that sell laptops with Linux installed by default. See More

Top Con

Screen brightness doesn't go low

Even at minimal brightness, the screen is too bright to comfortably use at night. See More

Top Pro

Portable

At about 3.6lbs, it's a relatively lightweight laptop that can be easily carried around. See More

Top Con

Limited hinge angle

The hinge only opens to around 120 degrees. This is suitable for desk work. However, on a lap, it could be limiting. See More

Top Pro

Comes with free lifetime software support

Officially System76 provides free lifetime support for Ubuntu. And they will also try to provide unofficial support for other distros to the best of their abilities. See More

Top Con

US keyboards only

System76 only manufactures laptops with US (American English) keyboard layout. As most other language specific keyboard layouts use a larger number of keys, this is a clear disadvantage to customers from other countries. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

The "medium" build of Lemur (8GB of RAM, i7 CPU) can do most activities just fine. Whether that activity is developing Android applications, writing documents, or editing a 4K video with Kdenlive, the Lemur will not have any problems with lag or overheating. See More

Specs

Size:13.38 x 9.5 x 0.89 inches

CPU:Intel Core i3-7100U / Intel Core i7-8550U

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65 30

ASUS ZenBook UX330UA-AH55

Top Pro

Great battery life

It can last for up to 8 hours on a single charge, making it a good choice for people who don't have easy access to a power plug during their day and need to use the laptop for extended periods of time. See More

Top Con

Display is decent, but could be better

1080p IPS that isnt reflective nor touch screen. Enables lower brightness in bright rooms and saves battery life, but quality of screen could be much better. See More

Top Pro

Slim and sturdy build

All metal, 2.6lbs, 0.5" thin chassis that feels solid and well built through and through. Screen hinge is also very strong. See More

Top Con

The touchpad is good, but not great

The touchpad might work perfectly fine in Windows, but in Linux, it is not that great. See More

Top Pro

Excellent linux support

Elementary OS and Linux Mint both work without issues. The only thing that doesn't seem to work is the fingerprint scanner. See More

Top Con

Occasional fan noise and coil whine

At times there can be some coil whine (as is common in ultrabooks), but it isnt terrible. The fan isnt and issue in normal browsing or document editing, but in anything remotely intensive it will spin up and is noticeable. See More

Top Pro

Inexpensive for the great build and specs

Slim, light, metal build, strong hinge, large battery, great keyboard (soft, good key-travel) 7th gen core i5, 8gb RAM, 256gb SSD, 1080p IPS display and back-lit keyboard for $700. See More

Top Con

Bezels thicker than some modern designs

When compared to new screen designs on phones or the XPS line, the bezels are quite "old school" in comparison. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Core i5-8250U

Storage:256GB SSD

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13 3

ASUS ZenBook 3 UX390UA

Top Con

Only one USB-C port

The Zenbook 3 comes with just one USB-C port that acts as a port for the charger as well. This means that you need to use a dongle in case you want to charge your laptop and use peripherals at the same time. See More

Top Pro

Decent screen

The 12.5inch screen has a FullHD panel and reaches a maximum brightness of 270nits. Color coverage is rather average unfortunately, at just 85% of the sRGB color gamut. One interesting feature of the Zenbook 3 are the thin bezels around the screen which give it a very premium feel. See More

Top Con

Keys are a little shallow

While the keyboard is large and (most of the time) pleasant to use, the keys themselves are a little shallow which introduces a weird feeling that can lead to frequent typos. See More

Top Pro

Extremely portable

Weighing just 910g and being only 12mm thick, the Zenbook 3 is a very portable laptop that you can easily carry around in a backpack and forget it's there. See More

Top Con

The wrist rest area flexes a little

The area where the wrist is supposed to rest has a little flex due to the chassis being made of plastic. See More

Top Pro

Great speakers

Zenbook's speakers are certainly a highlight of the laptop. The music is clear and has some depth to it. The sound enhancement software that comes with the laptop does a pretty good job of adding a little bass to the drum beats. See More

Top Pro

Has good keyboard key travel for its size

Top Pro

Has the world's smallest fan

Top Pro

Finger print reader for quickly logging in

Top Pro

Backlit keyboard

Top Pro

Charges entirely over USB-C

The Zenbook 3 fully implements USB-C charging and charges at full speed without needing a separate AC cable. See More

Top Pro

Up to 16 GB of RAM

Top Pro

Powered by powerful i5 or i7 CPUs

Specs

CPU: Intel Core i5-7200U

Storage:512GB SSD

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31 12

Acer Swift 3 SF314-51-57CP

Top Pro

Good performance for the price

The Swift 3 performs quite well for the price and laptop class it belongs to. Everyday tasks are handled without problem, multitasking is not a problem neither, and it can also play some lightweight games (DoTA, LoL, Team Fortress 2) at decent framerates as well as some more demanding software such as Photoshop and Matlab without overheating the hardware or lagging. See More

Top Con

Comes with some bloatware

The Swift 3 comes with some bloatware out of the box which may influence performance. See More

Top Pro

Great trackpad

The trackpad is a bit larger than average and feels great to the touch, albeit a bit rougher than most trackpads out there. It performs really well with standard swipes, taps, and gestures and has no stuttering or jumpiness. See More

Top Con

Fairly noisy

The Acer Swift 3 has two small fans which sit on the CPU and GPU. Unfortunately they are rather agressive and start spinning even at low temperatures. Even something as simple as opening a browser will prompt both fans to start spinning quite fast. If you also keep in mind that both these fans have a fairly high pitched hum, then it's soon clear that this laptop is not the quietest on the market. See More

Top Pro

Great build quality

For an entry model, the Acer Swift 3 has great build quality. The chassis is solid and there's absolutely no bending in either the chassis or the hood. The outer case is built from aluminum and the inner chassis is made of plastic. See More

Top Pro

Upgradeable storage

Unfortunately the CPU and RAM are soldered on the motherboard so they can't be upgraded, however the storage is not and can be easily swapped and upgraded if one needs to do so. See More

Top Pro

Portable

The Swift 3 is a pretty light and compact laptop. It weight around 3.35 lbs and is 0.7″ thick. The screen size is 14" which is well within the small category as far as laptop screens go. See More

Top Pro

Decent keyboard

The keys have a slightly concave shape and a soft finishing which makes them feel great to touch and they also provide pretty good feedback. See More

Top Pro

Good battery life

The Swift 3 can get a good 10 hours of use (sometimes even more) with simple tasks such as web browsing or watching videos. This is true for both the models with i3 and i5 CPUs. See More

Specs

CPU:Core i5-7200U

Storage:256GB SSD

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22 11

Microsoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)

Top Pro

Gaming performance on-par with gaming laptops

The 15-inch version of the Surface Book 2 comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU. This is a powerful, VR-ready card that handles intensive gaming tasks. As for real-world performance, Hitman (1920 x 1080, ultra) runs at 71.9 frames per second, Grand Theft Auto V runs at 45 fps. It should also be mentioned that you need to be using the dock in order to do graphic-intensive tasks since that's where the GPU is located; using the laptop in tablet-mode will yield poor results in this regard. See More

Top Con

No Thunderbolt port

For a laptop aimed at creative professionals, the missing Thunderbolt 3 port is surprising considering the fact that Thunderbolt 3 is used to connect a laptop to peripherals such as external GPUs or power-dual 4K displays. See More

Top Pro

One of the best performances found on a 15-inch laptop

Equiped with an Intel Core i7-8650U CPU, 8GB (or 16GB) of RAM and an SSD that goes up to 1TB, the Surface Book 2 certainly packs a punch. It handles multitasking perfectly; you can open dozens of Chrome tags, stream video, and draw using the built-in software without experiencing any lag even once. As far as benchmarks go, on the Geekbench 4 overall performance benchmark, the Surface Book 2 got a score of 12,505, better than the 15-inch laptop average (11,004) coming third after the Dell XPS 15 (13,911) and the MacBook Pro (15,170). See More

Top Con

The pen must be bought separately

If you want to use the Surface Book for drawing then you will probably have to buy the Surface Pen which unfortunately does not come bundled with the laptop (it costs an additional $99). See More

Top Pro

The hinge is quite stable as far as 2-in-1 laptops go

The new fulcrum hinge that Microsoft used for the Surface Book 2 is much more stable than the one found on the previous Surface Book or even other 2-in-1 laptops for that matter. See More

Top Con

Disappointing audio performance

The audio that comes out of the speakers is quite average. It's enough to fill a small room but that's it. See More

Top Pro

Great display for creative professionals

This laptop's display is bright and vivid, making it perfect for people who do a lot of drawing, design, or video editing work. The display offers an excellent coverage of 131% of the sRGB colour gamut (the average for this price range is 101%). The colour coverage and the bright display which measures an average of 417 nits really makes colours truly pop out and offers lifelike pictures. See More

Top Pro

Great tying experience

Even though the keyboard is rather shallow (just 1.2mm of travel), the typing experience is excellent. Keys have a great amount of feedback when clicking and you rarely (if ever) bottom out when typing. See More

Top Pro

The battery easily lasts a full work day on a single charge

The Surface Book 2 lasts on average 12 hours on a single charge. This should be more than enough to get anyone to the end of their workday on a single charge. See More

Specs

CPU:8th Generation Intel Core i7

GPU:Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060

Screen size:15"

Memory:8GB / 16GB

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4 0

Dell XPS 12

Top Con

When using in laptop mode you can't tilt the screen to your liking

Since there's no hinge, you can't tilt the screen to your liking. It stays fixed at a 110 degrees angle. See More

Top Pro

Amazing display

The XPS 12 has a 4K display that's one of the best in its class. The sRGB color space is covered by 100% and the screen brightness is great as well. See More

Top Con

Middling battery life

The XPS 12 has an average battery life of 3 hours. See More

Top Pro

Unique design

Like other laptops in the XPS series, the XPS 12 is not any different in the design department. It's a beautiful piece of hardware albeit a little strange for convertible laptops since it doesn't have anything that holds the screen and keyboard together. There's no latching mechanisms or prongs like in other similar devices. The screen slots in place and a combination of magnets, friction, and gravity holds it in place. It may seem a bit unnerving at first but it works and it's very secure while still allowing the user to easily lift the screen off. See More

Top Con

Works comfortably only on a desk or lap

When keeping the laptop on a flat surface such as a desk or one's lap, the viewing angles are good. But working with it in any other position (such as when lying down) you will have a hard time with the viewing angles. There's also the issue of the screen tumbling forward since it's not held in place by anything other than some magnets. See More

Top Pro

Doesn't rely on a flimsy hinge

This 2-in-1 laptop has a rigid keyboard base on which you place the tablet part. This avoids using a flimsy hinge like other 2-in-1 laptops and offers a great tactile typing experience found in business-grade laptops. See More

Top Pro

Great build quality

Both main parts (the keyboard and the screen) are made of high-quality magnesium alloy and the device is coated with a pleasant layer of soft touch paint. See More

Top Pro

Great keyboard

The keyboard is on the same level as some business-grade laptops. Keys feel great to the touch and they have a slight curvature which makes hitting keys easier. They also offer a travel distance of 1.9mm, more than any other convertible laptop on the market. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Core M 6Y54 1.1 GHz

Storage:256GB SSD

Ports: 2 x USB-C + Thunderbolt 3; SD card reader; headset jack

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15 12

KDE Slimbook

Top Pro

Good build quality

The laptop's chassis is made of aluminium which gives it a very "premium" feel. It's extremely lightweight at 1.36kg and rather thin at 1.8cm. See More

Top Con

Shipping outside the EU is rather expensive

Since this laptop is built by a Spanish company, shipping outside the EU is rather expensive and can go as much as $106. See More

Top Pro

Comes with Linux pre-installed

The KDE Slimbook comes with KDE Neon, a Ubuntu derivative out of the box. See More

Top Con

Fairly expensive

The KDE Slimbook is a fairly expensive laptop, with the base model having a price of 729€ even though it only has 4GB of RAM. The price is even higher when you have to take into account shipping costs if you are buying outside of the EU. See More

Top Pro

Optimized for use with KDE software

This laptop was developed with help from KDE developers and its performance with KDE apps was tested thoroughly. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel core i5/i7

Storage:120GB/250GB/500GB SS

Screen size:13.3inch

9 0

Lenovo ThinkPad T480

Top Pro

Comes with a webcam shutter

You can cover the webcam's lenses completely with a mechanical sliding shutter, eliminating the need for sticking a tape over it. Note that this is only available on configurations with a 720p webcam - any configurations with the InfraRed webcam lacks the shutter. See More

Top Con

Only ships with windows 10

Although there is an option to downgrade from the default windows10 PRO to the windows 10 HOME (I think that's a $50 or even $100 saving), there's no option to have it ship without an operating system at all. See More

Top Pro

Keyboard

As it's a ThinkPad, the keyboard is great. It has all the keys you want (looking at you, Apple), and they feel like proper keys See More

Top Con

Not the most exciting form-factor

It's still a thinkpad... sturdy, but still a boring square covered in black plastic. See More

Top Pro

Best IO in a modern laptop

2 USB 3 ports, 1 USB3 (type-C), 1 thunderbolt, HDMI, audio jack, card reader, and the beloved RJ45 are all there. See More

Top Pro

Build quality

Despite Lenovo having made some shockingly bad stuff, it's rather reassuring to see that they've respected the legacy of the ThinkPad brand. The plastics used don't feel cheap, but rather durable. The screen hinges are sturdy, and despite the lack of weight, nothing feels flimsy. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

Even in simple, every day tasks, I notice better performance compared to the laptop I have been using at work (MacBook Pro 16Gb ram i7). Simple things like opening my .vimrc file are noticeably faster on this machine. See More

Top Pro

Incredible value for money

$200 less than a comparable XPS, about half the price of a MacBook Pro - If you want value for money, this is your machine. See More

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7 2

Eluktronics PA71HS-G Premium

Top Pro

Overall good price/quality ratio

At this price, the Eluktronics P650RS offers a lot of features, performance, and quality compared to competitors. Gaming laptops with a GTX 1070 usually cost $100 or more and might not have the same level of build quality or other features found in this laptop. See More

Top Con

The display should be better for this price

The Eluktronics P650RS uses a IPS display panel which is decent in itself but could and should probably be better for this price point. Where it lacks specifically is in terms of contrast, colours, and response time. There's also some light bleeding when looking at a completely black screen. See More

Top Pro

Excellent build quality

The case is made from a very durable plastic with a metal finish that does not feel cheap or flimsy to the touch. See More

Top Con

Terrible battery life

Even when using this laptop for light activities such as web browsing, watching movies, or editing documents it averages at about three hours of independent use. This was measured at about 40% screen brightness so it would be much lower at a higher brightness. When it's used for gaming then the average battery life drops to less than two hours of independent use because of the relatively high resource requirements that both the GTX 1060 and GTX 1070 have. See More

Top Pro

Excellent gaming performance

Both the GTX 1060 and GTX 1070 versions of this laptop offer excellent performance when gaming. The P650RS consistently hits 80+ FPS in most AAA games at ultra settings. For example, the GTX 1070 version can play Total War: Warhammer at 100FPS on 1080p with ultra settings. While the GTX 1060 version can play Battlefield 4 at 80FPS on ultra settings. Even the relatively cheaper version of the P650RS with the GTX 1060 can pack a punch. See More

Top Con

The touchpad has issues with two-finger use

When trying to scroll up or down by using two fingers there are some synchronization issues with the touchpad. See More

Top Pro

Quality speakers

The two speakers packed in this laptop are pretty good, especially when compared with previous models. They provide reasonable bass and the mids have both good richness and deepness to them. See More

Top Con

Has some issues with heat

Since the cool air is sucked from the bottom of the laptop, the bottom needs to stay above the sitting surface at all times. But even when this advice is followed, the P650RS still has some issues with overheating. The center and left parts of the keyboard are the most problematic ones. It's not unusual for the keyboard to heat so much as it starts being a bit uncomfortable to use. See More

Top Pro

Good keyboard

The keyboard is pretty good. It's backlit with programmable colors. The tactile feedback is decent across all keys and the travel length is about the average (1.5mm) for this kind of laptop. See More

Top Con

The speakers are not very loud

Even though they provide good sound, the P650RS-G speakers are not loud at all. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Core i7

GPU:NVidia GeForce GTX 1070

Screen size:17.3inch

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16 1

Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM

Top Pro

Can be used for a long time unplugged

Depending on what it's used for, it can stay up to 10 hours unplugged. See More

Top Con

The webcam image shows too much noise

The 720p webcam stands out as a poor one even in a market saturated with laptops that take poor images. Pictures taken under fluorescent lighting are filled with visual noises and details are hard to make out. See More

Top Pro

Large HDD

Has a 1TB HDD. See More

Top Pro

The display produces the best images for this price range

At less than $400 it's pretty rare to find a laptop with a 1080p display and yet, the Aspire is just that. The display offers sharp images with vibrant, accurate colours. The display produces 159% of the RGB colour gamut which is well above the 94% average for laptops. At that score, it also vastly outperforms direct competitors for this price range. See More

Top Pro

Solid build quality

The chassis is made of a sturdy black plastic with faux aluminium finishes. It has a great build quality with a sturdy body that does not creak or buckle during use. See More

Specs

Screen resolution:1080p

USB Ports:1 USB3.1, 2 USB3.0, 1 USB2.0

33 4

Acer Spin 5 SP513-52N-58WW

Top Pro

Extremely easy to carry everywhere

The extremely compact size (12.9 by 9 by 0.8 inches) and light weight (3.5 pounds) make this laptop very easy to carry around in a backpack everywhere you go. Making it a good choice who for people who have to take their laptop everywhere. See More

Top Con

The battery does not last a full day's work

Averaging at around 4 hours of independent battery life while doing easy day-to-day activities like web browsing, the battery life for the Acer Spin 5 is not enough for a full day's work. See More

Top Pro

The fans are usually very quiet

The fans on the Acer Spin 5 are very quiet even when you have multiple browsers open with several tabs on each. They do get rather loud when playing games or installing new apps though, but gaming is not what this laptop will usually be used for. See More

Top Con

Too large and heavy to be used as a tablet

Even though it's got a touchscreen display and the screen can be flipped 360 degrees, it's unfortunately too large and heavy to be used as a tablet comfortably. The tent mode though is quite comfortable. See More

Top Pro

The screen can be viewed comfortably from multiple angles

The 1080p IPS display can be viewed from multiple angles without making it seem washed up. The display also covers 59% of the sRGB color gamut, which makes it one of the most color-accurate displays for this price range. See More

Top Con

The typing experience is not very pleasant

The keyboard is too shallow and the keys are too mushy, which makes the typing experience less than optimal. See More

Top Con

Too much software bloat

Comes with 10+ pre-installed applications which most people will never use and that are borderline spyware. The Acer Collection software for example pops up constantly asking for permission to access the location. See More

Specs

CPU:8th Generation Intel Core i5

Screen size:13.3"

Display Resolution:1080p

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2 0

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