Although many people outside the United States prefer 14-inch laptops, American consumers prefer the 15-inch size as a middle child among expensive 17-inch laptops and smaller, less powerful laptops. 13 inch models. The best 15-inch laptops strike a balance between size, performance and price.
We select candidates for the best 15-inch portable computer based on performance for a given set of specifications (ie its configuration), design and features for the price. Specifications and availability often change, so we limit our choices to the current models that we have actually tested. For example, the LG Gram 15 surprised us with his battery life and light in March 2018, but it’s not listed here because we didn’t run our battery tests in the current settings.
We include premium and affordable laptops and take into account features such as battery life, SSD storage, GPU and graphics card, processor, hard drive, whether or not you have a 4K screen, touchscreen, fingerprint reader or backlit keyboard, and more. Screen size shouldn’t be the only thing that dictates your laptop’s buying decisions!
If you are looking for a focus on lower prices or a broader set of options, check out our options for cheap laptops and cheap gaming laptops. And choosing just a handful from a sea of hundreds practically guarantees that you will lose some important devices, especially if you are looking for a more powerful laptop that is tailored to specific needs, such as video editing, then you should also visit to see our best gaming notebooks, Two in one and Chromebooks, as well as the best choices for college students, our choices of computers and tablets for creatives and the best Alternatives to MacBook Pro for the Windows suite. We update this list periodically with new products and information.
Read More: Best gaming laptop to buy in 2021
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It is difficult to find an economical laptop that is also thin and light, let alone one that has decent performance and battery. The Aspire, which costs about $ 500, achieves all of these goals and more, including a solid range of ports (including a USB Type-C port) and easily upgradable hard disk and memory storage. It’s a built-in budget, but you can’t expect everything for so little money. Read our review of the Acer Aspire 5 (2019).
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Razer’s unadorned card aesthetic fits perfectly in almost any environment, making it the best 15-inch laptop for work and play. If you choose one of the latest generation settings and specifications – like a great video card – the Razer Blade 15 Advanced is a great device for creative work and an excellent gaming laptop. If you’re willing to go with a black Razer Blade and an empty wallet (this is among the most premium laptops), you can get a 4K OLED screen calibrated with Adobe RGB and a GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q for $ 3,300. The least expensive Base Edition starts at $ 1,800 and is also not so poor. Read our review of the Razer Blade 15 Advanced.
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A middle ground between two in a smaller 13-inch ultraportable and heavier, faster or more expensive models – it weighs almost the same as a 4.4-inch (2 kg) 16-inch MacBook Pro – the Yoga C940 incorporates a six-core Intel Core i7 processor and discrete graphics Nvidia GTX 1650 Max-Q. The result is a very respectable performance for a two-in-one. In addition, you gain design flexibility – kiosk mode (also called “standing mode”) and tent mode (my favorite), which are the best ways to use a laptop with a touchscreen that hangs at home. Read our review of the Lenovo Yoga C940 (15.6 inches).
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If, like me, you are not a big fan of OLED screens for photo editing – they are not optimized for Adobe RGB and are not great in the tonal range in the shadows – then what you need is a laptop with a good IPS display . The Dell XPS 15 9500 with the 4K screen option offers this, and is not as reflective as the OLED screens I’ve seen. It does not qualify as an “RTX Studio” laptop because it comes with a GTX 1650 Ti, but that graphics processor is sufficient for most photo editions and you do not need Nvidia Studio drivers for most editions. Dell’s PremierColor software isn’t perfect, but it gives you more control over screen settings than most I’ve seen, and has two Thunderbolt 3 controllers to make your external drives happy.
If you’re willing to go a little bigger to get a lot more graphics power, the 17-inch XPS 17 9700 doesn’t look any smaller than it looks. Read our review of the Dell XPS 15 9500.
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The Dell G series comprises some of the best mainstream gaming laptops you can find, with strong performance, a variety of component options and a more travel and user friendly design than most. In addition, battery life is much better than a typical gaming laptop and a basic solid performance setup starts at less than $ 1,000.
Note: This 2019 model is no longer available; our tests for the latest model are in progress, but we do not expect it to be a weak competitor in this category. Do not assume that it will remain an Editors’ Choice, however. Read our review of the Dell G5 15 5590.
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OLED monitors have a combination of color gamut (100% P3) and contrast that IPS panels are struggling to match, but need calibration to avoid color chaos. The 15-inch Gigabyte is sleek and powerful – it has all the specifications of Nvidia Studio, it just lacks the logo, and you can even download the most creative and application-focused Studio driver yourself. A color profile switching utility makes it more convenient to use and is a well-designed laptop with solid performance. Note that the battery life is not long, although it is better than many of the gaming notebooks on which these laptops are based, and the webcam is in a ridiculous position. Read our Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED review.
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The Acer Chromebook 715 started out as a premium model aimed at a growing business market for Chrome OS devices. Along with its smaller brother, the Chromebook 714, the 715 has a premium all-aluminum chassis built to survive drops of up to 48 inches (122 cm) and down force of up to 132 pounds (60 kg). You can also get the Chromebook 715 with a fingerprint reader, a backlit keyboard, an Intel Core i5 processor and 16 GB of memory for about $ 750. Or you can get a much more affordable version that takes specifications into account and extras, but maintains premium build quality, making it a fantastic choice for a home office or student Chromebook. Read our review of the Acer Chromebook 715.
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It may now have a 16-inch screen, but the MacBook Pro remains a 15-inch laptop in size and spirit. I’m not a fan of the Touch Bar, but at least the keyboard has improved, and the combination of the MacBook Pro and MacOS hardware extracts the maximum performance from the components, while offering the latest generation battery in a way that Windows systems never have. seem to do, and the Retina Display remains excellent. However, you pay for it – the base price for the 16-inch MacBook Pro is $ 2,399. Read our review of the Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019).
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Given that there are only two dual screen options available at the moment – the other is the fast HP Omen X 2S gaming laptop – choosing one doesn’t seem that big a deal. But the ZenBook Pro Duo has a lot to offer, including a color-accurate OLED screen and a smaller IPS panel below it. The secondary display may only have about half an extra screen, but it is still very useful for video editing and other tasks when you want to place more video or photos on the main 15-inch monitor or work in a small space. The main OLED touch screen of the ZenBook Pro Duo offers excellent color accuracy for Adobe RGB and P3, in addition to having a high-power i9-9980HK eight-core processor, making it a portable power. It’s relatively heavy for its class, weighing 5.5 pounds, and the top-of-the-line model we love costs $ 3,000 – don’t expect incredible speed from the cheaper Core i processor and RTX 2060 configuration (although it should be respectable). In addition, the battery life is not very good and the keyboard can be uncomfortable without the wrist rest. Read our review of the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo.
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It’s not for everyone – it’s not a conventional manufacturer and it’s not an Intel processor – but for pure speed in something smaller than a 17-inch megalithic, the Ezen15-X’s Ryzen 3900 desktop processor has CPU cycles, transforming it o at a rendering plant. With its GeForce RTX 2070, it isn’t exactly a gaming powerhouse. Read our Origin PC Eon15-X (2020) review.