With the end-of-year holidays approaching fast, it's time to start making your gift list and placing those orders. (Given the scattered shortages on all sorts of goods through 2022, you won't want to wait and get shut out!) Especially if it's tech: Desktop PCs and monitors remain staples for remote workers and students, but traditional laptops are roaring back into style as offices have been opening up again. After all, the right laptop is still hard to beat when it comes to doing productivity tasks where and when you want to. That's true whether you're working with a huge spreadsheet, typing a long report, or taking a break with some movie-watching or zombie-crushing.
So, which laptop model is best for the gadget-head, the PC gamer, or the home-office striver on your list? Those are the trickier questions, and we’ve answered 13 of them with hand-picked laptops to match. These are the best laptops to give as gifts in 2022.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 (2023)
For the professional in your life who calls for the best whether they’re in a corner office or flying business class, Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 is the top gift. With an impeccable ultraportable chassis and class-leading performance, this ThinkPad is the first laptop to earn two consecutive five-star scores in our reviews. Even when upgraded into pricier configurations, if you can swing it, this is the best value for anyone in your life that travels often for work based on its reliability and long battery life.
The Zenbook 14 OLED from Asus stands out among ultraportable laptops, making it a top pick for the holiday season. This laptop won us over with its stunning 14-inch OLED touch screen, with professional color and exceptional clarity. The slim design is ideal for mobile users, with long battery life and a durable frame. Asus fits an ample number of ports on the laptop’s sides, too—no need for dongles here. With AMD inside and plenty of premium features, it's a remarkable bargain for under $900. If your loved one prioritizes balancing performance and portability, the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is an excellent choice, rivaling more expensive high-end laptops.
If the person you’re shopping for has even higher power demands than a ThinkPad Carbon can stand up to, the Dell Precision 5680 has the muscle to tussle with kaiju-level datasets, rendering tasks, and GPU compute jobs in a thinner and lighter package than most workstations. Using an Nvidia Ada mobile professional GPU helps this workstation tango with larger ones despite its weight class. Dell's gorgeous 4K OLED touch screen and surprisingly long-lasting battery sweeten the deal for creative pros and frequent travelers alike, leading us to dub the Precision 5680 our favorite mobile workstation of the year.
14-Inch Apple MacBook Pro (2023, M3)
This MacBook bridges the gap between the lightweight MacBook Air and robust MacBook Pro models, striking a balance between power and portability. Apple's M3 processor delivers respectable productivity and gaming capabilities, all with a bright and colorful Liquid Retina XDR screen and an excellent keyboard. With 22 hours of battery life, it ensures you can stay productive and creative on the go. It won’t compete with high-end MacBook Pro models, but the M3 version excels in its niche, providing ample capability and a superior display. If you're in search of a holiday gift for a Mac enthusiast, this MacBook is a top contender, combining the best of both worlds in the Apple laptop lineup.
Just as in 2022, our most highly recommended big-screen performant laptop is the latest edition of Dell’s XPS 17. This 2023 model makes a fantastic laptop even better, combining its luxe design with high-end options for its processor, display, and even discrete graphics. It would be a pricey gift—especially if you want to load it out with a 4K display and an RTX 4070 GPU like our review model—but if you’ve had your eye on a big upgrade for your hard-working loved one, this will make their year.
15-Inch Apple MacBook Air (2023, M2)
The 15-inch Apple MacBook Air is the ultimate gift for college students. This new large-format MacBook Air drives impressive performance and extended battery life without compromising the original Air's sleek and lightweight design. The standout feature is the expansive 15.3-inch display, providing students a larger workspace and making room for an enhanced trackpad and speakers. The laptop’s just two Thunderbolt ports (able to drive a single external display) are minor trade-offs for its competitive price tag, making it a more accessible laptop gift. With its blend of portability, power, and affordability, the 15-inch MacBook Air is the best laptop to give the campus-bound student.
Gigabyte Aorus 15 BMF
Gigabyte Aorus 15 BMF (52U383SH)
If your kid has been begging for a gaming laptop, you likely want to save money without affecting performance. Gigabyte’s Aorus 15 BMF is an appealing value pick that exceeds the bare minimum in performance and design without emptying the bank account. You’ll find many more powerful gaming laptops but, in this price range, avoiding crippling compromises while adding upside is key. Its sturdy construction, steady 1080p gaming performance, and sufficient battery life more than meet the mark. If you’re buying your child’s first gaming laptop, or you’re shopping for a college student or mainstream gamer on a budget, this is our top recommendation.
Moving on from the entry level, hardcore, performance-focused gamers should be the lucky recipients of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8. While value matters less in the upper crust of gaming machines where costs are high by default, this laptop still deserves praise for being such a deal. It may not have the flashiest design, but its performance is unassailable, and if anything, even better than pricier competitors. On the back of its Intel Core i9-13900HX CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU, our review unit continues to best similarly equipped competition, while nailing its display, design, and supporting features.
For the Always-Online Set
Asus Chromebook Plus CX34
For the “chronically online,” the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 is the ultimate gift for 2023. This model redefines what we can expect from budget Chromebooks, with an array of impressive features while maintaining an extremely affordable price. With leading performance, a high-quality Full HD display, and a durable design complete with an antimicrobial coating, Asus checked all the boxes for the online-centric user. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 only further the point and drive an even better value. While its battery life and storage format aren’t groundbreaking, the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 shines brightly as a standout value among Chromebooks, making it the top gift choice for your loved one who lives online.
Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus
Young kids in school want a laptop that’s deeply online but also has lots of options and features, and so we suggest something from Google’s new Chromebook Plus initiative that massively upgrades the baseline for budget Chromebooks. Lenovo’s Flex 5i levels up the affordable Chromebook experience so far that it’s an immediate recommendation for kids. With the versatility of a 2-in-1 fully unlocked by Android apps, the speedy performance of Intel Core processing, and a sub-$500 price, it’s one of the easier recommendations on this list. Lenovo’s Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is a well-balanced combination of performance and features that makes it our favorite 2-in-1 Chromebook and top of mind for kids in school.
If someone in your life itches for a touch-focused device, they’ll be thrilled to receive the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8. Even before getting to the versatile touch screen and pen-friendly design, this is an excellent all-around PC with speedy 13th Gen Intel performance, a superb OLED display, and a slick build. For those who work primarily with a stylus, or love the option of a tablet when needed, this is the best laptop gift in this category.
Framework Laptop 13 (2023, Intel)
Framework Laptop 13 (2023)
Is the lucky giftee in your life tired of "upgrading" their laptop by replacing it with a new one every few years? In that case, consider the Framework Laptop 13 as a laptop gift. Nearly every part in a Framework laptop is replaceable and individually upgradable, even the motherboard and processor. This gift isn't just a laptop, but rather a free investment in a computing platform that will improve over time without the need to replace it entirely. Just make sure the person receiving this gift is ready to get their hands dirty in the guts of a PC—they’ll find plenty of guides regardless. This laptop presents one of the most sustainability-minded gifts in computing.