Best overall
Dell XPS 14 (2026)
No verified owner ratings yet
- Gorgeous 2.8K tandem OLED option
- Fast Panther Lake chips, fine for light gaming
- About 12 hours of battery in tests
- Only three USB-C ports: no HDMI or card slot
Best windows laptops
The Dell XPS 14 (2026) is the Windows laptop to get if you want a MacBook rival. For study and everyday work, the Dell XPS 13 does the job for much less; for the longest battery on a budget, the HP OmniBook 5 14.
Based on 11 expert reviewsUpdated 1 Nov 2026
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Best value
Dell XPS 13 (2026)
No verified owner ratings yet
- Light aluminium body, about 1kg
- Sharp 120Hz touchscreen
- About 14 to 15 hours of battery in tests
- Get 16GB: the 8GB model feels slower in Windows
Best battery for the money
HP OmniBook 5 14 (Snapdragon, OLED)
- About 20 hours of battery in tests
- OLED screen for the price
- Light metal body, about 1.3kg
- Some older Windows apps run slowly or not at all on its Arm chip
Best for typing and travel
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14
No verified owner ratings yet
- Under 1kg with the OLED screen
- Best keyboard on a laptop, with TrackPoint
- HDMI, USB-A and three Thunderbolt 4 ports
- Expensive, and no SD card slot
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How we reached this verdict
We compared independent expert reviews with the manufacturer's specifications, then checked it's sold at a major retailer where you live. We don't test products ourselves.
Sources: Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, IT Pro, Notebookcheck, manufacturer specifications.
Updated 1 Nov 2026How we decide