Best 14-Inch Laptops In 2024

From gaming laptops to 2-in-1 convertibles, these are the best 14-inch laptops you can buy today

Laptop displays run a wide gamut of sizes today, with most popular models falling in the 13-inch to 16-inch range. Of these, 14-inch laptops arguably occupy the sweet spot in size, offering an ideal balance of usability and portability. The best laptops at this size are small and light enough to carry around, but still big enough for productive work (some can even accommodate a number pad, which is not something you’re likely to find on most 13-inch laptops), making them an excellent choice for students, professionals, and even gamers on the go. Since the market has grown significantly in recent years, you’ll have plenty of options to choose from. Whether you want a MacBook, a 2-in-1 convertible, a gaming laptop, or an affordable workhorse, we’ve rounded up all the best 14-inch laptops right here.

Source: Dell
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Acer Aspire 3 A314 Slim Laptop

Best value
Source: Lenovo

Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14 (Gen 8)

Best gaming laptop
Surface Laptop Studio 2

Best for creators
Source: Lenovo

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12

Best business laptop

Find your next “sweet spot” sized laptop among these 14-inch options

Dell XPS 14

Best overall

One of the best options in 2024, period

Dell’s XPS 14 is not just one of the best 14-inch laptops, it’s one of the best laptops of 2024, period. It offers up to a stunning 3.2K OLED display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, and Intel’s latest Core Ultra processors deliver great performance for work and multitasking. There’s even a discrete GPU option.

Pros

3.2K 120Hz OLED display option is gorgeous
Great design and build quality
Snappy Intel Core Ultra processor
Optional Nvidia RTX GPU

Cons

Fairly heavy for its size
No legacy USB-A ports

Dell has been at the top of the Windows laptop market in recent years thanks to its excellent XPS line. The Dell XPS 14 2024 is one of our favorite recent releases and our top pick overall among the best 14-inch laptops. With its aluminum chassis, the XPS 14 looks and feels like a premium laptop, even if its metal construction makes it noticeably heavier than other machines in this category.

That premium design extends to the 14-inch screen. It comes standard with a 1200p FHD+ panel, but we favor the gorgeous 3.2K OLED upgrade with a buttery smooth variable refresh rate of 120Hz. It also has an aspect ratio of 16:10, something that’s thankfully becoming more commonplace on laptops and gives you a taller display area to work in. The Dell XPS 14 runs on Intel’s latest Core Ultra 7 155H processor and has 16GB of memory in its base configuration (which you can upgrade to up to 64GB), ensuring great overall performance for work, entertainment, and multitasking. There’s also an optional GeForce RTX 4050 discrete GPU upgrade, allowing you to game on this thing if you’re so inclined.

Also standard is a 512GB solid-state drive, which should provide ample storage for most people, but you can upgrade to as much as 4TB of storage if you need to. Ports include HDMI, USB Type-C, a microSD card reader, and two Thunderbolt 4 connections, so you’ve got plenty of options for hooking up peripherals such as an external display, although it lacks any USB-A ports. It’s a little pricey, but if you’re looking for the best all-around 14-inch laptop on the market today, the Dell XPS 14 is the one to buy.

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Acer Aspire 3 A314 Slim Laptop

Best value

When all you need are the basics

The Acer Aspire 3 A314 is a solid, no-frills 14-inch laptop for shoppers on a budget. Despite its affordable price, it features a nice full HD display and solid hardware. And, while the design is a bit basic, it doesn’t look or feel cheap.

Pros

Full HD IPS display
Solid specs for the price
Good port setup
Includes a sleeve

Cons

Build quality is nothing special
No numpad

Acer is no stranger to the budget laptop market and makes a lot of solid Windows PCs and Chromebooks for users who don’t want to spend a lot of money. If you just need a basic but reliable 14-inch laptop, the Acer Aspire 3 A314 fits the bill. This model is available in various configurations, all running on AMD Ryzen CPUs, but the one that hits the sweet spot for us is the Ryzen 5 7520U model with 8GB of LDDR5 RAM. On top of that, you’ve got a 512GB SSD, which is a generous amount of storage to see at this price.

Although it’s a budget laptop, the Acer Aspire 3 A314 doesn’t look or feel cheap. It has a sleek and attractive design and offers a good selection of ports, including an HDMI, a USB Type-C, and two USB Type-A ports. It also features Wi-Fi 6 wireless connectivity. It’s not the thinnest laptop among our picks, but it’s suitably thin at just under three-quarters of an inch. The keyboard is also nicely sized, although it lacks a number pad. Some users may prefer this for a less crowded key layout though.

The 14-inch display is a 1080p IPS panel, which is another good thing to see in this price bracket (even if the bezels are a bit chunky). Many cheaper laptops cut corners with pared-down mobile hardware and 720p screens, but the Acer Aspire 3 A314 shows that you don’t have to sacrifice too much to get an affordable machine built for daily use. It even comes with a protective sleeve.

Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14 (Gen 8)

Best gaming laptop

A great gaming machine for a low(er) price

$1000 $1480 Save $480

Lenovo’s Legion lineup features some very capable (and often surprisingly affordable) gaming machines. The 8th-generation Legion Slim 5 14 packs impressive performance inside a reasonably compact 14-inch frame. It’s available with an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and Nvidia RTX 40-series graphics, so you’ve got plenty of muscle for modern gaming.

Pros

Powerful for its size and price
Outstanding 2.8K OLED screen
16:10 display with 120Hz refresh rate
Unassuming design

Cons

Limited configuration options
No G-Sync or Thunderbolt support

Gaming laptops have come a long way in recent years, and while most sport larger 15- to 17-inch displays, the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14 shows that you can get it done in a smaller package, too. This unassuming gaming laptop features a 14-inch 16:10 display, giving gamers a more compact and portable alternative to gaming laptops (some of which are rather large and cumbersome).

Notably, the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14 is configured with an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 mobile GPU. Nvidia has the lion’s share of the gaming laptop market, so that’s no surprise, but it’s got plenty of horsepower for a laptop at this price. Better still, the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14 comes standard with an outstanding 2.8K OLED display, which is usually the sort of upgrade you have to pay a premium for. That said, there’s no G-Sync support.

Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14 (2023) review: The 14-inch gaming laptop to beat

A balance of price, features, and performance in a thin and light laptop.

Still, with that RTX 4060 GPU and 16GB of 6400MHz DDR5 RAM, you won’t be disappointed with the performance, even if the memory is soldered. This gaming laptop is more than capable of running newer games well, and they’ll look great on the HDR 500 display, which features a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth sailing. Although pickings are slim in the 14-inch gaming laptop niche specifically, the Lenovo Legion 5 Slim 14 doesn’t feel like it makes many compromises with its smaller size.

Surface Laptop Studio 2

Best for creators

With a unique form factor, too

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is a unique take on the traditional 2-in-1 convertible laptop design. Its responsive 14.4-inch touchscreen can be positioned in several ways or even folded totally flat, letting you use the Laptop Studio 2 as a tablet. This convertible also packs very impressive hardware, including the option for a discrete Nvidia RTX GPU.

Pros

Incredibly versatile design
Great hardware
Discrete graphics
Responsive 14.4-inch touchscreen

Cons

Quite expensive
Heavy, especially for a 2-in-1

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop series spans a huge range of features and prices, and the Studio Laptop 2 is the company’s most powerful (and most expensive) Surface machine yet. This unique convertible puts a fresh spin on the standard 2-in-1 design, featuring a bright and color-accurate 14.4-inch touch display that can be pulled forward towards you instead of just flipped up. The stylus pen included with the Laptop Studio 2 now supports haptic feedback, making writing and drawing much more responsive than it was on the previous model.

The Surface Laptop Studio 2 packs impressive hardware under the hood, too. It comes standard with a 13th-generation Intel Core i7 CPU and 16GB of RAM (upgradable to 64GB). The base configuration features Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, but it’s available with an Nvidia RTX discrete GPU, which is an upgrade we’d recommend for creative professionals such as video editors and graphic designers. Combined with its excellent touch display and haptic stylus pen, a dedicated graphics card makes the Surface Laptop Studio 2 a creator’s dream.

Of course, as Microsoft’s most powerful and feature-rich Surface device, the Laptop Studio 2 is not cheap. Pricing starts at $2,000 for the base configuration without a discrete GPU. This convertible is also rather heavy, weighing a little more than four pounds. Still, if you’re looking for the best 14-inch laptop for creative work, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 is a powerful and versatile machine that can handle almost anything you’d need a computer to do.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12

Best business laptop

And with that iconic ThinkPad design

$1556 $2829 Save $1273

The ThinkPad name has been synonymous with “business laptops” for decades now. The 12th-generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon lives up to that pedigree with its modern hardware, solid build quality, sleek and lightweight design, and iconic ThinkPad styling.

Pros

Premium Core Ultra performance
Sleek design with classic ThinkPad styling
1080p Full HD webcam
Slim and lightweight

Cons

ThinkPad design is not for everyone
Soldered RAM

If you’re at all familiar with business laptops, then the ThinkPad series needs no introduction. ThinkPad laptops have been a staple in offices around the world for decades, and the X1 Carbon line has helped Lenovo maintain the ThinkPad pedigree in the age of ultrabooks and 2-in-1s. The newest 12th-generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon is our pick for the best 14-inch laptop for business professionals thanks to its excelle nt hardware, powerful performance, and great design wrapped in the iconic styling that made the ThinkPads famous.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 comes loaded with Intel’s latest Core Ultra CPUs and comes standard with 16GB of RAM (which you can upgrade to 64GB, although it’s soldered), so performance is no issue. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a proven performer when it comes to handling heavy workloads, running demanding productivity software, and juggling programs while multitasking. There’s no option for a discrete GPU, but that’s to be expected with ThinkPads, and the laptop’s ultra-slim design doesn’t really allow for it. However, the Core Ultra GPU’s integrated Intel Arc graphics are quite good.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) sitting open

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) review: More power and improved features in a smaller body

Lenovo continues to find ways to improve on a what is already the best business laptop on the market.

The 14-inch 1920 x 1200 display has a 16:10 aspect ratio, giving you enough screen real estate to work comfortably, and there are touchscreen and 2.8K upgrades available (although no 4K option, sadly). Admittedly, the X1 Carbon Gen 12 isn’t for everyone. Not all users may appreciate the style and quirks of the ThinkPad design, such as the TrackPoint or double trackpad buttons. The RAM is also soldered, meaning that it can’t be upgraded and may not be a great choice for tinkerers and DIYers. Nevertheless, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is the best 14-inch machine for professionals who need a no-nonsense workhorse laptop.

HP ZBook Firefly 14 G10

Best workstation

For when you need the most power

$1050 $2101 Save $1051

The HP ZBook Firefly G10 is a beautiful and powerful 14-inch laptop with enough power and ports to replace a desktop workstation. It packs powerful hardware and offers a ton of customization options, making it relatively easy (although not necessarily cheap) to build the perfect mobile workstation for your needs.

Pros

Excellent hardware for productivity
Many configuration options
Spacious keyboard with number pad
Sleek and attractive design

Cons

It’s costly
Better CPU choices for the price

You can use just about any laptop to do basic work, but a good workstation laptop offers enough power and features to replace your desktop PC entirely. They’re built for running resource-heavy programs such as specialized professional software, and often feature discrete GPUs and advanced display technologies for creative work. The HP ZBook 14 G10 is our favorite 14-inch laptop workstation for this purpose, packing an excellent suite of hardware (with tons of upgrade options) into a sleek and lightweight frame.

The HP ZBook 14 G10 mobile workstation runs on 13th-gen Intel Core CPUs, and if you build and order your machine through HP’s website, you will have a myriad of customization options to choose from. CPU options include Core i5 and i7 U-Series processors. For graphics, you can opt for the standard Iris Xe integrated GPU or an Nvidia RTX A500 GPU. Memory options range from 8GB to 64GB of speedy 5200MHz DDR5 RAM. Whatever your needs and budget may be, chances are you can build a ZBook 14 G10 to suit.

Typically, we’d like to see more powerful CPU and GPU options, such as HX-series Intel processors or the GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards. The entry-level 14-inch 16:10 display could also be brighter (although the upgraded panels are excellent for design professionals, provided you’re willing to pay for them). Overall, however, the HP ZBook 14 G10 is a highly capable workstation for mobile professionals.

Lenovo Yoga 9i (2024)

Best convertible

A tablet and laptop in one

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is a capable and affordable 2-in-1 convertible. It offers good performance and impressive battery life for such a sleek frame, and its 14-inch fold-flat touch display features a 3.2K resolution. It’s a versatile laptop for students, professionals, and anybody else looking for a good 14-inch convertible.

Pros

Good performance and battery life
Versatile 2-in-1 design
Impressive 3.2K touch display

Cons

A bit expensive
Limited configuration options

Convertible laptops are no longer a novelty, with an increasing number of people adopting these versatile 2-in-1 touchscreen computers. Convertibles feature touch displays that fold all the way backward so they can lay totally flat, allowing you to use the laptop much like a tablet. You don’t have to pay much to get a good 2-in-1 today, either, with the 2024 Lenovo Yoga 9i being one of our favorite new convertible laptops thanks to its good performance, sharp display, and very attractive price.

Like many of our other picks, the Yoga 9i features an Intel Core UItra and a 14-inch 16:10 touch display. The OLED screen is superb, too, featuring a 3.2K resolution and 100% DCI-P3 color accuracy. The touch display supports the Lenovo Slim Pen, which is included with the laptop.

A photo of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i on a white desk

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (2024): Everything you need to know

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is one of Lenovo’s best laptops for creativity, featuring Intel Core Ultra CPUs and plenty of AI features

The build quality is quite good, as you’d expect from Lenovo. The frame is mostly aluminum, which adds to durability but also its weight. At nearly three pounds, the Lenovo Yoga 7i isn’t a featherweight 2-in-1 by any means. Its smart design extends to the port layout, too, which includes two Thunderbolt 4 connections with support for external displays. The built-in 5MP 2.5K webcam is also great for professionals and students who may need a quality camera for video meetings and online classes.

MacBook Pro (M3, 2023)

For Mac users

An Apple a day…

$1449 $1599 Save $150

The MacBook Pro was already one of the best laptops out there, and the new M3 chip makes it even better. Its impressive CPU is not only powerful, but offers incredible battery life thanks to its 3nm architecture. The mini-LED Retina display is also gorgeous. It’s pricey, but if you’re looking for the best Windows laptop alternative, the MacBook Pro M3 is it.

Pros

Powerful and efficient
Gorgeous Retina display
Great-sounding six-speaker audio
Superb battery life

Cons

Expensive, even without upgrades
Distracting display notch

If you don’t use Windows, then chances are you’re a Mac person (not to slight the ChromeOS and Linux people out there). The MacBook Pro has always been the cream of the macOS laptop crop, and although the last-gen M2 chipset is hardly long in the tooth in 2024, Apple updated the Pro lineup again with the newer M3 hardware. The MacBook Pro M3 is faster and more efficient than ever before, making it far and away the best 14-inch laptop for anybody in the market for a Windows alternative.

One noteworthy change from the last-gen MacBook Pro M2 is that the newer model is available with the base M3 chip, whereas previously, the MacBook Pro was only offered with the M2 Pro or M2 Max chips. This gives MacBook users a third, cheaper option. However, if you’re spending “MacBook Pro money,” we recommend sticking with the M3 Pro or M3 Max models, especially for creative work. The new M3 Pro and M3 Max are seriously impressive, combining many CPU and GPU cores onto a single chip that delivers blazing-fast performance. It does it efficiently, too, with its 3nm architecture delivering fantastic battery life despite its power and functionality.

Which MacBook Pro (M3, 2023) should I get?

Apple’s new laptops are packed with features, but which is the best for you?

A MacBook Pro is more than just its internal hardware, though, and the exterior of this laptop doesn’t disappoint. It features a sleek design with great build quality, which is no surprise for a MacBook. The display is particularly eye-catching, with a gorgeous mini-LED panel with a peak brightness of 1,600 nits. Some users may not appreciate the notch at the top, but we can live with it for a display that looks this lovely. Six speakers also offer surprisingly great sound for a laptop, making this laptop a true multimedia machine. It’s expensive, especially once you factor in upgrades, but the MacBook Pro M3 is a truly excellent computer for creators, professionals, and die-hard Mac fans.

Angled view of the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 in stand mode

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2023)

Best Chromebook

A great, advanced Chromebook

Most Chromebooks feature Spartan hardware and mediocre displays, but the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 looks and performs more like a standard mid-range laptop. That’s owed to its modern hardware, which includes 13th-gen Core CPUs, as well as its nice 14-inch 16:10 touchscreen. It also feels sturdy, thanks to its partial aluminum construction.

Pros

13th-generation Intel Core CPU
Premium look and feel
Durable aluminum construction
Versatile convertible form factor

Cons

ChromeOS isn’t for everyone
Somewhat pricey for a Chromebook

Chromebooks are becoming more common, but many people have been slow to accept these Chrome OS laptops due to their perceived inferiority to Windows laptops and MacBooks. That’s understandable, as Chromebooks often feature rather basic hardware and mediocre displays. The Acer Chromebook Spin 714, by contrast, offers the look, feel, and performance of a “regular” laptop, combining modern PC hardware with a nice overall design.

The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is actually one of very few Chrome OS laptops sporting 13th-generation Intel Core CPUs, putting it in the same performance class as most of our other picks. It packs a 10-core i5-1335U processor and 8GB of RAM. That’s plenty of juice for basic workloads and everyday tasks like browsing the web and streaming. You also get a proper SSD, with between 256GB and 2GB of storage depending on your needs.

The Chromebook Spin 714 is a 2-in-1, so a good display is important. Thankfully, it doesn’t disappoint. The 14-inch fold-flat touchscreen has a resolution of 1920×1200 with a 16:10 aspect ratio. It doesn’t come with a stylus, unfortunately, which we would have liked. However, the laptop looks and feels great, featuring partially aluminum construction that makes the Spin 714 2-in-1 feel more substantial than most Chromebooks. It’s a bit pricier than those other Chromebooks though, of course. But considering how much you get for your money, the Spin 714 is the best 14-inch laptop for Chrome OS users at a solid value.

Best 14-inch laptops in 2024: Bottom line

Laptops with 14-inch displays are growing in popularity, and you have more options to choose from now than you did even just a few years ago. For us, the 2024 Dell XPS 14 ticks the most boxes for what we want to see in a laptop of this size. It sports a gorgeous OLED display, snappy hardware, and a slick design that includes a good keyboard and large glass touchpad. If you don’t need a 2-in-1 or a gaming laptop, the Dell XPS 14 is a fantastic machine for work and everyday use.