More people now work from home than ever before. If you’re looking for a new work computer, these are the 10 best laptops for remote work from home in 2023.
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One of the lasting impacts of the Covid pandemic has been that more of us now work from home than ever. Data from the Census Bureau shows that, between 2019 and 2021, the number of people working primarily from home more than tripled. The nationwide average reached 17.9%, and in some states, almost a quarter of all workers were primarily home-based. While plenty of employers provide their workers with laptops, that’s not always the case, and of course, the self-employed get no such luxuries.
Finding the right work laptop can be tricky, especially if you’re on a tighter budget and trying to strike the right balance between capabilities and cost. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of top picks that we think represent great value for the features and power that you get. Whether your job centers more around office-type duties or you focus on the creative side of things, these 10 laptops should help unlock that extra bit of productivity during your work day.Apple MacBook Air
While any Apple-branded product is unlikely to be the most affordable device of its kind, it’s hard to argue with the MacBook Air M2’s status as a benchmark in the creative space. We’ve been sold on the Cupertino, CA manufacturer’s entry-level line of laptops for years now, and we found the latest version makes some key improvements over its predecessor. The new M2 chipset packs more punch than before, although for optimal performance, you’ll have to shell out for the 10-core GPU rather than the base 8-core.
The Air’s webcam has also been upgraded, from a rather disappointing 720p version in the Air M1 to a noticeably crisper 1080p resolution here. It does mean that there’s now a notch at the top of the screen, but really, that’s not going to be a deal breaker for most people. Apple’s excellent Liquid Retina panel remains, albeit in a slightly taller form than its predecessor. It should be said that the Air M2 isn’t without its flaws — the entry-level model only comes with 256 GB of storage and 8 GB of unified memory, hardly standout stats considering the price you pay. There’s also a frustrating lack of ports, a necessary omission thanks to the Air’s super-slim design. Overall though, the Air still stands out as one of the best all-around productivity laptops on the market, perfect for most everyday work-from-home tasks.Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio
While we found that other versions of the Microsoft Surface never quite hit the mark, the Surface Laptop Studio pulls no punches. It delivers on all fronts, both as a high-end productivity laptop for everyday office use and as a creative tool for artists and editors. Its unique fabric double-hinge display might look strange at first, but it enables the Studio to be used in three distinct modes. The first is Laptop Mode, in which it functions exactly like any other laptop would. It’s cleverly designed, to the point where it’s indistinguishable from a non-folding laptop at a glance.
The second mode is Stage Mode, where the screen can be propped up at an angle to function as a media consumption device. Third is Studio Mode, which essentially turns the Surface Laptop Studio into a tablet that can be used with Microsoft’s Surface Slim Pen (which is sold separately). We found the combination of laptop and stylus to be exemplary, to the point of declaring we’ll «find it difficult to use a stylus or a touchpad with anything less than what’s provided here with regard to haptic feedback after this. There’s no going back.» The Surface Laptop Studio starts at $1,599.99, and you’ll have to cough up more than a thousand extra dollars for top-spec variants. However, if you’re looking for the best Windows laptop for both productivity and creative work, this is difficult to beat at its price.HP ZBook Studio G9
If you’re looking for the kind of processing power found in the top-spec MacBook Pro, but aren’t too keen on Apple’s flagship laptop, then the HP ZBook Studio G9 is a worthy alternative. The latest iteration was unveiled in 2022 and boasts 12th-Gen Intel CPUs and an NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti GPU in its priciest form. That’s likely to be overkill for all but the heaviest of video editing or design work, but it means the Studio G9 is capable of handling almost anything a remote worker can feasibly throw at it.
It should surprise no one that a laptop this powerful comes with a suitably sky-high price tag, and you should expect to pay well north of $3,000 depending on your exact configuration.
