Good 14-inch laptops offer a little more display space while still being lightweight and portable. These are the best 14-inch laptops for all sorts of needs.
The 14-inch laptop has a small — but noticeable — screen size upgrade over even the best 13-inch laptops, making them better choices for entertainment, gaming, or professional design while still being slim and portable enough to carry anywhere with you.
If this seems like a good fit for your busy life, we have the best 14-inch laptops you should check out, beginning with the excellent all-rounder Apple MacBook Pro 14. The brand-new machine has some of the best performance and battery life around to go with an excellent display. We also have picks for gaming, extra power, and affordability, so there should be something for everyone.
Why you should buy this: It offers the best combination of performance, efficiency, and display quality in a 14-inch laptop.
Who’s it for: Anyone who wants an incredibly fast laptop that also offers superior efficiency.
Why we chose the Apple MacBook Pro 14:
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 slots in between the 13-inch and 16-inch models. However, it shares much more in common with the larger machine, including running Apple’s M1 Pro or M1 Max CPUs. On the MacBook Pro 14, these hybrid processors are available with either eight or ten CPU cores and 14, 16, or 32 GPU cores. RAM can be configured from 16GB to 64GB, and storage can be ramped up to an 8TB PCIe solid-state drive (SSD). Not only are the M1 Pro and M1 Max incredibly fast chips, but they’re also efficient, meaning the MacBook Pro 14 should get superior battery life as well.
The laptop’s display is also top-notch, utilizing Apple’s 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED ProMotion panel. This display offers incredibly wide and accurate colors, inky blacks thanks to deep contrast, and a 120Hz refresh rate. Apple has finally incorporated thin bezels in the MacBook Pro 14, making it a smaller laptop as well. And finally, Apple improved connectivity, adding an HDMI port and SD card reader to USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, and wireless connectivity is as fast as you can get today with Wi-Fi 6E.
Why you should buy this: It’s an incredibly thin 14-inch laptop that still packs a punch.
Who’s it for: Anyone who wants a well-performing 14-inch laptop but wants something incredibly thin.
Why we chose the Apple MacBook Air M2:
Can you have a lot of power without giving up the slim and portable nature of 14-inch laptops? Apple thinks so, and the MacBook Air M2 is proof. Inside, you’ll find an Apple M2 CPU that’s incredibly fast and power-efficient. Up to 24GB of RAM and a 2TB PCIe NVMe SSD can be configured. This is all housed in a slender frame that’s just 0.44 inches thick and weighs 2.7 pounds, with Apple’s vaunted build quality and the best keyboard and touchpad you’ll find (other than on the MacBook Pro 14 listed above).
For connections, you have two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a MagSafe 3 connector. Battery life is class-leading, rivaled only by its more expensive sibling, with a phenomenal 18 hours of web browsing and 21 hours playing a local video.
