2025 Laptop Guide

Laptops

Opinionated picks for laptops. Apple Silicon dominates for most use cases, but Windows still has its place.

Apple Silicon

MacBook Air M3

~$1,100

Best laptop for most people. Fanless, all-day battery, plenty fast. Get 16GB RAM minimum.

MacBook Pro 14" M3 Pro

~$2,000

For heavier workloads. Better display, speakers, ports. The sweet spot for pros.

MacBook Pro 16" M3 Max

~$3,500

Video editors, 3D artists, ML engineers. Overkill for most, perfect for some.

MacBook Air M2 15"

~$1,300

Bigger screen Air. Same great efficiency, more real estate.

Windows - Premium

Framework 16

~$1,400+

Modular and repairable. Swap GPU, ports, everything. The anti-disposable laptop.

ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11

~$1,500

Best keyboard on a laptop. Light, durable, great for typing all day.

Dell XPS 15

~$1,300

Beautiful display, solid build. Good for creative work on Windows.

Surface Laptop 6

~$1,300

Clean design, great display, best trackpad on Windows.

Gaming & Creative

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14

~$1,600

Portable gaming powerhouse. RTX 4060/4070, great battery for a gaming laptop.

Razer Blade 14

~$2,200

Premium build, powerful GPU. The MacBook of gaming laptops.

Lenovo Legion Pro 5

~$1,500

Best value gaming laptop. Great thermals, good display, no bloat.

ASUS ProArt Studiobook

~$2,500

For creators who need Windows + GPU. Color-accurate display, powerful.

Budget & Value

Framework 13

~$850+

Repairable and upgradeable at a reasonable price. Build it yourself.

ThinkPad E14 Gen 5

~$700

Budget ThinkPad. Still gets the great keyboard, solid build.

MacBook Air M1

~$750 refurb

Still excellent in 2025. Get Apple refurb for warranty.

ASUS Zenbook 14

~$800

OLED display at a reasonable price. Good all-rounder.

Accessories

CalDigit TS4 Dock

~$400

The best Thunderbolt dock. 18 ports, 98W charging. Buy once.

Anker 737 Charger

~$90

120W GaN, 3 ports. One charger for everything.

Studio Display

~$1,600

If you're in the Apple ecosystem. 5K, great speakers, webcam.

LG 27" 4K USB-C

~$350

Best value external monitor. USB-C single cable setup.

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