For a long time, the majority of laptops fell into one of three camps. There were 13-inch laptops meant for portability, 17-inch laptops for people who needed large displays, and 15-inch laptops for everyone else. But every now and then some brands, notably Lenovo and Asus, would buck the trend with a 14-inch laptop — providing the portability of an ultraslim machine with enough screen real estate to be productive. In 2021, 14-inch laptops had a Renaissance, and 2022 is set to hold on to the trend in size.
Spurred on by slimmer display bezels and a move away from the traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, the trend toward 14-inch laptops threatens the popularity of 13-inch and 15-inch laptops. The folks at Laptop Mag say “Bring it on.” So long as they have thin display bezels, 14-inch laptops can be the size of a traditional 13-inch laptop, offering the portability needed when going to work or going on long business trips. Moreover, the larger display makes it easy to view multiple windows at once, and 2-in-1 laptops benefit from transforming into larger (if somewhat unwieldy) tablets.
If you want a portable laptop but aren’t certain you need a 14-inch display, see our best Ultrabooks page. Some of the systems on this list are great for school but we have a separate best college laptops list that will meet every need. For now, the category with the most 14-inch laptops is business. If those on this list don’t work for you (perhaps you need more power), our best business laptops page has a range of options.
Which 14-inch laptop is best?
The HP Spectre x360 14 is the best 14-inch laptop on the market, even if the screen is technically only 13.5 inches large. It takes everything we loved about the Spectre x360 13, including a stunning design, fast performance and long battery life, then increases the screen size and expands the comfortable keyboard and touchpad. If you’re looking for something a bit sleeker or need a stylus slot, the Yoga 9i is a great alternative
If you need a 14-inch business laptop, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon tops our list. There are, somewhat surprisingly, plenty of options in the enterprise space, but the X1 Carbon is a complete package, flaunting an ultra-lightweight chassis made of carbon fiber under which are powerful specs and plenty of security options. Those on team HP should go for the EliteBook 840 G7, a similarly attractive option.
As for budget models, the Asus Chromebook Flip C434 is your best option for under $1,000. Running Chrome OS, this system can be purchased for around $500 yet it comes with a premium aluminum design and a nice 1080p display. It’s fast enough to run plenty of Chrome tabs and lasts for a full day on a charge.
We recently reviewed the Asus’ latest ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022), and while we’re fans of its stellar performance and amazing battery life, there were a few hiccups that prevented it to take a spot on this list.
The best 14-inch laptops
The Spectre x360 14 is the best 14-inch laptop on the market for everyday consumers. Newly released for 2021, the 13.5-inch model builds upon its predecessors but adds useful new features including a 3:2 aspect ratio display and 11th Gen Intel CPUs with Iris Xe graphics. Highlights of this laptop include a stunning design, bright and vivid 1920 x 1280-pixel IPS and 3K2K OLED display options, epic 12+ hour battery life and fast overall performance.
Add to that a generously sized touchpad that is silky to the touch as well as a comfortable (albeit shallow) keyboard, excellent security options (fingerprint sensor and facial recognition) and a good selection of ports, and well, it’s easy to see why we like this laptop so much.
Not only is it the best 14-inch laptop, but the Spectre x360 14 is the best laptop if you want a convertible notebook, period. Sure, it has a few faults, but those are easily forgotten once you get this beauty in your hands.
See our HP Spectre x360 14 review
Lenovo made several welcome changes to the 9th Gen edition of its flagship business model. On top of fast performance from 11th Gen Intel CPUs, you get epic battery life, powerful quad speakers, a new 14-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, and plenty of ports, all in an impossibly lightweight chassis (2.5 pounds).
But it’s still those classic ThinkPad features — a durable design (with MIL-STD-810G strength), best-in-class keyboard and stealthy black/red aesthetics — that carry the X1 Carbon to greatness.
Yes, we wish the ThinkPad X1 Carbon hadn’t ditched the SD card reader in the previous, and top configurations can get very expensive, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better overall business machine.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 (Gen 9) review
Acer Chromebook Spin 713 are among the best Chromebooks on the market due to its 11-hour battery life. We prefer that laptops last at least 8 hours to endure an entire day at school or work, but the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 exceeds our 8-hour minimum.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 won a spot on the best Chromebooks list for its colorful and bright display, speedy performance and versatile form factor. And, get this, it won’t cost you more than $700 to snag this Chromebook.
For high school and college students seeking an inexpensive, portable and durable laptop, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is certainly one of the best Chromebooks they could choose for their everyday device.
Read our full review of the Acer Chromebook Spin 713
Meet the Alienware x14 R1, first of its name. This slim stunner marks Alienware’s first entry into the 14-inch space and, as usual, it’s doing things in grand fashion. At 0.57-inches, it’s one of the thinnest gaming laptops on the market. And while it’s absolutely adorable, it’s packing enough high-end specs to please most gamers including a 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake processor and an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU. Plus, it’s got plenty of pick up thanks to a ridiculously fast SSD.
We expected a more vivid display and better battery life, but the Alienware x14 R1 is a great choice for entry and mid-tier gamers.
See our full Alienware x14 R1 review
The successor to the excellent Yoga C940, the Lenovo Yoga 9i takes a proven formula and refines it. Subtle design improvements, long battery life (11:15) and refreshed 11th Gen Intel processors make the Yoga 9i a worthy successor to one of last year’s top 2-in-1 laptops.
As you’d expect from a Yoga-series laptop, the Yoga 9i has a premium, ultra-portable chassis and a unique hinge that doubles as a rotating soundbar speaker. As a 2-in-1, that hinge can rotate 360-degrees to convert the Yoga 9i into a tablet or be placed in tent mode so you can watch movies without a keyboard in the way. When it comes to viewing content, the Yoga 9i’s 1080p (4K is available) display is crisp, vibrant and bright.
For all the basics it gets right, my favorite things about the Yoga 9i are its extra features, which include a webcam cover (no more need to buy tape), a slot for the improved Active Pen and a fingerprint sensor. Unfortunately, there is no IR camera.
See our Lenovo Yoga 9i review
The EliteBook 840 G7 is one classy-looking 14-inch business notebook. But it’s more than just looks. It offers 9 hours and 23 minutes of battery life, an awesome keyboard, and, when you need it, a SureView privacy display to keep strangers from checking out your screen.
There are also plenty of ports so you can ditch the dongles and top-firing speakers sound surprisingly good. Yes, the webcam isn’t the best, but that’s nothing an external solution can’t fix. Cheaper than most premium business laptops, the EliteBook 840 G5 comes with a 10th Intel Core i7 CPU, up to 64GB of RAM and up to a 1TB SSD.
See our full HP EliteBook 840 G7 review
Apple’s MacBook Pro 14 brings back a cadre of useful ports while ditching the novel but impractical Touch Bar. The mini LED screen is positively breathtaking as is the new, improved speaker system with its spatial audio capabilities. Fresh out of beta, macOS Monterey runs like a dream and the laptop lasts for over 14 hours on a charge.
But the real star of the show is the new M1 Pro chip. The middle child in Apple’s proprietary line of chips, it has more than enough power to outperform some of the most powerful Intel and AMD-powered laptops. And with Apple’s commitment to both power and efficiency, the notebook powers through the most grueling tasks with barely a whisper from the fans. The laptop is practically perfect.
The notebook’s design is lightweight and sleek with plenty of room for a full HDMI and an SDXC card reader. And the M1 Pro chip brings even more power, battling some of Intel’s heavyweights and winning handily. Plus, it’s serving up over 14 hours of battery life with a formidable quick charge, a show-stopping display, a super comfortable keyboard and an excellent audio system.
See our full MacBook Pro 14 review
The HP Envy 14 (2021) is the perfect laptop for many people. It has a powerful Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q GPU packed into a sleek aluminum chassis. Not to mention the vivid 14-inch, 1080p 16:10 display and more than 9 hours of battery life.
The $1,249 price tag is too expensive for the components you get, especially when the SSD is lagging behind the average, and the speakers aren’t the best. Moreover, you can get better battery life from the Lenovo Yoga 9i and even more storage, but you would be paying a little extra and losing out on the discrete GPU.
See our full HP Envy 14 review
The ZenBook Duo 14 UX482 is the kind of device you’ll feel proud showing off, and when you do, people will be amazed by its gorgeous color and second display, also known as the ScreenPad Plus. The shock and awe of the extra screen will get people reaching for the Duo at electronics stores, but the 12.7-inch ScreenPad is much more than a spectacle; It’s a useful tool for creative professionals and business users who need to maximize screen real estate.
It isn’t just the second screen that makes the Duo such a compelling option for creatives. You get a sleek, albeit thick, design and Thunderbolt 4 ports. Add strong performance and long battery life to the mix, and the ZenBook Duo is a dream 14-inch laptop to use when you’re crunching spreadsheets or editing videos.
See our full Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482 review
The AMD version of the Acer Swift 3 is really the little laptop that could. Armed with an AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor and Radeon Graphics, the Swift 3 is taking on the likes of the MacBook Pro 13 and the XPS 13 with aplomb. And it’s doing that for less than $700. And if you’re curious, it smoked its Intel-powered counterpart as well.
The laptop served up surprising power on our benchmarks including overall and graphics performance. Plus, it has staying power with over 11 hours of battery life. Plus, it’s got premium good looks and a rather comfortable keyboard. The laptop does have one flaw however, it’s display which isn’t as bright as we would like. But for the price, it’s a minor quibble for a sub-$700 laptop that can best some of the most premium laptops on the market. With a herculean processor that whizzes past all its competitors, the Acer Swift 3 certainly earned its spot on this list.
See our full Acer Swift 3 (2020, AMD Ryzen 7 4700U) review
Looking for a truly no-compromise laptop? You’d be hard-pressed to find a better option than the Dell Latitude 9420 2-in-1. It does the miraculous by combining a high-resolution display that is both bright and vivid with long battery life — it’s a feat we very rarely see. Digging into the specifics, the Latitude has a 14-inch, 2560 x 1600-pixel 16:10 display and gets more than 15 hours of battery life. Those stats are just astounding.
It endures for a full day despite having a powerful Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU under the hood alongside 16GB of RAM and Iris Xe graphics. Business users will appreciate the extra security features including the fingerprint sensor and IR camera for facial recognition. The laptop is sturdy, having withstood military-grade durability tests, and has great sound quality.
See our Dell Latitude 9420 2-in-1 review
Microsoft has struck the right 2-in-1 balance. Instead of having a detachable lid like the Surface Book it replaces, or an attachable keyboard like the Surface Pro 8, the Surface Laptop Studio employs a unique hinge that allows the display to be pulled forward and positioned into different modes.
Not only can the Surface Laptop Studio be transformed into a digital drawing board, but it does so without compromising the standard laptop mode. This flexibility, along with excellent performance and long battery life, makes the Surface Laptop Studio a compelling option for creative professionals. Add in a fantastic keyboard/touchpad combo, powerful speakers, and a 1080p webcam, and the Surface Laptop Studio finds its place as one of the best 2-in-1 laptops.
See our full Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio review
While the 9th Gen model now takes the cake, the 8th Gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon is still among the best around. On top of delivering fast performance, you get long battery life (on the 1080p model) and two gorgeous, 14-inch, 1080p and 4K display options, all in an impossibly lightweight chassis (2.4 pounds).
But it’s still those classic ThinkPad features — a durable design (with MIL-STD-810G strength), best-in-class keyboard and stealthy black/red aesthetics — that carry the X1 Carbon to greatness.
Yes, we wish the ThinkPad X1 Carbon had thinner bezels and hadn’t ditched the SD card reader, and top configurations can get very expensive, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better overall business machine.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 (8th Gen) review
How we test laptops
We put 14-inch laptops through extensive benchmark testing — both synthetic and real-world — before they end up in the hands of our reviewers. We evaluate each aspect of the laptop, including its performance, battery life, display, speakers and heat management.
In our benchmark testing, we use a Klein K10 colorimeter to detect the brightness and sRGB color gamut of the laptop’s display. For performance testing, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 5.0 and 3DMark professional graphics tests.
To determine real-world performance, we task the laptop to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution and to duplicate a 4.97GB multimedia file. Our real-world graphics test is the Dirt 3 benchmark with medium settings at 1080p resolution. Gaming laptops go through an entire library of games at high settings to see how their discrete GPUs keep up.
We also run heat tests by playing a 15-minute full-screen video and measuring temperatures in different areas of the laptop. Last but not least, our battery test consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. For MacBooks and premium Windows 10 laptops, a runtime of over 9 hours is considered a good result whereas gaming laptops and workstations that can stay powered for longer than 5 hours deserve praise.
These tests are complemented with extensive hands-on testing from our reviewers who critique everything from the laptop’s materials to the feel of its touchpad.