Best 16-inch laptops in 2024: 7 top picks I recommend (2024)

Today's best 16-inch laptops are just as portable as their smaller counterparts, yet provide more working space. So, if you need a larger display yet still want a device that's just as thin and light as a 13- or 14-inch laptop, you can have that. The days of jamming a brick-like laptop into our bag are well behind us!

As processors have become more power-efficient, these laptops have slimed down in the process. They're much more likely to be around a half-inch thick and weigh 4 pounds or less — even gaming laptops! Some 16-inch laptops have even gained more battery life as a result.

If you game a lot, edit videos, render animations, draw, or your eyesight isn't what it used to be, a 16-inch laptop could be the best choice. You can magnify text without pushing too much of it off-screen (and won't have to scroll as much). Details are more noticeable in games. There's more screen space for sketching — lots of benefits!

My top pick for the best 16-inch laptop currently is the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo, which offers solid performance, battery life, and a gorgeous OLED display. MacOS fans should choose the 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Pro, our longest-lasting MacBook ever, with class-leading performance. On a budget? The Acer Swift Go 16 is a stellar choice for under $800. Those are just a few of my recommendations; read on for the rest.

This page is constantly updated based on our latest reviews to reflect Laptop Mag's current picks for the best 16-inch laptops in 2024.

Quick List

CURATED BY

CURATED BY

Joanna Nelius

Joanna Nelius has reviewed laptops and computer hardware since 2018. Her work has appeared in The Verge, USA Today, Gizmodo, PC Gamer, and Maximum PC. She also holds an MFA from Chapman University and works as a creative writing instructor.

The best 16-inch laptops in 2024

Best overall

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We originally reviewed the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo at the end of 2023. Throughout most of 2024 is was our best Ultrabook pick — now it's our best overall 16-inch laptop. I've been writing buying guides for years, and I'm used to putting a laptop on a list like this only to see it outranked by something else within a month or two. I can't recall another laptop that has stood the test of time like this one.

The Prestige 16 AI Evo still a MacBook (M2 and M3) challenger "PC laptop enthusiasts have longed for," as Mark Anthony Ramirez wrote is his review for Laptop Mag. Its performance hasn't lost its luster, even compared to Intel's new Lunar Lake chips. It still has one of the most color-rich and sharpest 4K OLED displays we've ever tested. Its battery life still fares well against its rivals. It's still one of the lightest 16-inch laptops we've tested in the last year — and I've seen it go for a couple hundred dollars less than when it originally released.

Performance-wise, this laptop still earns high marks for its multicore performance. In our Geekbench 6 test, the Prestige 16 AI Evo scored 13,310, higher than the mainstream laptop average of 10,435, and surpasses the 15-inch MacBook Air M3 by 10% (12,052). It also surpasses some of its newer, 16-inch competitors, like the Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 with a Snapdragon X Plus XIP-42-100 by 14% (11,517) — and just pushes past the Asus Zenbook S16 with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 by 1% (13,282).

Even with a last-gen chip, its Intel Core Ultra 7 155H has much faster multicore performance than Intel's current-gen laptop chips, Lunar Lake. The Core Ultra 7 258V in the Acer Swift 14 AI (11,009) I recently reviewed is 18% slower by comparison. (Ouch!)

The Prestige 16 AI Evo's 4K OLED display produces sharp, vibrant images and deep, inky black contrasts. It's no wonder the display is one of the best you'll find in a 16-inch laptop — its covers 137.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, well beyond the average mainstream laptop (81.5%). That's near-par with one of its display rivals, the LG Gram Pro 16 2-in-1 (133.5%), and beyond the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (105.7%) and Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra (81.8%).

It gets great battery life, too: 13 hours and 4 minutes, about 2 hours longer than the average mainstream laptop. It's not the longest we've tested — the MacBook Air gets over 15 hours and the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 gets an incredible 21 — but its battery lasts longer than other 16-inch Ultrabooks like the Zenbook S16 (11 hours).

See our full MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo review.

Best budget laptop

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If the Acer Swift Go 14 has no right being so good for its price, then the 16-inch Acer Swift Go also has no right — but we're not complaining! This laptop is normally $1,199, but we've seen this configuration go for $900 on Amazon. $900 for a last-gen, top-tier Intel Core Ultra 9, Arc integrated graphics, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage space is a great deal.

But event without a sale, Acer did a great job balancing "a reasonable price point" with "strong performance, long-lasting battery life, and a colorful display," as our writer, Claire Tabari, said in her review.

On the Geekbench 6 multicore performance test, this laptop scored 13,088, close to the Asus Zenbook S16's 13,282 (2.5% slower). Interestingly, it doesn't quite catch up to the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo's mid-tier Intel Core Ultra 7 (13,310), but it does surpass the MacBook Air M3 (12,052.)

The Swift Go 16 fared better in Laptop Mag's real-world, Handbreak benchmark. It took 4 minutes and 51 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, faster than the Zenbook S16 (5:08), Inspiron 14 Plus (6:23), and Prestige 16 AI Evo (5:17).

Compared to the Zenbook S16's OLED display, the Swift Go 16 covers a larger portion of the DCI-P3 color gamut, 86% to 80%, respectively. That's also higher than the Inspiron 14 Plus (69%.) We do wish it was brighter, though. It averaged only 332 nits in our colorimeter tests. It didn't fall far behind the Zenbook S16 (357 nits), there's no contest against the Inspiron 14 Plus (470 nits).

This laptop gets decent battery life, 10 hours and 35 minutes, one hour shy of the Zenbook S16, but far less than its competitors. What grinds our teeth the most about this laptop, unfortunately, is its keyboard — specfically how it feels to press the keys. They're shallow and spongy.

See our full Acer Swift Go 16 review.

Best premium laptop

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For anyone (especially creatives) who needs a personal machine that can also handle heavy video and 3D rendering workloads, there's the newest 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro processor.

Laptop Mag's managing editor, Sean Riley, describes it best in his review: "It's almost simultaneously the most powerful premium laptop we've reviewed while also offering the second-longest battery of any laptop we've tested." Our benchmark numbers mostly speak for themselves.

With 20 hours and 46 minutes of battery life, it lasts 7 hours longer than the average premium laptop and its main competitors, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 Gen 9 and Asus ProArt PX16 (2024) between 10 and 11 hours, respectively. It also outlasts the MacBook Pro M3 Max by nearly 3 hours.

It outshines them all in the Geekbench 6 multicore benchmark, scoring 22,822. That's 47% faster than the Yoga Pro (12,141), 32% faster than the ProArt PX16 (15,286), and over 100% more than the average premium laptop (10,492). Compared to the M3 Max (21,182), that's an 8% speed increase; remember that the 16-inch Max configurations start at $3,499.

Everything else about this MacBook Pro is just as good or better than previous generations. It's still expensive, but it's our best premium laptop pick for a reason.

See our full MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 2024) review.

Best gaming laptop

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Yet another Asus ROG Zephyrus makes our list as the best 16-inch gaming laptop! And for good reason, since there's little Laptop Mag's editor, Rami Tabari, didn't adore about it when he reviewed it. From its size to its design, battery life and performance, all the way to its display and speakers, this laptop comes "pretty damn close" to hitting all the major qualities PC gamers usually look for in a laptop.

My fiancé has a last-gen Zephyrus G16 with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and an RTX 4070. It's a good gaming laptop, but this latest version with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is better than what we have at home. Asus' switch from Intel to AMD makes it feel like a different laptop; in the Geekbench 6 benchmark, the AMD Zephyrus scored 15,408, which is 32% faster than the average premium laptop.

Compared to its predecessor, it's 14% faster (13,299), and among its competitors, like the Alienware m16 R2, it's 18% faster (12,784). The Lenovo Legion 7i’s Intel Core i9-14900HX (17,261) does have it beat, though; the Zephyrus G16 is 11% slower. (Battery life is a totally different story, which I'll get to in a minute.)

But its AMD processor helps this the Zephyrus crank out some more frames in-game. In Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1080p on medium graphics, it achieved 68 frames per second, while the Intel Zephyrus managed 60 fps. In Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p on Ultra graphics, it averaged 35 fps while the last-gen averaged 30 fps. And in Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest, 1080p) it averaged 104 fps to the older Zephyrus' 94 fps.

The AMD Zephyrus ran just as fast in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 compared to the Legion 7i, but could not keep up in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, where the Legion outpaced it by nearly 60 fps. The Alienware m16 R2 also ran slightly faster than the G16 in Cyberpunk and Tomb Raider.

When it comes to battery life, none of those gaming laptops can hold a candle to the Zephyrus G16. It lasted 9 hours and 14 minutes during Laptop Mag's battery test, way beyond the average premium gaming laptop (5:27). That more than double the Intel Zephyrus (4:46) and Legion 7i (3:01), and 3 hours longer than the Alienware m16 R2 (6:13).

Cost is most likely going to turn some potential buyers away, though. (It's the main reason why my fiancé bought the Intel Zephyrus instead.) However, if you can find this AMD Zephyrus for under $2,000, you'll be getting a killer deal on this gaming laptop.

See our full Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 review.

Best 2-in-1 laptop

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See Also

The best Windows laptops in 2024: our top picks

Once in a while, we're blessed by the emergence of a 2-in-1 that crushes expectations in every conceivable manner. In this case, the HP Spectre x360 16 is not only the ultimate 16-inch 2-in-1 laptop, but it's the best of the year, period. It's pricey, but as our reviewer, Stevie Bonifield said, "It's worth the price of admission."

This is thanks to the culmination of great battery life, a stunning OLED display, powerful speakers, a sleek design, a satisfying keyboard, and solid performance, thanks to the Intel Ultra 7 155H.

On the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits, we saw the Spectre x360 last 11 hours and 7 minutes before running out of juice. That's about what we'd expect out of the average premium laptop, though a few hours shorter than the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo (13:04) and the MacBook Air M3 (15:13).

Thanks to the power of OLED, you don't have much to worry about if you're a fan of a solid-looking display. It features a 2880 x 1800-pixel resolution touchscreen with OLED technology, meaning blacks are far deeper and inkier. On the colorimeter, the HP Spectre x360 covered 87.1% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is solid but not the best compared to competing laptops like the LG Gram Pro 16 2-in-1 (133.6%), MSI Prestige 16 AI EVO (137.9%), and Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (105.7%).

However, OLED historically performs lower on DCI-P3 testing; anything with an 80% or higher DCI-P3 coverage is usually more than enough. Its brightness of 376 nits isn't super high, but that's unsurprising, considering OLED panels are typically a tad dimmer — and it's still brighter than the Prestige 16 (368 nits) and Yoga Pro 9i (373 nits).

Of course, its Intel Ultra 7 155H delivers excellent performance. On the Geekbench 6.1 overall performance test, the Spectre x360 managed a multi-core score of 12,592 That's stellar and absolutely crushes previous-generation chips, even pulling ahead of the MacBook M3 (12,087).

See our full HP Spectre x360 16 review.

Best for creators

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For the photographer, filmmaker, or graphic designer who is loyal to Windows, "The Asus ProArt P16 is a stellar example of what a creator laptop should be: powerful, reliable, and stylish," as our reviewer, Stevie Bonifield said. You don't have to pay MacBook Pro prices to get suburb performance in a thin and light chassis, with a beautiful design that's just as easy on your eyes as it is your wallet.

The ProArt's AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, 32GB of RAM, and Nvidia RTX 4070 powers it to a Geekbench 6 multicore score of 15,286, way beyond the average premium laptop. Compared to its Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i rival with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, it's 21 % faster (12,141), and it's 15% faster than the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra (13,061).

That stellar performance also played out in Laptop Mag's Handbreak benchmark, transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in 3 minutes and 15 seconds, much faster than the average premium laptop (7:58). It also out paced the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra (4:52) and Yoga Pro 9i (3:53).

It also excelled in our 3DMark FireStrike synthetic graphics benchmark, scoring 24,284 — 29% higher than the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra (17,255) with an RTX 4070, and 12% higher than the Yoga Pro 9i (19,016) with an RTX 4050.

While I'd normally recommend a laptop with a wider color gamut for creatives, the ProArt P16 covers enough of the DCI-P3 gamut (85.5%) to be serviceable for most people. That said, it covers more than the MacBook Pro M3 Max (81.8%) and Galaxy Book 4 Ultra (81.8%), but much less than the Yoga Pro 9i (105.7%). It also has an SDR screen brightness of 356 nits, which is good, but the Yoga Pro 9i (737 nits) and Galaxy Book 4 Ultra (384 nits) get brighter.

The ProArt P16's battery life is a bigger let down, though: 9 hours and 32 minutes. That's noticeably less than Galaxy Book 4 Ultra (13:15), way less than the MacBook Pro M3 Max (18:05), and just shy of the Yoga Pro 9i (9:51).

See our full Asus ProArt P16 review.

Best Ultrabook

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Where the Asus Zenbook S14 is our best 14-inch Ultrabook, the Zenbook S16 is our best 16-inch pick. It's damn good-looking laptop with some of the best gaming performance we've seen on an integrated graphics chip alone. It impressed our editor, Rami Tabari, right from the start with its "excellent performance [...] packed into a one-of-a-kind chassis." Having also reviewed this laptop myself, before I started writing for Laptop Mag, I wholeheartedly agree (especially about the Star Trek-esque logo).

At 0.47 ~ 0.51 inches thick and weighing 3.3 pounds, it's nearly as light and thin as the MacBook Air but more eye-catching. The ceramic-oxide layer over the aluminum chassis gives the laptop a pleasant look and feel, and the thin display bezels make it look polished and refined. It's easy to forget this is a 16-inch laptop!

The Zenbook S16 has power to matches its charm, too. On the Geekbench 6.3 multicore performance test, it scored 13,282, flying past the average premium laptop average of 10,435 (22% faster) and the Asus Zenbook S 14 with an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V by 16% (11,157). It even outpaces the MacBook Air M3 by 10% (12,052). Compared to our previous best Ultrabook pick, the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo, it's on par.

Gaming is where this laptop really shines — especially without a discrete graphics card. On the Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark (Medium, 1080p), the Zenbook S16 averaged 63 fps, where its Zenbook S14 sibling averaged only 48 fps. It also scored well against the Asus Vivobook S15 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 (21 fps).

In more graphicly intensive games, like Far Cry 6 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, it does hit or come close to our 30 fps minimum. But to increase that number to 60 fps or higher, you will need to turn down the graphics settings and possibly take advantage of AMD FSR. With the resolution set to 1080p and FSR set to ultra performance, I personally was able to average 77 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 on the Zenbook S16.

Battery life is this laptop's main weak-point, unfortunately — just 11 hours and 35 minutes. That's not much longer than the average premium laptop and definitely not as long as the MacBook Air (15:03). It's also 2 hours shorter than the Zenbook S14 (13:51) and MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo (13:04).

See our full Asus Zenbook S16 review.

Benchmark comparisons

Recently reviewed

Not every laptop can make the best 16-inch laptops page. (We wouldn't be doing you that much good if that were the case!) We review new laptops every week and over 100 laptops yearly, so here's a look at our most recently reviewed laptops that didn't make this page either due to a fault, battery life, performance, or something else.

How to choose the best 16-inch laptop for you

What makes a 16-inch laptop good is not much different than what makes any other laptop good. You need to question if the price being asked of you is worth what it can offer, and there are many factors that determine whether or not that is the case. Battery life, performance metrics, display color depth and brightness, thermal efficiency, aesthetic, sturdiness, and unique gimmicks all funnel into what makes a laptop worth the purchase.

The MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo balances each of these elements, offering great performance metrics in an ultra-light weight frame. If you're looking for a great overall 16-inch laptop, this is an excellent pick.

But if "breaking the bank" is your motto, take a look at the MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro). With nearly 21 hours of battery life and cry-worry performance, you'd think this is the laptop of dreams. That is until you see its price tag. If you're somehow still considering buying this thing, I commend your resolve.

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 and Asus ProArt P16 could also "break the bank," though they are much cheaper than the MacBook Pro 16 M4 Pro. The former is a gaming laptop, while the latter is an intense workstation. Both feature incredible specs and can run guns at high framerates.

The HP Spectre x360 16 is another great 2-in-1 laptop with a stunning visual design and amazing internal specs, although we found it was a little bit heavy to make tablet mode comfortable. But with a stunning OLED display, long-lasting battery life, phenomenal speaker system and all-around solid performance, it's hard not to appreciate this thing.

If you're in need of something less expensive that still offers solid performance, there's the Acer Swift Go 16. You won't get anything as impressive at the more expensive alternatives, but at the very least, you can expect snappy multitasking and decent battery life.

FAQs

Q: What is a Copilot+ PC?

A: Microsoft has specific requirements as to what it considers a Copilot+ PC. One of those requirements is that a laptop's processor must have an NPU capable of reaching at least 40 TOPS to run more advanced Windows AI features like Recall, Automatic super resolution, and Live Captions.

Copilot+ PCs have a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite or Plus, an Intel Core Ultra 200V series, or AMD Ryzen AI 300 series processor. However, the advanced AI features are currently only available on Snapdragon laptops. A free update for Intel and AMD laptops should be available to Windows Insiders by December 2024.

Q: How is Windows on ARM laptop different from a regular (x86) Windows laptop?

A: Windows on ARM laptops are configured with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite or Plus processor. Laptops with the x86 version of Windows are powered by either an Intel or AMD processor. Each Windows version uses a different instruction set (ARM or x86), so it needs a processor that can run it.

For most people, using one versions of Windows or the other shouldn't be an issue. But depending on what apps you use day to day, some might not be compatible with Windows on ARM. App compatibly is growing, but it's best to verify what you need will work before buying one of these laptops.

Q: What graphics card do I need in a gaming laptop?

It depends! If you want high frame rates and stunning graphics, then an RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 are your best bet. Those graphics cards make the most out of high refresh rate, OLED displays. If you are willing to compromise on one or the other, look for gaming laptops with either an RTX 4070, 4060, or 4050.

However, an RTX 4070 gaming laptop usually provides the best balance between frame rate and great graphics. Some are pricier than others, so do shop around to find something that fits your budget.

Q: I already have a stylus; will it work with one of these laptops if it has a touchscreen?

A. That depends! Not all touchscreens have stylus support. The ones that do might not support the same type of pens. We recommend checking the manufacture's website of both the laptop and stylus to be absolutely sure.

This will help you determine what pen protocols the stylus and laptop support. The two main ones are Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) and Wacom AES. They're not intercompatible, but some pens support both, while others only support one.

How we test the best 16-inch laptops

We put each laptop 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 DCI-P3 color gamut of the laptop's display. For performance testing, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 6 and 3DMark professional graphics tests.

To determine real-world performance, we convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution and duplicate a 25GB file. Our real-world graphics test is Cid Meier's Civilization V: Gathering Storm benchmark at 1080p resolution and Medium graphics. We also run heat tests by playing a 15-minute full-screen video and measuring temperatures in different areas of the laptop.

For our battery test, we continuously web surfing over WiFi at 150 nits of brightness. For MacBooks and premium Windows 11 laptops, a runtime of over 10 hours is considered a good result, whereas gaming laptops and workstations that can stay powered longer than 5 hours deserve praise.

We complement these tests with extensive hands-on testing from our reviewers, who critique everything from the laptop's materials to the feel of its touchpad.

See this page on How We Test Laptops for more details on our benchmarking procedures.

Why trust Laptop Mag

Laptop Mag reviews over one hundred different laptops every year, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming.

We are 100% independent and have decades of experience to help you buy with confidence. In fact, Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing products for three decades, and we continue to deliver trustworthy reviews you can rely on.

Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it.

Our editorial trustworthiness is enforced by one of the world's largest technology publishers, Future Publishing. As a company, we have unrivaled experience across every tech sector — and we're the group's specialist for all things mobile tech.