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Any laptop on the market can be used for coding in some form. Heck, you could bang out a quick "HELLO, WORLD" in Basic on any of the oldest systems PCMag has reviewed. however, if your livelihood relies on turning plans into reality via programming, you won't want to settle for a machine that's underpowered or out-of-date.
Whether you're a hobbyist coder or a seasoned software engineer, you need a developer laptop that enables you to do your best work—fast. You want something powerful enough to compile code while you continue to work without getting bogged down by slow components. You also need a laptop for coding with features that support longer code sessions, better displays, comfortable keyboards and touchpads, and long battery life for working on the go.
In short, you need a great laptop and one that's well-suited to today's programming needs. So, we've handpicked the best laptops for programmers in 2024 from among some of the most esteemed models we've reviewed. We've laid them out below in detail, followed by a guide to how to choose the right coding laptop for you.
Our Top Tested Picks
MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12
Dell XPS 17 (9730)
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1
Alienware m18
Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5
Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2023)
Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (2024, M3)
Apple MacBook Pro 16-Inch (2023, M3 Max)
Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (Intel)
Framework Laptop 13 (2023)
The Best Laptop Deals This Week*
- Dell Inspiron 15 3520 Intel i7 1TB SSD 16GB RAM 15.6" Laptop — $499.99 (List Price $699.99)
- Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Intel 7 1TB SSD 16GB RAM 16" 2-in-1 Laptop — $774.99 (List Price $1,049.99)
- HP Victus Ryzen 7 RTX 4070 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 16.1" Laptop — $899.99 (List Price $1,399.99)
- Dell Inspiron 16 5640 Intel 7 1TB SSD 16GB RAM Touch Laptop — $649.99 (List Price $949.99)
- LG Gram 16 Intel i7 1TB SSD 16GB RAM 16" Touch Laptop — $999.99 (List Price $1,299.99)
- Dell XPS 13 9340 Intel Ultra 7 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 13.4" Laptop — $1,149.00 (List Price $1,399)
*Deals are selected by our commerce team
Best Laptop for Programming Overall
MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo
- Surprisingly affordable and surprisingly light
- Handsome 4K OLED display
- Epic battery life
- Ethernet port and SD card slot
- Only one USB-A port
- Stiff keyboard
- Perfectly fine rather than professional workstation or gaming performance
You'll do a double-take at the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo's sharp, vivid OLED screen—and another at this great-value desktop replacement's under-$1,500 price.
Best Ultraportable for Programming
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12
- Elegant and light design
- Fabulous keyboard
- Sharp, vivid OLED screen
- USB-A, HDMI, and USB-C ports
- Sky-high price
- Decent but not class-leading performance and battery life
- No SD or microSD card slot
You'll still find no finer business ultraportable than Lenovo's 12th-generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but the latest model suffers from terminal sticker shock for simply decent performance.
Best 17-Inch Laptop for Programming
Dell XPS 17 (9730)
- Superior all-around performance at its size
- Punchy graphics options
- Classic high-end design and metal build
- Beautiful 4K touch-display option
- Four Thunderbolt 4 ports, adapter for USB-A and HDMI included
- Still only includes a disappointing 720p webcam
- Notably higher starting price than before
- Still no OLED screen option
The 2023 Dell XPS 17 brings back its tried-and-true, luxe design alongside 13th Gen Core silicon to serve demanding pro users an excellent desktop replacement that can do a little leisure on the side.
Best Workstation for Programming
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1
- Blazing fast performance
- Gorgeous high-resolution screen
- World-class keyboard
- Impeccable build quality
- Bulky and heavy
- No Ethernet port
- Quite expensive
Its price will scare off all but the most demanding design and engineering professionals, but—on sheer muscle and usability—Lenovo's ThinkPad P16 is a tough mobile workstation to top.
Best Laptop for Game Developers
Alienware m18
- Blistering performance as configured
- Sturdy build with metal lid, customizable lighting
- Superior Cherry MX mechanical keyboard option
- Sharp 1600p/165Hz display, with 1080p/480Hz option
- Reasonable starting price with lots of configuration
- Rear-facing ports are awkward to reach
- Short battery life
- Big and heavy
With top-end components and a spacious 18-inch display, the Alienware m18 is the best giant-screen gaming laptop so far, aimed at enthusiasts and pros with cash to burn.
Best Budget Laptop for Programming
Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5
- Reasonably priced
- Long battery life
- Gold standard ThinkPad keyboard
- Thunderbolt 4 uncommon for the price
- Just $50 for touch-screen upgrade
- Three-year warranty as tested
- Middling performance, even with Core i7
- Screen needs more color
- Tinny speakers
Lenovo’s 14-inch ThinkPad E-series is an impressive productivity laptop for the money, with long battery life, a lengthy warranty, and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity.
Best Chromebook for Programming
Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2023)
- Sturdy and durable aluminum construction
- Versatile convertible design
- Excellent 14-inch display
- Ample connectivity with Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6E
- Nearly 15 hours of battery life
- Bulky and heavy in tablet mode
The 2023 Acer Chromebook Spin 714 convertible shines with top build quality, strong performance, and an impressive display. Its durability and excellent battery life make it one of the best of its kind.
Best Mac for Apple Developers
Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (2024, M3)
- Impressive blend of portability and power
- Capable graphics performance
- Slim, lightweight all-metal design
- Expanded support for external displays
- Speedy and versatile Thunderbolt 4 ports
- All-day battery goes and goes
- Distracting camera notch
- Lower peak display brightness than expected
- Limited monitor support when laptop is open
The 2024 Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch shoehorns more performance into its slim chassis, and amps up the external-monitor support and gaming capability. It holds its own as the best ultraportable Mac.
The Most Powerful Mac for Apple Developers
Apple MacBook Pro 16-Inch (2023, M3 Max)
- Fiery M3 Max processor
- Beautiful Liquid Retina XDR display
- Ample configuration options
- Abundant ports and connectivity
- Superb battery life
- Expensive, particularly for higher configurations
- Inconsistent GPU performance in testing
- No touch screen
Apple's 2023 16-inch MacBook Pro is a fully loaded laptop that goes from premium consumer desktop replacement to elite professional workstation with the M3 Max chip.
Best 2-in-1 Laptop for Programming
Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8
- Excellent performance from new Intel "Raptor Lake" silicon
- Superb OLED touch screen with pen support
- Fantastic sound with sophisticated design
- Pen and carrying case included
- All-metal design looks sharp, feels even better
- Battery life is decent, but not long
- Extra function keys aren't customizable
Lenovo's Yoga 9i Gen 8 delivers leading performance and a combination of features and design that makes it the premium 2-in-1 laptop to buy.
Best Tablet PC for Programming
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (Intel)
- Impressive performance and battery life
- Outstanding cameras
- Sleek design, with inking-friendly 3:2 screen
- Two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports
- User-upgradable storage
- Essential accessories still not included
- No more headphone jack
- 5G only available with SQ3 processor
- High starting price
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 9 is its most polished yet, with unmatched performance, helpful features, and long battery life among high-end 2-in-1 detachable Windows tablets.
The Most Upgradable Laptop for Programming
Framework Laptop 13 (2023)
- Repairable, upgradable, and user-friendly design
- Lightweight and portable, with 11-hour battery life
- Swappable ports enable extreme customization
- Expanded ecosystem of parts and accessories
- Highly customizable before checkout
- Expansion cards cost extra
- Pre-built system comes at a premium
- No touch-screen or OLED options (yet)
With its new 13th Gen Intel mainboard, the latest Framework Laptop 13 is a smarter buy than ever. Its sustainable, upgradable design promises that upgrading it down the line will cost a fraction of buying new.
A decent programming laptop will have the performance to support the unique demands of software development. That means looking closely at every aspect of the laptop: the processor (CPU), the memory (RAM), the storage (solid-state or spinning drive), and the graphics (GPU).
From the design to the operating system (OS), the right machine has to be a good fit for your work. Here are some of the specifics you need to consider when shopping for your next laptop for coding and development.
Which CPU Type Is Best for Programming?
While all of the advice in our guide to choosing the right processor still applies, there are a few elements to focus on. Core counts and multi-thread processing are a good place to start, along with power ratings and even broader divisions, such as manufacturers.
Multi-core CPUs with multiple processing threads are a must, letting you manage multiple tasks at once. These CPUs also handle complex tools, like virtual machines and compilers, in addition to simple tasks, like an integrated development environment, or IDE.
Power ratings are another decent indicator of overall performance. While there is more nuance to it, a good rule of thumb is that the higher the wattage—presented as thermal design power (TDP) or "Base Power" on the latest Intel chips—the better the relative performance. Lower-wattage CPUs may not offer the same muscle, but they have the alternative benefit of being more battery-efficient. Knowing which you prioritize more between power and efficiency will help you find a good match.
The other question is the manufacturer. Intel is the biggest name in processors, but AMD chips can provide an affordable alternative, and Mac users will be getting Apple Silicon by default.
Is 16GB RAM Enough for Programming Today?
The rule of thumb for RAM is always the same: More is better. But this is especially true for programmers because you'll need enough to support memory-intensive tasks, like running a virtual machine or emulators.
Ask yourself: How much data are you loading into memory? In a professional environment, we recommend choosing a minimum of 16GB, but if you're working on memory-intensive applications, running virtual machines, or multitasking, you'll benefit from paying for more RAM.
Which Storage Type Is Best for Programming?
For most users, we recommend solid-state drives (SSDs) simply for snappier performance. But for programming, where you may be calling up several files at once, or storing a huge number of support files and programming tools, speed is essential. An SSD is a must—a traditional spinning hard drive will only slow you down.
Capacity is another question. When you need to store a lot of data locally, more storage is also a plus. While budget machines may only offer 256GB or 512GB drives, you'll probably need more than that, so we recommend a minimum of 1TB.
Is a GPU Necessary for Programming?
Trying to decide between a laptop with integrated graphics or something with an additional graphics processor? It's a common enough question for the average computer shopper, but programmers have a different set of needs.
If you need to leverage machine learning for your projects, a GPU-equipped system is a must. Nvidia's GPUs contain dozens of its proprietary CUDA and Tensor cores, which can be harnessed for all sorts of extra processing. Plus, if you're like most programmers, you love computers, and you want to use your machine for play as much as work. If that's you, you'll want a laptop that can play games when you're done debugging.
Apple's integrated graphics in its M series processors are also great options for machine learning without a discrete GPU, especially in its new M3 models. That's not to say that it's less capable. The machine-learning capability built into the latest Mac processors is surprisingly powerful, thanks in large part to its unified memory approach allowing its GPUs access to much more memory than the highest-end discrete GPUs.
What Is the Most Important Part of a Computer for Programming?
Speedy performance may give you a boost in productivity, shaving off time when you're compiling code, but those minutes saved will only help you out over weeks and months. The display, on the other hand, will impact your comfort and capability immediately.
A larger screen will let you see more information at once, while a brighter, more vivid display will give you better readability as you parse lines and lines of code. Similarly, a taller screen, with a 16:10 or 3:2 aspect ratio, will be helpful because it will provide more vertical space to work with than the more common 16:9 panels most laptops use.
Other features to watch for include anti-glare panels, blue light mitigation, and touch screens. Touch capability may not be a must for every programmer, but if you're developing apps for touch-screen devices, you'll want to be able to test the touch input when needed.
The keyboard is another big one. While no laptop keyboard will provide the comfort and durability of something like one of the best desktop mechanical keyboards, you'll still benefit from a good set of keys. Reading reviews and/or trying the laptop in person are important here, for making this assessment.
The same holds for the touchpad. It may not beat navigation with a mouse, but you want to maximize both capability and comfort, so check out the relevant portions of our in-depth reviews.
Which OS Is Better for Programming?
Finally, deciding which OS you need will sort out a lot of systems very quickly. Our guide to operating systems provides a great overview of features and interface differences, but for programmers, it's more than your favorite flavor of computer. If you're developing software for iPhone and iPad, then it's a safe bet that you'll want to work on macOS, and that means buying one of the Apple laptops on our list. Conversely, if you need Windows, you'll want to stick to laptops running Windows 11.
Aside from those two major players, a few programmers may want to do things differently. If you're a Chromebook diehard, you can still work with Microsoft Visual Studio code, Python, and any number of web-based applications. You can also work in Linux on a Chromebook, or buy some of the laptops on our list with a Linux package instead of Windows. The important thing here is to know what sort of work you're going to be doing on your system, and what OS is needed to support it.
So, What Is the Best Laptop to Buy for Programming?
We've chosen our top candidates among the more than 120 laptops we've tested and reviewed over the last year. Checked out our detailed summaries of each laptop above? Roll down the page to the spec breakdown below for much more on our picks.