The Stuff Gadget Awards 2025: our laptops of the year

Laptops were yet another area where AI rose to the fore this year. Windows 10 officially reached end-of-life on 14th October, prompting millions to join Windows 11’s Copilot+ era.

This migration accelerated computing’s biggest transformation: AI becoming hardware, not just software. Microsoft added dedicated Copilot keys to keyboards (the first new Windows key since 1995!) whilst manufacturers embedded Neural Processing Units, capable of 45 trillion operations per second, into everyday laptops.

The shift proved dramatic. Copilot+ PCs delivered AI features like Recall (controversial screenshot-based search), Live Captions translating 44 languages in real-time and Studio Effects for video calls.

Gaming laptops reached absurd performance levels, with high-powered GPUs finding their way into ultra-portable chasses. DLSS 4.0 AI upscaling became essential rather than optional, boosting frame rates dramatically where raw rasterization couldn’t.

Premium ultraportables evolved too, with OLED displays, Thunderbolt 5 connectivity and hybrid designs balancing creative credentials against genuine gaming capabilities.

Without further ado, let’s look at this year’s best portable computers, as decided by us.

Check out all this year’s Stuff Gadget Awards winners

Gaming laptop of the year: Razer Blade 16

Gaming laptops have always required compromise: pick power or portability, but never both. The Razer Blade 16 obliterates that trade-off. At just 17mm thick and over 300g lighter than its predecessor, it’s barely thicker than a MacBook Pro yet somehow houses Nvidia’s RTX 5090, the beefiest mobile GPU money can buy. That’s desktop-crushing performance in a backpack-friendly package.

The 16in QHD+ OLED screen hits a glorious 240Hz and delivers perfect blacks and vibrant colours that make demanding games look utterly stunning. Performance never falters: 100-200fps in Counter Strike 2, smooth 60fps+ in ray-traced titles, and DLSS 4.0 working miracles on frame generation. But here’s the kicker – switching to AMD internals gets you close to 10 hours of video playback and up to seven hours of productivity work. Even gaming stretches to three hours.

It’s ruinously expensive sure, but this is the gaming laptop that goes anywhere and dominates everything.

Highly commended

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI proves that sensible money can still buy serious performance, undercutting rivals like our award-winner the Razer Blade 16 whilst delivering remarkably similar grunt. Intel’s Core Ultra 9 275HX and Nvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti handle everything from Counter Strike 2 at over 150fps to ray-traced Cyberpunk 2077, with DLSS multi-frame generation pushing demanding titles past 100fps.

The star attraction is that stunning 16in 2560 x 1600 OLED screen running at a slick 240Hz – flawless blacks, killer contrast and colours accurate enough for creative work. At just under 20mm thick and 2.3kg, it’s quite portable too, with connectivity that shames pricier competitors: rear-mounted power and HDMI, dual USB-C, three USB-A ports and Ethernet.

Sure, the mixed materials can’t match metal unibody builds, and battery life sits around five hours for desktop work. But when you’re getting this much laptop for this much cash, those are compromises worth making.

Razer Blade 14 (2025)

Like its award-winning 16in big brother, Razer’s 2025 edition of the Blade 14 balances power and portability like a charm. A 1.6kg notebook with Nvidia RTX 5070 graphics is some achievement, even if its 650g power brick (necessary when the GPU alone guzzles 100W+) adds lots of extra heft.

It’s a spectacular performer. AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 365 delivers 50% more processing power than Intel alternatives, whilst that 14in 120Hz OLED screen exploits every frame beautifully. Cyberpunk 2077 hit 130fps in our tests, with visual settings that leave rivals struggling to get 30fps. Razer’s design choices impress too: per-key RGB lighting, a massive glass touchpad, a good 1080p webcam and very capable speakers.

There are drawbacks to its high-performance approach, with fans getting loud under load and battery life barely reaching eight hours for light work – fine for gaming hardware, disappointing for an ultraportable. But it’s one of the best portable gaming machines on the planet.

Mainstream laptop of the year: Lenovo Chromebook 14 Plus

The Lenovo Chromebook 14 Plus is the finest Chrome OS laptop in years, and proof that premium design and performance don’t require a restrictive price tag. With its elegant, lightweight all-aluminium chassis, this machine looks and feels significantly more expensive than its price tag would suggest.

The centrepiece is the exceptional 14in display. Delivering a crisp 2.5K resolution, a productivity-friendly 16:10 aspect ratio and a slinky smooth 120Hz refresh rate, it provides an experience usually reserved for high-end laptops. This visual feast is backed up by a remarkably capable quad-speaker audio system.

Powered by a modern Intel Core processor and the seamless speed of Chrome OS, the 14 Plus effortlessly handles multitasking and provides excellent 10-hour battery life. For students, home users and anyone who relies on cloud-based work, the Chromebook 14 Plus is an undisputed champion, delivering a high-end experience without compromise. This might be the best Google-powered laptop on the planet.

Highly commended

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus

The Galaxy Chromebook Plus deserves recognition for the way it sets new standards for premium Chrome OS laptops. Samsung has crafted a truly sublime ultraportable, starting with a gorgeous 15.6in AMOLED display that delivers outstanding contrast and dynamic colours that make media pop.

This stunning visual experience is paired with a top-quality featherlight metal chassis in a distinctive Neptune Blue finish. Beneath this slimline shell, the powerful Intel Core 5 CPU and 8GB of RAM ensure ample performance and multi-tasking capabilities, backed up by reliable all-day battery life.

The Galaxy Chromebook Plus further impressed us with its deep integration of Google’s Gemini AI, offering smart tools for writing and summarising. While its high price tag places it in a cost tier above more budget-friendly competition – a pity considering it lacks a 120Hz display – it goes a long way towards justifying the cost by delivering top-tier hardware in an attractive package.

Lenovo Ideapad Slim 3X Gen 10

Affordable laptops usually resort to using yesterday’s tech, but Lenovo’s IdeaPad Slim 3X rides the cutting edge instead. The Snapdragon X chipset brings genuine AI capabilities and remarkable battery efficiency – we got nearly 16 hours of YouTube streaming out of it before reaching for the cable.

The design keeps things practical. A metal lid adds a classy touch to the otherwise-plastic body, the dependable keyboard includes a NUM pad and the 15in anti-glare screen foxes reflections effectively. Connectivity impresses too, with HDMI, dual USB-A, USB-C plus a full-size SD slot.

Compromises exist of course: the touchpad feels plasticky, the webcam has an outdated 720p resolution and the speakers are completely devoid of bass. Most significantly, screen colour saturation disappoints – deep reds and greens simply don’t render properly. But expecting miracles at this price misses the point, which is that the IdeaPad delivers latest-generation processing power with outstanding battery life, all for relative peanuts.

Also shortlisted

Acer Aspire 14 AI, Framework Laptop 13

Premium laptop of the year: Apple MacBook Air (M4, 2025)

The MacBook Air remains the everyday laptop to beat, even more so now with its cheaper starting price. The M4 chip delivers a solid performance boost over the M3, with single-core speeds that outpace virtually everything else on the market. But the real headline? Apple finally ditched that miserly 8GB base RAM for 16GB minimum – essential for anyone running pro software.

Full dual external display support now works without closing the lid. The 224ppi LED display remains gorgeous, battery life stretches to 15 hours of intensive use, and at just 1.13cm thick it’s one of the slenderest laptops around.

The elephant in the room? Upgrade costs. Need more than base RAM or storage? Prepare for a painful price increase. The design hasn’t evolved since 2022 either. But for everyday work at the base spec, nothing else comes close to this combination of power, portability and price.

Highly commended

Asus Zenbook A14

At just 990g, the Asus Zenbook A14 is so thin and light you’ll genuinely forget it’s in your bag. But this featherweight ain’t fragile: Ceraluminum construction delivers MIL-STD-810H durability. More impressively, Asus hasn’t sacrificed connectivity for slimness, packing in full-size HDMI, two USB4 Type-Cs and USB-A – no dongle required here.

Battery life astounds. Snapdragon X silicon paired with a 70Whr cell delivers 17 to 19 hours of desktop work and mid-20s for video streaming. That’s two full working days between charges. The 1920 x 1200 OLED screen offers perfect blacks and 100% DCI-P3 colour coverage, whilst the 1.3mm key travel keeps typing comfortable despite the svelte dimensions.

The entry-grade Snapdragon CPU shows its limits with sustained workloads like video editing, and the 60Hz display feels dated when rivals offer 120Hz. You’re paying a premium for maximum portability too. But for travelling workers prioritising weight and endurance over raw power, this is the ultraportable to beat.

Apple MacBook Pro (M4, 2024)

The MacBook Pro M4 is almost embarrassingly powerful: Cinebench single-core performance is world-beating, whilst multi-core results only trail actual server chips. The M4 Pro’s 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU tear through 4K video editing, with SSD write speeds surpassing 6500MB/s. Yet the fans barely spin up during demanding work, and battery life stretches far beyond a full working day.

That stunning mini-LED display delivers 1600-nit brightness with ProMotion’s variable refresh, whilst connectivity impresses: three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, SD card reader and MagSafe. The 16in model’s 100Wh battery makes charger anxiety a thing of the past.

Thing is, you probably don’t need this much power. The MacBook Air M4 handles everyday tasks comfortably, making the Pro overkill unless you’re regularly rendering videos or running virtual machines. Upgrades are extortionate too, so increasing RAM and storage hurts. But for true power users who need Pro-level performance, this powerhouse will last years.