To be clear, the best laptops for writers don't need to be expensive. They don't need to be a great laptop for watching movies on with a beautiful OLED screen and enough power under the hood to create a AAA game. The best laptops for writing need a great keyboard; they need to turn on and be ready to take your words immediately; and they need a great battery that you don't have to worry about. Add to that good value, and we believe you can't get better than a Chromebook. That's why I've chosen the $200 Acer Chromebook 314 as our top pick.
For those that need the above and a bit more, we've got options with a beautiful screen that's easy on the eyes, that are super portable for writers on the move, and some options that offer more power, just in case your work also includes some photo editing and high quality streaming.
If you want the next level, the MacBook Air (M2) offers an excellent keyboard, a lovely design, probably more power than you'll need for just typing, and excellent screen and battery life. This is our best overall pick, as it excels in all the important areas (apart from its relatively big price tag or $999).
Note that when we review a laptop, we make sure to look beyond the pure specs or raw benchmarks, and get a feel for how it is to work and live with the machine over a prolonged period of time. We've done it for all our laptop guides – from the best laptops for graphic design to the best laptops for students.
This Chromebook is a great choice for writing and happens to be one of the cheapest options here, at roughly $200. Slimming everything down, Chrome OS is perfect for those that want to avoid any extra fuss in their laptop. It's got amazing battery life and supports the major word-processing apps. Read more below
Want more? This ticks all the boxes if you're looking for a laptop for both writing and more processor-intensive tasks. It has a fine keyboard, a great design, an excellent screen and includes a super-fast M2 chip (cheaper than the M3), great webcam and excellent battery life. Costs around $999. Read more below
If you're looking to for a premium Windows machine that's nicely future-proof, here's our top pick. This 2-in-1 device can be used as a tablet or laptop for greater flexibility. It also has one of the best keyboard-screen-stylus-support combos around right now. Read more below
If you're in between budget and premium and want to maximise value, the Acer Aspire 5 is a great pick. It's solid and dependable, won't cost you a fortune and performs well in terms of performance and for every day writing. Read more below
A 3:2 aspect ratio can be great in a laptop for writing since it offers more vertical space, so more space for writing. The Huawei Matebook X Pro complements that with a great keyboard, nice touchscreen and capabilities for creative work. Read more below
Offering excellent bang-for-buck value, the Lenovo Pad P12 is a good pick at the budget end of the hybrid machine spectrum. It has superb battery life and an optional detachable keyboard. portability and durability are strong points here. Read more below
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If you're looking for a cheap laptop for writing, a Chromebook is the way to go. At around $200, it costs less than Windows laptops, and much less than the MacBook Air below, but offer great battery life since they require little power. Just bear in mind that Chromebooks take their name from the fact that they run Chrome OS, not Windows, so you can't use every Windows app you might be used to.
That isn't a problem for writing since there are word processors available for Chrome OS, including both Microsoft Word and Google Docs. This Chromebook also has very little internal storage, so you'll be saving work to the cloud. Unlike in the past, you no longer need to be connected to the internet to use a Chromebook though, so you can work pretty much wherever you want.
Some Chromebooks feel a little too small to be comfortable as laptops for writers but when we reviewed it, we found the 14-inch Chromebook 314 to be a nice size, and the keyboard is well laid out and comfortable to use. We found the screen to be good for writing too, with an anti-glare, matte finish. All in all, this is a solid top choice as the best laptop for writers on a budget, just be sure to option the 1080p screen; the standard lower resolution display isn't great. See our hands-on Acer Chromebook 314 review for more details.
If all you want to do is write on your laptop, it doesn't need to be a particularly powerful one. However, you may want to do other things that are more processor-intensive, whether that's watching films, editing photos, or playing games. That's why I've chosen the MacBook Air (not Pro) with M2 chip as the overall top laptops for writers. Yes, the M3 version of the Air is out, but that's waaaay too much if what you want is mainly to write. It's offers too much features, at too big a price. I think the M2 hits the sweet spot.
With the ultra-fast M2 chip and a bigger, beautiful display, it could be the perfect option for running creative software. When we reviewed it, it coped brilliantly on everything from day-to-day tasks like browsing the web and writing up documents to editing 4K video and using Photoshop’s AI tools. Battery life was great too, lasting an entire day, even when performing creative tasks. Apple claims up to up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback, which is just one hour more than our testers squeezed out of the device in our looping movie test.
The 1080p FaceTime HD webcam is also great for writers who need to make a lot of video calls (these days that’s most of us), and you also get a fantastic Retina display which, in combination with MacOS, makes for just about the crispest, cleanest font rendering that we have witnessed on a laptop. If you're writing for long periods of time, that's going to make it more comfortable on the eyes than a lesser display.
Overall, then, this is overkill if all you're going to do is writing. But if your writing workflow also requires a lot of web research and watching videos, or if you also want a laptop for other things like creative work or gaming, then you'll certainly see the difference for the extra spend. See our full MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review for more details.
Screen: 14.4in 2400 x 1600p 3:2 touchscreen HDR 400
Storage: Up to 1TB
Reasons to buy
+
Comfortable keyboard
+
Beautiful screen
+
Flexible format
Reasons to avoid
-
Expensive
-
More ports would be nice
If you want to treat yourself to a truly premium Windows laptop for writing, then the Surface Laptop Studio 2 fits the bill. Newly updated from the the original Surface Laptop Studio with 13th Gen Intel CPUs, it offers a lot more power than you need for word processing – and costs a lot more than you really need to pay for a laptop for writing – but our reviewer found the keyboard to be a real pleasure to write on. On top of that, the touch screen is gorgeous, and has stylus support, which could come in handy for note-taking if you're inclined.
This is a 2-in-1 device, which means it also converts into a tablet format, which we found could be useful for reading over and correcting writing when on the move, even on the train. It's not the most portable 2-in-1, but you get great battery life and we found that it runs Windows 11 very well. For more details, read our Surface Laptop Studio 2 review.
If you're waiting for that first novel advance before splashing too much cash, there are plenty of mid-range Windows laptops for writers. Our reviewer found this to be a solid and dependable device for those who don't want to spend a fortune. With a plastic body, it doesn't exactly have a premium feel but it's solid enough to carry around.
It also performs well considering the price, especially if you're going to be sticking to word processing tools. We found that the keys don't have the most travel, but the keyboard is well laid out for writing on. Overall, the Aspire 5 is a great affordable laptop for writers on a budget but feel that a Chromebook like number 2 on our list would be too restrictive. See our full Acer Aspire 5 review for more details.
Most laptops have a traditional widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9. That's great for watching movies, but not necessarily the most convenient format for writing, which often requires scrolling up and down on vertically oriented documents. An aspect ratio of 3:2 gives you more vertical space, allowing you to see more text on the screen at once. And it also works better for graphic-design work, so is the perfect ratio if you're a writer who also likes to or needs to work on more demanding visual software.
Huawei delivers all of that with the MateBook X Pro, and a very nice touchscreen it has too. It's more than powerful enough for writers who also need to use design software regularly – and the keyboard is comfortable to work on. It's nice and fast too, and our reviewer found opening apps and documents to be a nippy process.
The downside is that if you're in a country like the US, which has blocked access to many Huawei devices and services, you don't get the benefits of the wider Huawei ecosystem. However, if you don't care for ecosystems and just want a premium laptop for writing and doing visual work on, we found the Huawei MateBook X Pro to be a decent option. See our in-depth Huawei MateBook X Pro review for all the details.
The Lenovo Tab P12 is another great choice for those looking for the best laptop for writing on a budget. An optional detachable keyboard turns this tablet into a compact little laptop that we found very convenient to carry around. And as it's an Android rather than Microsoft Windows device, it's much cheaper than most laptops.
It also boasts a huge 10,200mAh battery that easily lasted all day with heavy use and multiple days with lighter use when we tried it. So you could comfortably take this away with you and write somewhere remote for a couple of days, and still have battery life left.
There are some downsides though. The keyboard is small and not as comfortable as other laptops in this list. We'd suggest using the Lenovo Tab P12 as option for quickly jotting down notes, rather than typing up pages and pages of text in one go. But, with the portability and long battery life, the Lenovo Tab P12 lets you note down your thoughts whenever inspiration strikes.
We've whittled the options above down to the six best laptops for writing available right now, but the right one for you will depend on your budget and needs. Setting a budget is important in light of the increased cost of living, so we’ve included laptops at a variety of price points to cover all bases to help you choose the right model for you.
Sure the Apple MacBook Air (M2) is a wonderful laptop that is more than capable than offering the best writing experience around. But the far more reasonably-priced Acer Aspire 5 or Chromebook 315 might give you everything you need. Thinking about which value-adding features you’ll actually use is key, too. For example, a touch screen is nice to have, but if you’re unlikely to make use of it, it’s not worth the extra investment.
FAQs
What makes a good laptop for writing?
As we mentioned in our introduction, some of the key factors in choosing the best laptop for writers include comfortable screens and keyboards, battery life and portability. If you can find a laptop that delivers in these areas, you’re on to a winner. There are some other nice to have features to look out for, too. For example, anti-glare screens if you work outside often. You might also value having a touch screen or writing pad if you’re an avid note-taker.
Historically, storage has also been a consideration, but with the rise of cloud storage, many writers only worry about this if they don’t have regular WiFi access. Plus, USB storage is a perfectly viable option.
Should I get a MacBook or a Windows laptop?
Ultimately, this is a question of preference, but there are a few differences between MacBooks and Windows laptops for writers. While many writers have more experience with Microsoft Word, the software will set you back financially whereas the slightly less sophisticated Pages on Mac comes free. Of course, you could also just use Google Docs if you're regularly connected to WiFi and confident in its Offline Mode.
MacBooks are generally more pricey, as are Mac-compatible peripherals, but can last longer than more budget-friendly Windows laptops. We can’t definitively say Mac or Windows is better for your personal writing preferences, but we will say that the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is at the top of our list for a reason.
How we tested the best laptops for writers
We tested our picks of the best laptops for writing during our full reviews of each product. When we reviewed each laptop, we performed a series of benchmark tests in order to evaluate their performance, display brightness, speed and colour accuracy and battery life. However, writing doesn't make particularly heavy demands on a laptop so performance benchmarking isn't hugely revealing in this context, but we still consider those test results to ensure that every laptop delivers the performance you would expect given its specifications.
The one benchmarking area that we paid specific attention to when compiling this guide is battery life, since this does make a diffeence if you're writing in different locations. We test battery life under both light loads, which is what writing text amounts to, as well as watching video and more intensive tasks to build a picture of how long a laptop lasts in various usage scenarios.
Screen quality is another area worthy of attention in a laptop for writing, including brightness, contrast, resolution and refresh rate. Ergonomics, and in particular keyboard quality, are also important considerations. We also consider build quality and connectivity in coming to an overall evaluation of each laptop.
Most importantly, our reviewers use each laptop over a period of at least two weeks to get a real feel for what it's like to live and work with the machine. We also take into consideration customer reviews and feedback from our contributing writers, many of whom write on the machines that we recommend above every day as part of their work.
Beren has worked on creative titles at Future Publishing for over 13 years. Cutting his teeth as Staff Writer on the digital art magazine ImagineFX, he moved on to edit several creative titles, and is currently the Ecommerce Editor on the most effective creative website in the world. When he's not testing and reviewing the best ergonomic office chairs, phones, laptops, TVs, monitors and various types of storage, he can be found finding and comparing the best deals on the tech that creatives value the most.
