The best laptops for programming offer a lightweight and slim design for easy mobility, yet pack enough power to handle demanding development tasks on the go. That makes it easy for you to throw them into a bag and take them everywhere you go, without compromising on performance.
There are so many options these days, though, that's it's easy to get lost in the weeds. So our experts have meticulously evaluated and narrowed down the current crop of laptops to a curated selection. These are, in other words, the absolute best laptops for programming programmers' needs. We've tested these laptops for factors including speed, performance, power, display quality and battery life to ensure they'll deliver the performance you need throughout long coding sessions.
Note, if you're a more stationary, at-home programmer, it's worth looking into our roundup of the best monitors for programming.
Quick list
We've lined up our top 3 picks ready for your perusal, with a quick insight into why they made the cut. Simply click on 'read more below' to get even more information, including links to our reviews.
This incredibly powerful M3 16-inch MacBook Pro has a brilliantly large and bright screen but also comes in two smaller sizes if you don't need so much space. It's got great battery life, and plenty of ports too. Read more below
Despite its low price, this beautifully thin and light Chromebook sports its gorgeous touchscreen QHD+ display and some excellent specs and features. The payoff is that you're basically doing everything in a web browser. Read more below
As a big name in PC Gaming, Razer naturally makes a great laptop for game development. The powerful Razer Blade 18 comes with Nvidia's latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 laptop GPU, and can also handle heavy-duty programming projects. Read more below
The Dell Precision 5480 is small but mighty, offering comparable performance to a 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro. It's got great battery life, a comfortable keyboard, and a superbly well-made and well-built chassis Read more below
This revolutionary laptop comes with two screens, so you can run your code editor on one screen and have documents or your program running on the other. Our benchmarks showed impressive performance, too. Read more below
If you're a programmer working on Windows 10 apps in particular, then the Surface Laptop 5 could be a good choice for you. As it's made by Microsoft, this is a brilliant showcase for Windows 11. Read more below
The M3 MacBook Pro 16-inch is a blessing for programmers as it combines the incredible power of the new Apple chip with a large and bright screen (1,600 nits). This means no squinting at a small screen with zero compromise on power and speed. Its display's super-tight pixel density combined with MacOS also makes for the best font rendering of any laptop.
You'll have more than enough battery to get you through the most intense coding session – this delivers an impressive 22 hours. In our review, we appreciated that there are a bunch of ports including HDMI and a memory card slot, so you can plug a second screen in directly and up your memory, too. There's also ProMotion and HDR (High Dynamic range).
And, of course, all MacBooks have the advantage of being able to compile iOS apps and have a Unix-style terminal, though it's also true that for some coding workflows, Windows is essential. Read our full MacBook Pro 16-inch (M2, 2023) review to find out more about why we rate this laptop.
With its gorgeous touchscreen QHD+ display made of Corning Gorilla Glass 5, this beautifully thin and light laptop boasts some excellent specs and features. It hosts 12th-gen Intel processors parried with 32GB RAM, allowing it to reach blistering speeds, plus there's 128GB storage for all of your projects.
It also comes with some excellent additional security measures, so if you're of the paranoid ilk or are working for a particularly nervy client, you can rest assured that your files will be safer on this Chromebook than some other devices. It even has optional 5G/LTE connectivity, making it even better for programmers on-the-go.
However, at its cheapest configuration it's still a whopping $1,000 / £1,000, which climbs to the astonishingly high $3,000 / £3,000 at its highest specs. The tradeoff here is that you're not getting either a Windows or macOS operating system, so you're basically doing everything in a web browser. But as that's pretty much what most programmers do these days anyway, that probably won't seem much of a sacrifice.
The Razer Blade 18 is the latest version of Razer's top-spec laptop, and it's better than ever with a larger screen, smaller bezels, and the latest Intel and Nvidia chips. It's a fantastic laptop for coding, but especially if you're working on games.
That's in no small part down to the hot new Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, the fastest laptop GPU on the planet. This allows you to work with complex 3D games that use cutting-edge tech, like ray tracing, and you'll be able to play your game afterward to test how it runs.
It's not just a gaming laptop, however, as it's built for creative professionals, and this means if you're a programmer working on heavy-duty projects, this is a laptop well worth considering. It's very expensive, but for your money, you're getting some of the best mobile tech available right now. Combined with a great build quality, that stunning 18-inch screen, and the latest Intel 13th Gen CPUs, this is a brilliant creative workstation for people who need a lot of power.
The Dell Precision 5470 laptop may be smaller than some others on the list, but it comes loaded with a huge amount of power for its compact frame. In fact, our testing put its performance close to that of a 14-inch MacBook Pro with Apple’s M2 Pro chip, and if you want the even newer 5480 model, it's physically the same but runs an even faster 13th Gen Intel chip.
It's brilliant for programming because of the excellent battery life (we got 12 hours in tests), and the well proportioned display. Sure, it isn't the biggest at 14-inches but it's the price you pay for portability. Plus, our reviewer compared it to her MacBook Air and felt that the extra half inch really made a big difference. All of this is perfect for programmers as it ensures your eyes don't strain on a small screen. The colours are also highly accurate.
Ports: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm combo jack
Reasons to buy
+
Fabulous dual screen tech
+
Excellent connectivity
+
Powerful
Reasons to avoid
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Unusual ergonomics
This revolutionary laptop comes with two 14-inch displays. That's a serious benefit for programmers, especially those who usually use an external second display. Our testing found that it enables you to run your code editor on one screen and have documents or your program running on the other. Even better, you can draw on the second screen with a stylus, so you can sketch ideas or create visual content.
Our benchmarks showed impressive performance, too, putting it somewhere between the M1 and M1 Max, which is more than enough power for most programming tasks. Sure, it's expensive. But our review asserts that it is more than justified in its price due to the innovation and productivity benefits the unique tech offers. Read more in our Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED 2024 review.
Screen: 13.5-inch PixelSense (2,256 x 1,504) touch
Storage: 256GB – 1TB SSD
Reasons to buy
+
Comfortable keyboard
+
Beautiful screen
Reasons to avoid
-
Not enough ports
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Slightly dated by large bezels
If you're a programmer working on Windows 10 apps in particular, then the Surface Laptop 5 could be a good choice for you. As it's made by Microsoft, this is a brilliant showcase for Windows 11, so you can be sure your Windows apps run perfectly on the operating system.
This latest Surface Laptop comes with 12th generation Intel Core processors. They're not the absolute latest technology, but the newer 13th Gen chips are only slightly faster. The 13.5-inch model is limited to 16GB, but if you need 32GB, the 15-inch version gives you that option.
You also get a speedy SSD, which makes this an excellent laptop for even the most intense of programming tasks. The PixelSense touchscreens also offer excellent pixel density of 201DPI, matching Apple's Retina displays and ensuring gorgeous text rendering for long coding sessions, but adding touch input into the mix. Best of all, our testing of the previous gen model found that it has one of the longest battery lives we've seen in a laptop, which allows you to work out and about without worrying about being plugged into a wall socket.
Screen: 13.6-inch (diagonal) 2,560 x 1,664 LED-backlit display with IPS technology
Storage: 256GB – 2TB SSD
Dimensions: 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches (30.41 x 21.5 x 1.13cm; W x D x H)
Reasons to buy
+
Great new design
+
Excellent battery life
Reasons to avoid
-
More expensive than previous model
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Gets hot when under pressure
The Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) is a fantastic ultra-portable laptop for programming on. In fact, the MacBook Air M2 now comes in a 15-inch size, giving you even more space for programming. It's powerful enough to compile code in seconds, and you can run simultaneous emulations and tests at the same time. Sure, it isn't as powerful as the M3, but it's more than enough whack for most.
Best of all, the MacBook Air (M2, 2022)'s battery life is amazing, lasting over 16 hours in our tests. So, you can work on this throughout the day without worrying about being plugged into a power source. Even better, it's being subject to some excellent discounts since the M3 version was released, so it's quite the bargain. Find out more in our full MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review.
This unique laptop brings incredible power to a supremely thin and light form factor. In fact, it might be the most powerful tablet PC we've ever tried. It features a powerful 12th-generation 14-core Intel processor, which will handle all your coding needs with ease. It also comes with an RTX 3050 Ti graphics card, which is handy for anyone who wants to code - and test - games. The 16GB of DDR5 memory also means this is supremely fast, and is ideal for people who want an easily portable laptop to code on.
It has a thin keyboard, but some people may not find it that comfortable to code on for long periods of time, so a larger keyboard may be necessary - which is easy enough to plug in. This is pricey, but it's a completely unique laptop that could transform how you code. For more insight, make sure to read our full Asus ROG Flow Z13 review.
If you're looking for a laptop for coding on, then you'll want to make sure it comes with plenty of RAM. The more RAM a laptop has, the better it is at multitasking, so you can have multiple apps running at once.
It'll also help you compile your code quickly, while also letting you test and run your apps and games. The faster you can do this, the more productive you'll be.
So, we recommend at least 8GB of RAM for coding on a laptop, but ideally you should go for 16GB, or if your budget can stretch to it, 32GB. That's only necessary for seriously heavy workloads, however.
Does the keyboard matter?
Yes! You should be looking for a backlit keyboard with good key travel for comfortable typing during long coding sessions. That said, if you find an affordable laptop that does everything you need other than having a good keyboard, it may well be more economical to buy an external keyboard.
Either way, there are several key factors to consider in terms of keyboard.
Firstly, consider the feel of the keys, and which one suits you best. Within mechanical keyboards, there are three main switch feels: tactile (a bump on keypress for a good balance of feedback and noise), clicky (audible click for strong feedback but can be noisy), and linear (smooth keypress with minimal feedback for fast typing).
Secondly, think about keyboard layout. Full-size keyboards include a dedicated number pad and function keys, which means more functionality but that also makes them less portable. Tenkeyless (TKL) keyboards remove the number pad for a more compact design, which is useful if you're short of desk space.
Other features like backlighting (great for low-light coding) and a wrist rest (improves comfort during long sessions) can further enhance your experience. Programmable keys are not essential but can be a plus for creating macros or shortcuts to boost coding efficiency.
What's better: HDD or SSD?
When looking at storage, SSDs outperform HDDs in nearly every aspect. They access data much faster, so your programs will launch more quickly, your files will open faster, and your system will be speedier and more responsive overall.
Programming can be done on many different types of machines but many programmers want something more than just a basic laptop. While you don't necessarily need a powerhouse of a laptop to code on, if you need to compile your code, and test out the games you're working on, for example, then you'll want a laptop with plenty of RAM and a modern multi-core processor. They are able to compile code much more quickly. And, the less time you have to spend waiting for your laptop to complete complex tasks, the more time you have to do other things – such as take on more projects.
Screen size is really important when selecting one of the best laptops for programming. You'll get more on a 15-inch screen than a smaller one, for example, so it's easier to read through code and make GUI adjustments. Of course, with a bigger display you sacrifice portability.
Also consider getting an Intel Core i5 processor as a minimum. That will guarantee you enough performance, especially if you're doing things like working with complex website layouts that have a lot of background code. Large, complex programs compile faster with a faster processor.
Graphics can also be key depending on the development work you're doing. If you're working with game development in an environment such as Unreal Engine or Unity then you need to consider the graphical requirements of those apps. Don't miss our round up of the best graphics cards if this is something you might need. And remember it's a good idea to use an operating system that's aligned with your goals. Want to develop in Xcode for the iPhone, iPad and Mac? Then you're going to need a Mac.
Coding presents a quite specific remit for any laptop. High on the list of priorities is a decent screen that redenders nice, crisp text. It's so important for long coding sessions. In particular we consider pixel density and contrast, though support for touch is less of a priority.
Performance wise, you'll want a modern Intel or AMD CPU with at least 16GB of RAM, which will provide sufficient performance for serious coding. On the graphics side of the equation, it will depend on the type of applications you're coding. Some are more graphically demanding than others. But in all cases we assess GPU performance to provide that important context.
Plenty of fast storage is also important, so we test both sequential throughput and random access. Keyboard quality is another super vital element for any serious coding session. So, we're looking for feel, comfort and responsiveness.
We also assess ergonomics, build and usability, chassis rigidity, trackpad response and more to build up a practical picture of how well a laptop performs in the real world rather than merely benchmarks.
Finally, battery life is surely critical, especially if you're coding on the move. Battery life is also an area where laptops can diverge dramatically. So, we careful evaluate just how long each model can survive away from mains power.
A veteran from the days of the 8-bit ZX Spectrum, Orestis is always interested in the fastest, slickest way to make computers do new and exciting things.
