Top 5 Laptops Worth Buying

1. HP Spectre 13 2018

When it comes to small form portability and drop-dead gorgeous looks the HP Spectre beats everyone on this list. Oozing spades of class, this is the kind of laptop that could even make your Mac loving friends jealous. The 2018 version predictably comes with Intel's latest Coffee Lake processors as well as an optional 4K display. 

While this list is not in any particular order, the Spectre ( in my opinion ) takes the cake for the best outright. While all the laptops mentioned have superb performance there is no laptop maker that can claim to beat this design. Take the white and silver/rose gold version ( which costs extra)  if you really want to make your mates glare daggers at you in grudging envy.  However it only comes with USB-C ports ( apparently HP does give dongles in the box but there are many conflicting reports over this) and since it's so thin battery life takes a hit. SSD performance is also nowhere close to a comparable Macbook Pro.

2. Dell XPS 13 2018

Most people will argue that the XPS 13 should be top of any laptop list and speaking in terms of raw performance-to-ka-ching ratio they are right. The Dell uses the same Coffee Lake processors as in the Spectre and it looks good as well especially in the new 'Rose-Gold but lets just call it White' paintjob. But one cannot deny the HP for its sheer head-turning factor. Still the XPS has a longer battery life and comes with USB- C ports only, but it score top marks with class leading performance. Plus you can find it to be cheaper than the Spectre as well ( this could be a contentious point). However like the HP its SSD read and write speeds are paltry compared to the Macbook Pro.

3. Huawei MateBook X Pro

Apple : Hey, after you done copying, make sure to edit a bit so that the teacher doesn't find out.
Huawei : Don't worry bro, I got you.

Huawei is very good at Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. Almost all of the latest Huawei phones have notches. Still you can't blame Huawei as almost every major manufacturer ( barring Samsung) seems hell bent on copying Apple's idea. And consumers who seemed to be affected by the notched screen of an iPhone X are now happily paying hundreds of dollars for a similar design running Android. But Huawei has taken another step as now their flagship laptop even copies the Macbook's name. Even the colour is a all too familiar space-grey. But if you leave all that behind the MateBook is a stunning laptop. It's got one of the brightest screens on this list and the top of the line MateBook even comes with discrete NVIDIA MX-150 graphic cards, which are not better than the GTX-10 something series or their new 20 something series but are much better than the graphics processors Intel adds with its processors. Plus it has amazing Harman Kardon speakers, and the standard Coffee Lake processors means performance isn't lacking. And this entire package is actually cheaper than a similarly specced Spectre or XPS. It makes sense that this The Verge's favourite laptop. While the webcam placement is curiously on the keyboard the HP and the Dell are not much better either. The only reason I wouldn't buy this over a HP is sheer vanity, as the traditional 'Huawei' logo just doesn't seem to look as effective on a laptop body. If the engineers or designers had made the 'Huawei' symbol look like the 'Porsche-Design' Logo ( at least for the laptops) and given it a different paintjob, I'll take this in a heartbeat. Still you could always put stickers. Or maybe you're not as picky as me.

4. Microsoft Surface Go 2018

I know this isn't a laptop ( even if Microsoft kinda markets the Surface line to be one). It has the most crappy processors in this entire top fiver, but honestly speaking most of us buy laptops for portability. Yes there are many people out there who only have a laptop, and a Surface Go would definitely not be for you as performance wise it sucks compared to the rest of the greatest and latest, but since many of us have desktops for workstation level performance, the Surface Go remains one of the ideal portable machines. It has a small form factor ( only has a 10 inch screen) is lightweight, but at the same time has an amazing battery life. The only disadvantage are the fat and dated bezels and the fact that while the Keyboard and the Pen are coloured the main device still has a pale grey body.

One of the main reasons Apple laptops are so fast is that Apple uses it's own software and integrates it so well with the hardware that transition is relatively seamless. Basically buying anything from Microsoft is essentially that. You would probably get faster updates for your device along with anything else (software related) Microsoft decides to sell to the public. But like Apple, Microsoft loves charging high prices. While any product in the Surface line is relatively cheaper than any similarly specced Apple product, it's also more expensive than other mainstream Windows running rivals. This is the price for buying directly. Still its not as exorbitant as Apple and at the end of the day you are getting a quality device. Yes it starting specs are relatively useless and to unlock the entire Surface experience you need to buy a Pen and the Keyboard. But at the end of the day if your daily tasks are just watching videos, listening to music, messaging on Slack or typing in Word or Gmail or you are a student and find it easy to take notes, then why spend extra on a Spectre or a XPS or even the MateBook. Plus the Go is the only Surface with USB-C!

5. Razer Blade 15 2018

'One giant leap for mankind'. No we are not on the moon, but this giant leap is the one signifying our jump in terms of performance : from a unassuming Surface Go to the slick and powerful Razer Blade. Razer has always been the premium gaming laptop moniker from its Blade Stealth ( which probably should have been on this list) to the Blade Pro. And Razer has thankfully given their mid-level 'Blade' a significant maker. Gone are the rounded edges and sleek curves, replaced instead by a sharp angular body. The sharpness almost looks as if the Blade did a McLaren : jumping from the 720 S to a Senna. It looks purposeful, almost as if the given 'Blade' name is a pun. 

The other changes include internal bumps in performance as well as a now 15 inch screen instead of the previous 14 inch. While I may have preferred the Blade with a 14 incher, the new design also reduces the gargantuan bezels of the old Blade while still not giving a completely bezel-less look in favour of putting the webcam where it should be : on the top. Keeping it simple. Apart from the latest processors the Blade, being a gaming machine, comes with NVIDIA's Max-Q graphics card under the 1060 or the 1070 guise. While this laptop is no doubt the priciest on this list the performance bumps, build quality and a larger screen are worth it. This the kind of machine you buy when you only want one laptop to do everything. But it has poor battery life and due to its slim design gets hot ( and loud!) very quickly under heavy loads.