Best HP laptops 2018: the top HP laptops we’ve seen and tested

HP is slowly but surely building back the name that made it a widely beloved PC maker back in the day. And, it’s done so with laptops, the same brand of mobile workhorses that were thought to be dead just a few years ago. But, thanks to the advent of Windows 10 and convertible laptops that no longer suck, even the best HP laptop is getting better every day. These days, we’ve seen HP become a company concentrating on design flair rather than cheapness.

In some ways, this means the reintroduction of its increasingly prominent ‘privacy filter,’ called SureView, to an ever-expanding range of devices. In others, it equates to the gorgeous gold trimmings we’re seeing on HP’s high-end offerings, like the HP Spectre line of Ultrabooks and 2-in-1s. To help you find the best HP laptop for your demands, we’ve gone hands on with a wide range of hardware, narrowing our picks down to the 5 best HP laptops on the market in 2018. 

HP has been steadily perfecting its flagship 13-inch convertible laptop and it’s among one of our favorite 2-in-1 laptops for a few years running. It has perfectly slim bezels and is lightweight enough to use as a tablet regularly. As a regular notebook, you won’t find many with a more tactile keyboard, brilliantly vibrant display or two Windows Hello biometric solutions.

This may very well be the most gorgeous laptop we’ve ever laid our eyes (and hands) on. The ceramic white finish is complemented by a two-prong, glossy hinge design that’s absolutely irresistible. That’s all fine and dandy, but in terms of power it’s a real winner too. As a matter of fact, it leverages the sheer might of the most recent 8th-generation Intel CPUs nigh-flawlessly.

What it lacks in performance prowess, the HP Pavilion 15 makes up for in finesse. It’s one of the few remaining AMD-based laptops that HP is still making, which should certainly entice those on a budget. It’s affordable, but don’t think cheap. The HP Pavilion 15 is a rare example of a laptop that knows how to strike a balance, making it an excellent value proposition, especially for students.

No one wants to blow their entire tax refund on a laptop, which is why laptops like the HP Chromebook 14 G4 exist to begin with. It’s economical without feeling cheap, a distinction that many Chromebooks have made since their inception six years ago. The HP Chromebook 14 G4 in particular boasts a subtle, yet refined appearance that will remain in style for years to come.

Gaming laptops have long been criticized for their lack of upgradeability, thereby making them more disposable than a gaming desktop by nature. HP, on the other hand, has subverted this crucial flaw by adding an essential features that most gamer’s notebooks lack. Specifically, the Omen X adds overclocking, meaning you determine performance rather than HP.

• These are the best laptops to date, bar none

April 24, 2018 at 11:05PM
Kevin Lee