Best Laptops, Ultrabooks and Hybrids of 2015

5:02 AM by Adam 6 Comments A⁺ a^-

Best Laptops, Ultrabooks and Hybrids of 2015

1.HP Stream 11

Best Cheap Laptop
Key Fearutes:

· 11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768 display

· Free Office 365 Personal subscription

· Excellent speakers and battery life

The HP Stream 11 is an astonishingly cheap Windows 8.1 laptop. It costs less than £200, and comes bundled with a one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal that’s worth £60. In short, it’s perfect for students and families on a tight budget.

It’s attractive too and small and lights enough to comfortably carry around in any standard messenger bag. The screen is an average 11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768 affair, but it gets the job done and is complemented by an excellent keyboard and loud, clear speakers. The HD webcam is also more than good enough for Skype calls.

A 2.16GHz Intel Celeron N2840 processor, combined with 2GB of RAM, keeps the Stream going, and it’s powerful enough to cope with light tasks, such as web browsing, word processing and HD video. The battery is great too, and can keep going for around six hours under heavy strain.

Price: £179.99/$199.99

2. Asus Zenbook UX305

Best Ultrabook

Key features:

13.3-inch 1080p IPS LCD screen

11-hour battery life

Generous selection of ports

One of the most electrifying laptops we’ve tested, the Asus Zenbook UX305 is an almost ideal ultra-portable that won’t break the bank. It’s clad in great-looking matte-effect metal, and is a super-slim 12.3mm at its thickest point. Despite its slight frame, Asus hasn’t scrimped on connections, packing three USB 3.0 ports, a full-size SD card reader and a microHDMI slot into the Zenbook.

The 13.3-inch, 1080p display isn’t quite a match for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s 2,560 x 1,440 panel, but it’s still pointed and offers good viewing angles. It’s backed up by a well-mannered pair of speakers that aren’t the loudest we’ve come across.

Intel’s Core M-5Y10c processor keeps things ticking over, but it doesn’t deliver the slickest performance. Its good sufficient for general office tasks, web browsing and watching movies, but gamers would be better off looking for something more powerful. Stamina, however, is exceptional – the Zenbook can keep running for around 11 hours between charges.

Price: £650 / $815

3. Alienware 15

Best Gaming Laptop

Key features:

15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, IPS screen

outstanding performance

Backlit keyboard and trackpad

Aluminium and carbon fibre build

The Alienware 15 is a powerful machine that’s built for serious gamers. Its bold, chunky design makes it instantly recognisable as an Alienware laptop, while a combination of aluminium and carbon fibre ensures it retains a sense of class. It’s not the most portable, however, coming in at 3kg and over an inch thick.

All models come with a 1,920 x 1,080 IPS display with an anti glare finish, but you can upgrade to a 3,860 x 2,146 touchscreen panel if you have the cash to splash. We tested the lower resolution screen, which is impressive, offering accurate colours, deep blacks and good viewing angles. The speakers are loud and clear, but bass is a little weak for such a chunky laptop.

The keyboard is great, while the trackpad comes with two easy-to-press buttons instead of a clicky surface. Both are backlit, and you can choose from a wide selection of colors.

Price: £1,099 / $1,199

4. Toshiba Chromebook 2

Best Chromebook

Key Features:

13.3-inch screen with 1080p resolution

1.3kg, 4GB RAM and 16GB flash storage

Two USB ports, HDMI and SD card

If you have £250 or so to spend on a laptop then it's hard to look past the outstanding Toshiba Chromebook 2. This 13-inch Chromebook comes with an eye-catching and high-quality 1080p IPS screen that's rich and colorful. It's the best screen we've seen on a Chromebook and that's not all that's good about the Chromebook 2.

Battery life of around nine hours means this laptop will keep going throughout a working day. A 30-minute charge adds 30% battery, too, so you it doesn't take long to top that back up.

The design is stylish for such a cheap laptop, too, and we found the keyboard and trackpad to be a step above. It's an all round winner that's well worth considering provided you can live without with traditional applications.

Price: £250

5. Surface Pro 3

Best Windows 8 laptop and tablet hybrid

Key Features:

Detachable keyboard base

12-inch, 2,160 x 1,440 pixel display

Intel Core i3/i5/i7 CPU

The third generation of Surface Pro 3 is by far the best Microsoft tablet yet, if you’re after something that can function as a real laptop. The hybrid style is still in place, but this latest model has a 12-inch screen, rather than a 10-inch one. As well as giving you a more expansive display to work on, this makes typing easier.

While the keyboard base isn’t included, we think just about all Surface Pro 3 buyers should get hold of one. The kickstand is better this time around too. You can hold the screen at just about any laptop-style angle. So why isn’t it just a laptop? It also offers a digitizer stylus, turning it into a digital notepad, and it’s pretty handy as a giant web browser tablet too.

We don't expect Microsoft to update the Surface Pro until much later in the year, so it's a safe time to buy.

Price: £644 (£109 for the keyboard)