The best 15-inch laptops are versatile devices that combine both portability and power. In the world of portables, these 15-inch notebooks are still the sweet spot, and they should be at the top of your list of options if you need something that's easy to travel with yet more than capable of tackling heavier workloads.
Despite 16-inch and 14-inch laptops slowly taking over their space, top 15-inch laptops are still the best laptops for students, creatives, and office use. The best 17-inch laptops are just too big and heavy to carry around, and 13-inch laptops are a bit too small to work on comfortably and fit more capable components.
15-inch laptops, on the other hand, have the right amount of chassis space to fit in powerful internals, a bigger display, and a bigger battery as well as enough room for good airflow so those components aren't throttling when performing demanding tasks. That's while keeping things fairly light, compact, and therefore, commute-friendly.
Over the years, we've tested a huge amount of 15-inch laptops, and we can help you find the ideal model for you, whether you need something for work or for play. And with CES 2023 in full swing, launching promising new laptops like the LG Gram Ultraslim that comes with an incredible 15.6-inch OLED display, we'll have more options for you in the coming weeks.
With one of our picks of the best 15-inch laptops, you’ll find a notebook that will satisfy all your computing needs. Be sure to take advantage of the best laptop deals we've included on this list as well so you can get the best price available.
The best 15-inch laptops 2023
The Dell XPS 15 might just be incredible enough to tempt hardcore Mac users. It’s easily the best 15-inch laptop and the 2022 model is even better than before.
Combining staggering power in a stylish thin and light chassis, this laptop doesn’t hold back when it comes to internals and features that improve your computing experience overall. Among those amazing features are a gorgeous bright display (now up to 4K), an extremely comfortable keyboard, impressive speakers, and a terrific trackpad. We’re not saying that this laptop is perfect, but our coveted 5 out of 5 rating should speak for itself.
Read the full review: Dell XPS 15
The Asus TUF line is no stranger to affordable laptops that are also great performers. Last year’s Asus TUF A15, for instance, was simply brilliant while keeping things accessible to budget-conscious gamers. The Asus TUF Dash F15 is back to preserve that affordability while also delivering brute strength.
It brings in Intel Tiger Lake processors, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 mobile GPUs, and up to a 240Hz 1080p display without costing a fortune while also keeping things light, thin, and military-grade durable. If you’re looking for an affordable and portable gaming laptop, this is the best 15-inch laptop for you.
Read the full review: Asus TUF Dash F15
While Asus VivoBook S15 has been designed to become among the best ultra-portables on the market in 2022, it also aims to provide a large enough display for those who need it.
That’s a hard undertaking, but one that this top-performing laptop has achieved with high marks. It boasts a 15-6-inch display and a solid performance without compromising its slimline design. You might not be able to do some heavy gaming on this, but you should get some photo editing done.
Read the full review: Asus VivoBook S15 (S532F)
In many ways, the Surface Book 3 is an example of just how far the best laptops have come in just a few short years. With an extremely premium piece of kit – with one of the best displays we’ve used in a laptop and a keyboard that will put the MacBook Pro’s new Magic Keyboards to shame – this follow-up to the outstanding Surface Book 2 is truly one of the best 15-inch laptops 2022 has to offer.
Unfortunately, it’s held back by a weaker processor (next to its rivals), lackluster speakers and a high price tag. Still, it’s an excellent portable, if you’ve got the money for it.
Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Book 3
The HP Victus 15 is another great example of how if you want a superb budget gaming laptop, 15-inches is the way to go. For a relatively low price, the HP Victus 15 offers good gaming performance, and the RTX 3050 Ti will handle modern games at medium settings and 1080p resolution.
While it's not the most powerful gaming laptop out there, in our review, we found it did a good job with online competitive games thanks to its speedy 144Hz display – though more graphically-demanding games may chug. At this price, it's an ideal first gaming laptop, and the solid build quality means kids and teenagers can hammer away at the keys without fear. If you want something with a bit more power, check out the Razer Blade 15 below.
Read the full review: HP Victus 15 review
Expensive though it may be – as is usual with the Razer Blade line – 2022’s installment of the Razer Blade 15 is staggeringly powerful, more than capable of annihilating any PC game you throw at it.
This latest model comes with up to an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti in the GPU department, currently the most powerful mobile GPU out there, and this makes it an excellent candidate for creative professionals as well, especially with a design that keeps things classy and a trackpad that’s among the best we’ve tested on a gaming laptop. Cutting edge 12th generation Intel CPUs and DDR5 RAM means this new model is at the very cutting edge of laptop hardware. If you’ve got deep pockets and you like to keep things stylish, this is the best 15-inch laptop for the gamer in you.
Read the full review: Razer Blade 15 (2022)
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 is about as big a name in gaming laptops as you can get, so we knew that the latest model was going to be good – we just didn't realize it'd be this good. As one of the best gaming laptops we've ever tested, it's a no-brainer that this is one of the best 15-inch laptops you're going to find anywhere.
Powered by the latest AMD Ryzen 9 processor and Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU, this laptop can handle just about anything you can throw at it and display it in crisp 1440p at 240Hz refresh rate. It's not a budget laptop, though; this is premium gaming kit, but it's at least more affordable than a lot of other, less powerful gaming laptops we've seen out there.
See the full review here: Asus ROG Zephyrus G15
According to Lenovo, the Legion S7 is ‘the world’s lightest RTX laptop’ – and while we're not entirely convinced that's correct (the ROG Flow Z13 from Asus is lighter, for example, though it is a tablet/laptop hybrid), at just 1.9kg, the Legion S7 certainly feels impressively light, especially when compared to other gaming laptops.
Not only does it have some great specs, including up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, which will play games at medium to high settings, but the build quality is excellent as well. For a 15-inch laptop, this offers a brilliant mix of value and performance, and the stylish design means you can use this in a professional environment as well, making it equally good for work as well as play.
Read the full review: Lenovo Legion S7
Those in the market for a mid-range gaming device might adore the Asus ROG Zephyrus M15 GU502. It’s a great-looking piece of kit, serving as another entry to Asus’ much-vaunted ROG Zephyrus lineup of stylish thin and light gaming laptops. And, that fast screen makes it a joy for gamers with a predilection for fast-paced games.
But, does it measure up to the most powerful laptops out there? While not cutting-edge, the Asus ROG Zephyrus M15 GU502’s specs are decent for graphically intensive games and its battery can last a while, which makes it a great 15-inch laptop if you’re not looking for a maxed-out machine.
Read the full review: Asus ROG Zephyrus M15 GU502
How to choose the best 15-inch laptop for you
Is 15 inches a good size for a laptop?
Absolutely, since it has a good mix of functional display real estate as well as a decent amount of portability.
Now, even the best 15-inch laptop isn't going to match the portability of the best 13-inch laptops, but it will come close, and most bags use 15 inches as their guide when designing the laptop sleeves in a lot of backpacks.
Also, 15-inch laptops have a decent amount of usable screen space and at 15 inches, multitasking with different windows definitely becomes an option. 4K screens are also somewhat more relevant on a 15-inch laptop since the display is big enough that the pixel density is actually much more noticeable.
Are 15-inch laptops good for gaming?
Some of the best gaming laptops are 15-inch models, like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15, so we would definitely say yes. While bigger laptops are going to give you bigger keyboards and displays, a 15-inch laptop is still going to be big enough that the action on the screen will be clear and enjoyable.
Also, because the displays are smaller, features like extremely fast refresh rates and response times that would normally cost a lot more on a gaming monitor are available for pretty cheap on a gaming laptop.
How we test the laptops in this guide
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There are two primary target audiences for the best RTX 3070 laptops: gamers and creatives, and we take two similar approaches to testing them out for their respective audiences.
For the core internal hardware, we run standard tests that stress the CPU and GPU with any hardware controls set to balanced for a consistent baseline across the various laptop manufacturers, including GeekBench 5, CineBench, PCMark 10, 3DMark, and Blender.
We also measure the frame rate of some PC gaming benchmarks, like Total War: Three Kingdoms and Metro: Exodus, to see how well the CPU and GPU work together to quickly render complex 3D scenes, which is just as important for a creative workstation as it is for gaming.
For gaming laptops specifically, we also spend a lot of time gaming on them (strictly for work purposes, we swear), and getting a feel for the actual experience a potential buyer can expect from the laptop. In the case of the best Nvidia laptops, this also means testing game performance with and without Nvidia DLSS enabled.
For creative workstations, there are several other benchmarking tools that we use, including encoding a 4K video in Handbrake and applying different filters and effects in different Adobe apps like Photoshop and After Effects to simulate its intended real-world use.
We also measure a laptop's battery life, since laptops are meant to be mobile devices to some degree, and if a laptop's battery dies out after three or four hours away from an outlet, that's an important thing to know, especially when even laptops running powerful hardware like a discrete Nvidia GPU are able to get seven or eight hours of battery life nowadays.
Finally, we compare all this with a laptop's MSRP and judge whether the price matches its performance. There are some very powerful laptops out there with great performance, but if they cost twice what their only slightly less powerful competitor does, then we make sure to let you know that.
