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

Slowly but surely, HP is rebuilding the reputation that made it such a beloved PC maker back in the day. And, it’s done so with the best HP laptops – the same brand of mobile workhorses that were thought to be extinct just a few years ago. But, thanks to the advent of Windows 10 and convertible laptops that aren’t terrible, even the best HP laptops are getting better and better as time moves forward. Just this year, we’ve seen HP transform into a company that concentrates 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.   

Over the last few years, HP has been perfecting its flagship 13-inch convertible laptop – and it’s been one of our favorite 2-in-1 laptops for a few years running. It features perfectly slim bezels and it’s lightweight enough to use as a tablet comfortably. As a regular notebook, you won’t find many with a better keyboard, brighter display or two Windows Hello biometric solutions. 

Read the full review: HP Spectre x360 

This might just be one of the most beautiful laptops we’ve ever seen. 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 winner, too. In fact, it leverages tehs heer might of 8th-generation Intel Kaby Lake R processors perfectly.

Read the full review: HP Spectre 13 

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 HP is still making, but the Ryzen chips on display here are nothing to shake a stick at – and will be enticing for anyone on a budget. It’s affordable, but don’t think it’s cheap. The HP Pavilion 15 is a rare example of a laptop that knows how to strike a balance, making it a fantastic value proposition, and one of the best laptops for students. 

No one wants to blow their entire tax refund on a laptop, which is why laptops like the HP Chromebook 14 G5 exist to begin with. It’s an economical Chromebook that never feels cheap, which is a distinction that Chromebooks wear like a badge of honor. This Chromebook in partiular boasts a sleek aesthetic, and passable performance, especially when you spec it out with the higher-end Celeron and 8GB of RAM. 

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.

• Bill Thomas has also contributed to this article

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