Best everyday laptops for general home use

Top pick: Apple MacBook Neo — the easiest everyday laptop to live with. It's a Mac, so it wakes instantly, runs quietly, holds a charge through a day of browsing and video calls, and needs almost no maintenance. The touchscreen and Retina display make it pleasant for streaming and photos, and it's the cheapest Mac here.

Who the others suit:

• MacBook Air 13" (M5) — if you want a lighter, faster machine that stays smooth for years; the best long-term buy for a household that keeps laptops a long time.
• Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 — if nearly everything you do is in a browser (email, YouTube, Google Docs); a flip touchscreen, and the least fuss to keep running.
• Acer Aspire Lite 15 — a big screen for a spare-room or kitchen machine where the basics are enough.
• HP 14" / 15.6" budget models — only for very light use; 4GB of memory gets tight with many browser tabs, so step up if you can.