Best laptops under $1000 for everyday work

Top pick: Apple MacBook Neo. For everyday work — email, docs, spreadsheets, video calls — it's the easiest machine to live with: a sharp Retina touchscreen, silent fanless-feeling performance, all-day battery and the most consistent software support of anything here. It's also the best-rated of the bunch by a wide margin, which matters more than any spec sheet for a laptop you'll keep for years.

Who the others suit:

• Acer Aspire 16 AI — you want a bigger screen and Windows, with a touch display and room to work in two windows.
• Asus Zenbook A14 — you want the lightest, most portable Windows option for commuting and travel.
• Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 — you want a proper business keyboard, a matte anti-glare screen and upgradeable memory.
• HP OmniBook 5 14 — you want a premium-feeling Windows 14-inch and don't mind paying near the top of the range.
• Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 — your work is almost entirely browser-based; it's light, convertible and simple to maintain.
• Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 16 — you want the most memory and storage for the money, and a tablet mode for notes.
• Acer Aspire 3 / HP Everyday 14 — a second machine or a tight budget; fine for browsing and documents, not for heavy multitasking.

Skip anything with 4–8 GB of RAM and a 1366×768 screen if this is your main work machine.