Laptops with best battery life in 2024 — longest lasting laptop batteries

Laptops with the best battery life are what you need to function as a professional, a student, and a binge-watcher of TV shows. Your battery is always draining, even when idle — yeah, your laptops, too. So instead of arriving to something dead and in need of charging, let's find you a lively companion. Our list of laptops with best battery life have survived 13+ hours on a single charge. It'll outlast school, work, and me (before I have to take a nap).

To be 100% transparent, our tests won't accurately line up to how you use your laptop. We attempted to get close to real-world usage with our Laptop Mag Battery Test 2.0. It involves continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. That's not very bright — on average, it's roughly 50% brightness. If you find yourself wanting more battery, consider dimming the display.

Despite the variance per use case, our tests have been consistent throughout all recent laptops we've tested, which means that all of the following truly are the laptops with best battery life.

Curated by

Curated by

Rami Tabari

Rami has been swimming in laptops for most of his adult life, which is wild to think about, but excellent for you, those of which that need a new rig in their life. Rami knows that a long battery life can come from the cheapest and most expensive laptops. But it's not just about battery life, is it? The laptop has to be good as well. Rami knows which are the laptops with best battery life to choose.

The Quick List

The laptops with best battery life in 2024

From affordable budget laptops to elite business laptops, there are plenty of all-day-strong notebooks to choose from these days. Even gaming laptops like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, which achieved more battery life than the 16-inch MacBook Pro thanks to its AMD Ryzen CPU, have come a long way in terms of balancing raw power with general mobility. Read on for our top picks!

Best overall

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Since Apple swapped over to its proprietary CPUs, we have seen nothing but great things from the MacBooks flooding our way. What has been especially impressive, especially concerning this very page, is the absolute monster of battery life. With the Apple M2 Max chip, the MacBook Pro 16-inch saw nearly 19 hours of battery life. That's the longest-lasting laptop in recent memory. But battery life isn't the only thing that this killer machine offers.

We are enjoying the new wave of games coming to MacBooks, and we had plenty of fun testing out Resident Evil Village on this machine, which clocked in an average of 68 frames per second. The CPU wasn’t a pushover, either, completing our HandBrake video transcoding benchmark in 3 minutes and 59 seconds. And the SSD? Speeds of 5,717.2 megabytes per second (read) and 6,664.8MBps (write).

Let's not forget about that vivid 16.2-inch, 3024 x 1964 display. It registered 83.7% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and averaged 447 nits of brightness. While a glossy panel gets a lot of glare, that brightness is sufficient to survive well-lit spaces. 

The MacBooks have also gotten pretty notorious for their speakers. The powerful audio makes this the optimal creative workstation. Don’t worry about the keyboard, either. We are officially back in the age where Apple laptops are rocking comfortable keyboards. It felt bouncy and depressed with a slight click.

We do love this MacBook, but it is hella expensive ($2,699 starting, $5,299 as reviewed). So keep in mind your budget before you toss your wallet at this all-consuming Cupertino-based tech company. We’ve also never been a fan of the notch in the display. If that seems like something that’ll be distracting for you, steer clear.

See our full MacBook Pro 16-inch (M2 Max, 2023) review.

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Best performance

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Even with the latest 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro rocking the company's most powerful CPU, the M3 Max, the laptop blew us away with just over 18 hours of battery life. It just goes to show that high performance and a sharp display don't have to impact battery life the way that laptop makers like to use as an excuse. Battery life isn't the only awesome thing about this laptop. That high performance wasn't a joke — it beats out all other MacBooks and every competitor we threw at it.

The M3 Max destroyed the Geekbench 6 overall performance test with a score of 20,863. What does that number mean? Consider that the average premium laptop scores 8,241. That means the 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro offers over double the performance of any premium laptop on the market.

One of the things we love the most about the Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, M3 Max) is that 3456 x 2234 Liquid Retina XDR display. It's stunning, gorgeous, vivid, vibrant — throw all the adjectives at it and most will stick to the wall. On our tests, the display covered 81.8% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and averaged 560 nits of brightness. You’ll be able to see your screen even if you use this laptop outdoors.

We might’ve been worried about the new MacBook keyboard years ago, but those days are long behind us. Now we’ve got large bouncy keys with firm feedback. What about the audio? With six speakers, the MacBook reproduced incredible highs, mids, and lows.

But let's not get it twisted, this machine is hella expensive. We're talking about $3,499 starting, and $3,999 as reviewed. You have to ask yourself, how much do you need that shiny new 40-core GPU? If you're a creator, it's a question worth asking.

See our full MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max, 2023) review.

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Best value

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It's amazing what a new heart can do for a laptop. The latest MacBook Air ushers in a new era for Apple with its custom-made M3 chip. There's a reason that Apple has dominated the top of this page for so long. The company understands how to prioritize battery life in its chipsets, making the MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023) last for over 17 hours on a single charge. Listen, I'd love to have any other company at the top of this list, so laptop makers need to step it up.

Even on a 14-inch machine, the M3 pumps out a 4K video transcoded to 1080p in just 5 minutes and 38 seconds. This is the base model we’re talking about. That means even creatives and professionals don’t need to go all out for a more expensive model (unless you’ve got the money).

Then there’s the super bright 14.2-inch, 3024 x 1964 display. With 81.3% of DCI-P3 coverage and 558 nits of brightness, there’s nothing that won’t look gorgeous as hell on the MacBook’s display. 

I'll say it until I can't breathe, but having a comfortable keyboard in a MacBook again is wild. We loved the generously sized keys, which were clicky enough to satisfy. It's a sad thing to be impressed by, but MacBooks are getting better every year, and the Cupertino-based tech company made the best decision by leaving Intel behind.

While you don’t have to sell your soul to buy this particular MacBook, price wasn’t our only concern. There’s no Face ID, which seems like an oversight when the competition has been using Windows Hello for facial recognition for quite some time. And the notch in the display is distracting enough to drive someone over the edge (it’s me).

See our full MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023) review.

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Best budget

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The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Q425M) is a killer laptop with incredible battery life offering itself up for an affordable price. The Zenbook 14 banged out a stunning 15 hours and 52 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test. Asus has been killing it with its laptops lately, and this is a perfect example of that. Battery life isn't the only thing this machine has got going on.

Sporting Intel's latest Core Ultra 7 155H, the Asus Zenbook 14 has the power to get you through a modest number of tasks. We threw a couple dozen Chrome tabs, spreadsheets, and even a Photoshop editing session at it. The Zenbook 14 didn’t so much as flinch.

One of the biggest highlights of this affordable laptop is its 14-inch, 1080p, OLED display. Covering 79.8% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and clocking in 339 nits of brightness, the Zenbook 14 will be there for you at the end of the day when you want to stream your favorite shows on a gorgeous window.

Meanwhile, the Zenbook 14’s comfortable keyboard will ensure you don't get exhausted throughout your day. Typing across the keyboard felt great thanks to the 1.4mm key travel, which provided a pleasant click-to-pressure ratio.

Warning — its quality audio will get you headbanging subconsciously. Packed with Harman Kardon and Dolby Atmos-certified super-linear speakers, the Zenbook 14 captured quality mids and highs along with a wide bass.

The device is also incredibly portable. It’s not the lightest machine on this list, but it’s remarkably thin, coming in at 0.59 inches. You might be able to slot that into a medium-sized purse. Another neat feature is its webcam privacy shutter. We don’t see that on a lot of laptops at this price point, so it’s a nice bonus. 

See our full Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Q425M) review.

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Best business

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Lenovo's ThinkPads are the few brands that excel at being business laptops — but the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 is great for anyone. Yes, the price always gives us pause, as most business laptops get price gauged (because it wants companies to buy in bulk and not ask questions). However, finding the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 on sale is a killer opportunity to get an excellent laptop with nearly 15 hours of battery life. But that's not the only feature we love about the Z16

Backed by its AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650H processor, the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 6 minutes and 37 seconds, which beat the average laptop in its class by nearly 2 minutes. That’s pretty impressive for a laptop with a mid-tier CPU. And if you’re a gamer, you’ll be delighted to hear that the AMD Radeon RX 6500M GPU scored 63 frames per second on Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark

The ThinkPad Z16 is not only a thin and light business laptop, it features enough screen space to get your work done without issue. With a 16-inch, 1920 x 1200-pixel display, the ThinkPad covers 81% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and averaged 432 nits of brightness. You'll get enough color and brightness to bring life to your work on and offline. 

A business laptop is going to stand on business. The ThinkPad Z16 passed the 12 MIL-STD-810H certification tests, which means it can take a beating from the floor and survive in a desert or tundra (yes, seriously). You get all those neat security features as well, including a fingerprint reader, IR webcam with facial recognition, a webcam kill-switch, and a dTPM security chip. 

This is one spicy business laptop. But you just have to get over having to drag a dongle with you because there are no USB Type-A ports.

See our full Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 review.

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Best lightweight

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The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11) is a refinement of the best ultraportable laptop for business users. Swapping the engine for 13th Gen Intel chips adds considerably faster performance, but the battery life upgrade is even more enticing; the Gen 11 model lasts for nearly 14 hours on a charge. It’s also the most portable device on this page, coming in at a super lightweight 2.5 pounds and impressively thin 0.6 inches.

That Intel Core i7-1355U processor came packing — it delivered a multi-core score of 8,628 on the Geekbench overall performance test, clocking in nearly 1,000 points higher than the average premium laptop at the time of the review. However, we dinged the machine for middling performance due to its lackluster showing on our HandBrake benchmark (which measures how fast it can transcode a 4K video to 1080p). But it’s perfectly serviceable to the average user.

The X1 Carbon flaunts a 14-inch, 1920 x 1200, 16:10 touch display, offering 120 more vertical pixels than your typical 1920 x 1080 screen. That means you get more space for spreadsheets and webpages — it’ll also look neater when you snap windows in each corner.

To improve productivity, Lenovo includes a wider touchpad and a human presence detection sensor for convenient login and enhanced security. And for your laptop’s safety, you don’t need to worry about dropping it on the floor. No, it’s not going to fly away. But it did pass its MIL-STD-810H certification. That means tumbles on the floor, or into the Arctic, will be relatively safe. Just try not to tumble with it.

It also comes with a four-speaker setup tuned with Dolby Atmos, which will make your favorite tunes sound crisp and smooth.

These perks are packaged in a familiar matte-black design with an aerospace space-grade carbon fiber lid.

See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11) review.

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How We Test Laptops with Best Battery Life

We put each laptop through extensive benchmark testing — both synthetic and real-world — before they end up in the hands of our reviewers. We evaluate each aspect of the laptop, including its performance, battery life, display, speakers and heat management.

In our benchmark testing, we use a Klein K10 colorimeter to detect the brightness and sRGB color gamut of the laptop's display. For performance testing, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 4.3 and 5.0 and 3DMark professional graphics tests. 

To determine real-world performance, we task the laptop to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution and to duplicate a 4.97GB multimedia file. Our real-world graphics test is the Dirt 3 benchmark with medium settings at 1080p resolution.

We also run heat tests by playing a 15-minute full-screen video and measuring temperatures in different areas of the laptop. Last but not least, our battery test consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. For MacBooks and premium Windows 10 laptops, a runtime of over 9 hours is considered a good result whereas gaming laptops and workstations that can stay powered for longer than 5 hours deserve praise. 

These tests are complemented with extensive hands-on testing from our reviewers who critique everything from the laptop's materials to the feel of its touchpad.

Why Trust Laptop Mag

Laptop Mag reviews over one hundred different laptops every year, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming. 

We are 100% independent and have decades of experience to help you buy with confidence. In fact, Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing products for three decades, and we continue to deliver trustworthy reviews you can rely on. 

Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it. 

Our editorial trustworthiness is enforced by one of the world's largest technology publishers, Future Publishing. As a company, we have unrivaled experience across every tech sector — and we're the group's specialist for all things mobile tech.