Laptops are essential to our daily lives and while there is a lot of debate on what the best screen size for a laptop is, 14-inches is a sweet spot for most users. However, just like how the same clothes don’t fit everyone, every user’s laptop needs can be wildly different from one another, and that applies to 14-inch laptops as well.
The process of trying to make a choice and sorting through a sea of laptops to pick the right one can be confusing. If that leads to you picking the wrong laptop, your workflow can be a total mess. That’s why it’s very important that you understand what exactly it is you need.
For example, if you do heavy creative work, you need a good display and a powerful processor. These types of devices usually cost more money but are worth it in the long run for demanding workflows. For gaming, you need a fast display, a good CPU, and a powerful GPU. On the other hand, for studies or lighter work routines, you can save some money by going for a less powerful configuration.
So, to clear up the confusion and make the selection process easier for you, I’ve handcrafted a list of a total of six best 14-inch laptops, and hopefully, there is something for everyone.
Best 14-inch Laptops Quick List
When it comes to making a decision, there are usually a few key factors to consider. I’ve taken all those into account and finally came up with six laptops that serve their purpose extremely well.
- Best Overall: Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M2 Pro)
- Best for Creators: Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2
- Best 14-inch Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14
- Best Budget 14-inch Laptop: HP Pavilion Plus
- Best Cheap 14-inch Laptop: Acer Aspire 3
- Best 2-in-1 14-inch OLED Laptop: ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip
In the section below, I’ve shared a detailed perspective of what these devices are capable of and who should buy them for what type of workflows.
Our Picks: Best 14-inch Laptops
All the laptops mentioned above have a versatile set of features and can serve well in different kinds of tasks. Here’s a deeper look into their features, capabilities, and drawbacks.
1. Best Overall: Apple Macbook Pro 14 (M2 Pro)
When it comes to bringing power and efficiency together, Apple has done an amazing job with its Macbook Air and Macbook Pro devices. For someone who needs all the performance they can get out of a 14-inch laptop, the Macbook Pro 14 powered by Apple’s 2nd-gen Pro silicon, is probably the best option. It combines all the goodness of macOS with seamless integration into the Apple Ecosystem and drives them using the M2 Pro SoC.
The 14.2-inch ProMotion display uses a color-accurate Mini-LED panel which is ideal for creative work. The performance is excellent and unlike Windows, it doesn’t decrease when you unplug the charger. Intensive workflows can benefit from both the display and the powerful processing capabilities.
There is support for Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, SDXC, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and Wi-Fi 6E, and the 70Wh Battery provides great battery life. The 1080P webcam is great for meetings and video calls, and the Keyboard and Trackpad are also some of the best in business.
Reasons To Buy
- A gorgeous Mini-LED Display with excellent color-accuracy
- The powerful and efficient M2 Pro SoC with Media Engine
- macOS, the Apple Ecosystem, and retained performance while on battery power
- Great battery life for a high-performance laptop
Reasons To Avoid
- Not ideal for gaming
2. For Creators: Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is the company’s flagship laptop, and it is to Windows what the Macbook Pro is to macOS. It combines Intel’s top-end i7-13800H CPU with NVIDIA’s RTX 4060 to provide excellent performance and also allows the display to be set at different angles for drawing and other creative tasks using a unique hinge mechanism.
Unlike Apple, Microsoft has used a 14.4-inch 120Hz IPS panel for Surface Laptop Studio 2, but it’s still extremely accurate as it ships color-calibrated from the factory. There is also support for Touch Input and the display is compatible with the Surface Dial and the Surface Pen Slim 2. Craters are going to love this device and thanks to being a Windows 11 powered device, you can play games quite well on this.
There are also a significant amount of inputs including Thunderbolt 4 (Type-C), USB 3.1 Type-A, and MicroSDXC, a 3.5mm headphone combo jack, and the battery is slightly smaller at 58Wh, but to get the full performance, you’ll need to keep the device plugged in anyway. Overall this is one of the best Windows laptops for pro users.
Reasons To Buy
- Powerful hardware from Intel and NVIDIA
- A factory-calibrated display with Touch and Surface Pen Slim 2 support
- The flexible hinge mechanism allows for change in the form factor
- Clean Windows 11 experience
Reasons To Avoid
- i7+RTX 4060 configuration is on the pricier side
3. Best 14-inch Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14
If you need a dedicated gaming laptop, I recommend the Razer Blaze 14. It gives you a super-fast display, a flagship AMD CPU, and a powerful NVIDIA GPU at a very reasonable price. Razer has been making great gaming laptops for a while now and the new Razer Blade 14 seems to be a well-thought gaming device that can also double a work laptop thanks to its subtle looks.
The 14-inch QHD+ display comes with a whopping 240 Hz Refresh Rate and less than 3ms response time which is great for gaming, and the 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage makes for excellent color accuracy. AMD’s Ryzen 9 7940HS is s beast of a CPU and combining that with the NVIDIA RTX 4060 brings out some serious gaming performance.
There is no Thunderbolt support as it doesn’t use an Intel processor, but you still get a ton of inputs including USB 4 Type-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and HDMI 2.1. The 68.1Wh battery won’t last super long, but again, you want to plug your laptop in to get maximum gaming performance. Wireless technologies including Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 are also present for better wireless connectivity.
Reasons To Buy
- Extremely powerful gaming hardware
- The display is great for both gaming and color-accurate work
- Considerably thin & light form factor for a gaming laptop
- Reasonable price-to-performance ratio
Reasons To Avoid
- No Thunderbolt connectivity
4. Best Budget 14-inch Laptop: HP Pavilion Plus
Coming to a more budget-friendly option, the HP Pavillion Plus (14-ew0010nr) is a great laptop for students and casual users. It utilizes Intel’s 13th Gen U-series CPU, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD storage to provide a good balance between price and productivity. If you want to spend less without compromising on the basics, this should be a good option for you.
The 14-inch IPS panel has a QHD+ resolution with variable refresh rate technology and 100% sRGB coverage. This is a pretty good display for a budget laptop and that also sets this device apart from the competition. At the heart, it is powered by Intel’s 13th-gen i5-1335U which is a 10-core (2P+8E) CPU and it’s slightly more efficient than its P-series counterpart. The Iris Xe GPU can handle some lightweight photo editing.
There are enough inputs to get the work done including a Thunderbolt 4 port, USB 3 Type-C and Type-A ports, HDMI, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the wireless side, you’re getting Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, so no compromises here either. Because it uses an efficient U-series chip, the 68W battery should last long during casual workflows and there is also Intel Evo certification.
Reasons To Buy
- Great value for money
- A good display with 100% sRGB coverage
- Thunderbolt 4 connectivity
- Good battery life
Reasons To Avoid
- Not ideal for intensive workflows
5. Best Cheap 14-inch Laptop: Acer Aspire 3
For those on a super-tight budget, saving some extra money and going with the Acer Aspire 3 (A314-23P-R3QA) seems to be the right thing to do. It comes with an AMD Ryzen CPU, a decent selection of inputs, and a fine display for less than $500.
Speaking of the display, it’s a 14-inch 60Hz IPS panel with a resolution of 1920×1080. That means it’s a 16:9 display and not 16:10 which is fine for cheaper devices, and the color accuracy also isn’t groundbreaking, so this is not a device to work on creative tasks. The Ryzen 5 7520U is a quad-core CPU with integrated Radeon graphics. Combine that with 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB SSD storage, and it’ll handle day-to-day tasks just fine.
As I’ve mentioned before, there is a decent selection of inputs. You get USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, HDMI, and a 3.5mm headphone jack, and for wireless connections, you get Wi-Fi 6. The battery is small at 40Wh but with the less demanding 7520U and FHD display, you’ll get decent battery life. This is overall a great device for a surprising price.
Reasons To Buy
- Excellent value for money
- Decent FHD display on a budget
- Nice selection of wired inputs
- Premium looks and balanced weight
Reasons To Avoid
- Not for outdoor use or color-accurate work
6. Best 2-in-1 14-inch OLED Laptop: ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip
The dual-purpose laptops, aka 2-in-1’s, aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but there is still a significant number of users who want to make use of this unique form factor for office work and creative tasks. If you fall into that category, then I recommend the ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED. It has an excellent display with powerful hardware and Intel Evo certification, making it perfect for a range of workflows.
Of course, this device is all about that OLED display. The excellent color accuracy with 100% DCI-P3, the perfect blacks, the 90Hz Touchscreen with ASUS Pen compatibility, the crispy 2.8K resolution, and Dolby Vision certification make it one of the best displays in the segment. Intel’s new i7-1360P also strikes a great balance between power and efficiency and the device has still bagged Intel Evo certification which is impressive.
Wired inputs are also impressive considering this is in fact in the ultrabook category. You get Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, HDMI 2.1 TMDS, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. For wireless connectivity, there is Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. The 75Wh cell should give you some substantial battery life as this is an Intel Evo device after all.
Reasons To Buy
- The excellent OLED Display with 100% DCI-P3 coverage
- Powerful Intel 13th-gen P-series CPU
- Flexibility to draw and give presentations using the 2-in-1 functionality
- A big battery and long-lasting battery life
Reasons To Avoid
- Not ideal for GPU-intensive workflows.
Final Thoughts
While there are a lot of 14-inch laptops out there, the ones I’ve mentioned, represent the best in their respective segments. You can choose one of these devices according to your specific requirements and you should be happy with the results. Also, if there is a specific software you need to run, make sure the platform (OS) you’re choosing, has support for it.
I hope this article was helpful to you and you found what you came looking for. If you still have lingering questions, please let me know in the comments section below. I’ve answered a few common ones in the FAQ section below.
FAQs
While not everyone will be able to drive a 14-inch display on a daily basis, it seems to be ideal for a massive number of users as it’s a great balance between portability and usefulness.
14-inch laptops are now wildly popular because they strike the perfect balance in display and device sizes. Previously popular 13-inch devices were a bit too small for most users while bigger 15-inch and 16-inch devices can be hard to carry around and they also allocate more space. So, 14-inch devices are somewhat in that perfect sweet spot.
Right now, 14 inches is a better laptop size for most users compared to 15.6 inches because those displays are still stuck at the 16:9 aspect ratio while 14-inch displays give you the modern 16:10. So unless you absolutely need a bigger display, or your work specifically requires 16:9, going with a 14-inch display is going to be a better idea.
A 14-inch laptop is a great size for college as it’s easy to fit in a backpack and the devices are usually also lighter in weight. However, if you require a bigger display, you should ideally get a 16-inch laptop instead.
Laptop size popularity is subjective. While 14-inch devices are doubling in popularity every day and seem to be a great size for laptops, many businessmen still prefer the smaller 13.3-inch devices. Creators working with professional graphics and/or video, often go for bigger display sizes.
