Asus is one of the best laptop brands on the market today. Known for its wide array of innovative laptops, you can easily find an Asus machine that fits your needs. Whether you’re in the market for a powerful workhorse, something ultraportable to take on the go, or a laptop with a gorgeous OLED display, Asus has you covered. At PCWorld, we’ve reviewed a ton of Asus laptops and we know the company’s lineup of laptops like the back of our hands.
So to make your search for a laptop as easy as possible, we’ve curated a list of the best Asus has to offer. Below you’ll find our best overall pick, as well as recommendations for best display, best gaming laptop, and more. For more information about our methods for choosing these laptops, check out the section on how we test below the recommendations.
Also, be sure to visit our complete guide to the best laptops to see our recommendations for the very best from among all the notebook makers.
Updated 06/06/2023: To include the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED as our new choice for most portable. Read more about this excellent featherlight OLED ultraportable in the summary below.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 – Best overall
Pros
- Powerful CPU and GPU performance
- Compact and attractive design
- Newly added webcam
Cons
- Semi-upgradeable RAM
- Keyboard backlighting is subpar
The ROG Zephyrus G14 is both lightweight and powerful. It weighs just a little over three pounds, which makes it a capable traveling laptop. Thanks to the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor and AMD Radeon RX6800S GPU, you can expect strong performance as well. The only weakness is the keyboard, which our tester describes as “meh.” It feels a little mushy and the backlighting is rather unimpressive. Nitpicks aside, the Zephyrus G14 is well worth it. In addition to the strong performance, the 1600p display produces vibrant images and the audio is decent. If you’re in the market for a portable Asus laptop that delivers zippy performance, this laptop is a phenomenal pick.
Asus VivoBook Pro 15 OLED Ultra Slim Laptop – Best OLED display
Pros
- Good productivity performance
- Superb display
- Rugged design
- Great battery life
Cons
- Boring aesthetics
- Unimpressive 720p webcam
- Unreliable fingerprint scanner
- Poor port selection
Back in the days of old, laptops with OLED displays were something of a far-fetched dream. Nowadays, they’re more mainstream and the Asus VivoBook Pro 15 is one such example. According to our review, the Pro 15 has an “outstanding 15.6-inch 1080p OLED non-touch display at an affordable price.” Wild, right? Shadows are deep and wonderfully rich while brighter spots are super vivid. The color performance is fantastic as well. If you’re looking for a laptop that makes games look great and also satisfies productivity needs, the Pro 15 is a great choice.
Asus ROG Zephyrus S17 – Best premium gaming laptop
Pros
- Excellent CPU and GPU performance
- Robust and innovative design
- Comfortable and customizable keyboard
Cons
- Trackpad requires some pressure
- Very high price
The Asus ROG Zephyrus S17 is a gamer’s ultimate dream. This laptop features lightning-fast GPU and CPU performance plus a stunning 17.3-inch 4K display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The rugged all-metal chassis, six speaker sound system, and customizable keyboard really adds to the premium experience as well. However, you’re going to pay out the nose for it. If you’ve got a flexible budget and you won’t settle for anything other than the best of the best, the Zephyrus S17 is truly the bees knees.
(See our roundup of the best gaming laptops for even more options.)
Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition – Best midrange gaming laptop
Pros
- Outclasses every CPU in competing laptops
- Radeon RX GPU outclasses similarly-priced GeForce GPUs in conventional gaming.
- Surprisingly good audio quality
Cons
- No webcam
- Very bulky 280-watt power brick
- Nvidia GPUs outclass Radeon in ray tracing and content creation.
Granted, the premium Asus ROG Zephyrus S17 can be out of range for many people’s budgets. Coming in at a more palatable price point is the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advanced Edition, another all-AMD laptop that delivers fast CPU and GPU performance without busting your wallet. It’s packing an AMD Ryzen 5900HX processor, an AMD Radeon RX 6800M GPU (comparable to an RTX 3070 or 3080), 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. According to our review, the GPU “doesn’t outpace higher-wattage RTX 3080 laptop GPUs, but it’s a worthy competitor for conventional gaming tasks.” Unsurprisingly, the Strix G15 is one chunky machine, measuring 28mm at its thickest part. Although the additional thickness allows more space for cooling components, it’s not very portable. But, as long as you don’t plan on taking this laptop everywhere you go, it’s a powerful gaming rig that’s well worth the money.
(You can find more midrange gaming laptop options in our roundups of the best gaming laptops and best gaming laptops under $1,000.)
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED – Most portable
Pros
- High-quality build
- Gorgeous screen
- Excellent battery life
- Diverse port selection
- Competitive performance
Cons
- Obnoxious bloatware
- High-pitched fans
- Physical trackpad button instead of a linear motor
Thin-and-light laptops have come a long way in recent years and the Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED is a perfect example of how increased portability doesn’t have to mean decreased performance. It features the latest Intel Core i7-1355U 10-core processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD for storage, and a gorgeous OLED screen. That’s a lot to pack into a laptop that is less than half-an-inch thick and weighs a featherlight 2.2 pounds.
The Zenbook 13 S also sports a solid, mostly metal design with little flex or wobble, which is a huge plus considering how slim it is—even the thin OLED display feels sturdy. Plus, in such a svelte frame, Asus was able to fit a decent and useful selection of ports. Really, the only downside is that it has a bit of an antiquated trackpad, which makes a distinct clicking sound when you use it. Competitor laptops with similar performance features retail for quite a bit more than the Zenbook 13 S, which makes this a no-brainer if you’re in the market for an ultraportable.
Asus ROG Flow Z13 GZ301 – Best detachable
Pros
- Big performance in a small package
- Bright, crisp display
- Compatible with XG Mobile for GPU boost
Cons
- Versatility doesn’t come cheap
- Detachable keyboard poor fit for gamers
If versatility and portability are your bag, the Asus ROG Flow Z13 is a worthy option. With its detachable keyboard, you can easily convert the Flow Z13 from a 3-pound ultraportable clamshell into a 2.6-pound tablet. In both instances you’ll benefit from the the Z13’s bright, crisp 1920×1200 IPS touch display. It’s Core i9-12900H CPU and GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics make it suitable for gaming, though you’d probably want to invest in an external keyboard and mouse for the best experience. It’s a unique combination of qualities that’s admittedly not for everyone, but if you’re looking for maximum flexibility, it’s a capable performer, albeit at a premium price.
Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED – Best for content creation
Pros
- Stunning primary display and easy to see secondary display
- Excellent I/O options and wireless connectivity
- CPU / GPU power meets the needs of content creators
Cons
- The battery life is lacking for a productivity laptop
- The trackpad is small and awkwardly placed
- Rear orientated ports can be hard to reach
Not surprisingly, the Zenbook Pro 14 Duo takes the place of its predecessor as the best Asus laptop for content creation, and it does so with thoughtful improvements that make it an even better product. What makes this laptop uniquely suitable for content creators is its dual-display design, and in this latest model, both screens get an upgrade: The 14.5-inch primary screen is a taller, brighter 120Hz OLED; the 12.7-inch secondary ScreenPad Plus, which sits just above the keyboard, is now tilted at more of an angle for better visibility. Together they enable more flexible work organization and multi-tasking.
Add to that 12th-gen Intel CPUs and up to an Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti GPU, a large and comfortable keyboard, generous port selection, and a stylish look, and you can see why we recommend this Asus laptop in particular is ideal for creators.
(For even more options in the content-creation space, see our roundups of the best laptops for graphic design and best laptops for video editing.)
How we tested
The PCWorld team puts each and every Windows laptop through a series of benchmarks that test GPU and CPU performance, battery life, and so on. The idea is to push the laptop to its limits and then compare it against others we’ve tested. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of each test and the reasons why we run them.
Windows laptops
- PCMark 10: PCMark 10 is how we determine how well the laptop handles lighter tasks like web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, and so on.
- HandBrake: HandBrake is more intensive than PCMark 10. It basically measures how long a laptop’s CPU takes to encode a beefy 30GB file.
- Cinebench: Cinebench is a brief stress test of the CPU cores. It does this by rendering a 2D scene over a short period of time.
- 3DMark: 3DMark checks if 3D performance remains consistent over time by running graphic-intensive clips.
- Video rundown test: To gauge battery life, we loop a 4K video using Windows 10’s Movies & TV app until the laptop dies.
FAQ
What kind of laptop is best?
When looking for a laptop, the first question you should ask yourself is what kind of laptop you’re looking for. There are traditional clamshells, 2-in-1’s, and much more. The displays on convertible laptops (aka 2-in-1’s), for example, can swing around 360 degrees, or in the case of the ROG Flow Z13 above, detach from the keyboard altogether. This allows you to use the laptop like a tablet. They can also be propped up like a tent for viewing movies or participating in video calls.
What CPU should I get?
If it’s CPU power you’re looking for, the cream of the crop is the Core i9-12900H on the Intel side, with 14 total cores and 20 threads and a boost speed of 5GHz. Intel processors are available in Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9. The higher the number, the more powerful the CPU. As for AMD options, the Ryzen 3 is good for basic productivity and web browsing. If you need more power, the Ryzen 7 chip is well suited for content creation like video editing. Finally, if you’re dealing with 4K video, spring for a Ryzen 9.
Should I go with discrete graphics or integrated graphics?
You’ll want a discrete graphics card for hardcore gaming or editing videos. It’s separate from the CPU, so you can expect higher performance out of it. Integrated graphics, on the other hand, are attached to the CPU and use less power as a result. This is perfectly fine for everyday tasks, especially if you’re not doing anything that’s graphics-intensive.
How much RAM should I get?
8GB of RAM is fast enough for general use. However, if you’ve got a gaming laptop, 16GB of RAM is the way to go, and content creators will want even more.
What size display is best?
If you’re a video editor or someone who does a lot of multimedia work, you’ll want a display that’s anywhere from 15 to 17 inches. The sweet spot is really anywhere from 13 to 14 inches, though. The bigger the display, the heavier your laptop is going to be. A 13- or 14-inch display is the best in terms of portability and value.
What should I expect as far as battery life is concerned?
If you plan on taking your laptop anywhere with you, aim for something that can last 10 to 12 hours on a single charge. That’s more than a full work day, so it should theoretically get you through long flights or a day of classes. Obviously, more is always better. Just know that the bigger the battery, the heavier the laptop.
What kind of laptop is recommended if I’m on a budget?
The price really depends on your budget. If you’re strapped for cash (been there, trust me), go for an entry-level business laptop. These laptops are good choices for students or young professionals. If you can afford to spend more, the versatility of a 2-in-1 laptop is really worth it.
What ports will I need?
A wide array of ports is always a plus in my book, as it eliminates the need for an adapter. I’d recommend a laptop that has both USB-C and USB-A. An HDMI port is good, too. This is especially useful for when you want to hook up to an external monitor.
Curious to learn about our other laptops best picks? Check out more of our best laptop roundups to help you make the right decision: