Laptops are at the forefront of technology lately, built with the latest GPUs and CPUs even during the great shortage of 2021. Whether you game on the go or travel for business, those with laptops, don’t leave home without them. Microsoft, Samsung, Razer, ASUS and MSI have topped our list this year, and we at CGM cannot wait to see what 2021 has in store.
Here are CGMs nominees for Best Laptop 2021/22:
Microsoft Surface Laptop
Writer: Brendan Frye
Score: 8
Price: $2099.99
The powder-silver looking device carries over many of the design touches seen in past Surface offerings. The elegant Windows logo on the back blends seamlessly with the overall design, and the screen is show stopping from the minute you turn the device on. Offering a 14.4-inch touch display, 2400 x 1600, 120Hz refresh rate in a 3:2 aspect ratio, this is a screen built to consume and create media with. From the latest and greatest movies, to jumping into Adobe Creative, it is one of the best screens we have ever used on a laptop.]
For the creative professionals out there looking for the next great laptop, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio delivers in all the right ways. A truly stunning display, plenty of power, and one of the best build qualities we have seen in a while. Provided you can look past the starting $2,099.99 USD price tag, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is one to look forward to. It is the creative workstation of the future in your hands today, and it will change your creative life.
While expensive, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is a glimpse at the potential future of laptops, and I for one am excited by it.
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 Laptop
Writer: Brendan Frye
Score: 8.5
Price: $1299
The big selling point of this range is the adoption of 11th Gen Intel processors that deliver better battery life, performance and overall usability while on the go. This is also part of the new Evo lineup that looks to bring the best mobile experience possible due to a tight connection between Intel and Samsung during the development process. Samsung has also put a real effort into the design and feel of the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360.
This is one of the more stylish laptops I have ever used. The keyboard is good, and it also delivers one of the most comfortable trackpad experiences I have seen this side of Cupertino. But as with anything this small, you will see some sacrifices with no discrete GPU, and the overall speeds seen are a bit less than some bigger options in the category.
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 Is a Premium 2-in-1 That Delivers All the Features You Could Hope to Find, With Even More Features If You Are Part of the Galaxy Ecosystem.
Razer Book 13 Laptop
Writer: Lane Martin
Score: 8.5
Price: $1699.99
The Razer Book 13 is a compact, minimalist looking affair that is obviously trying to evoke the same sort of imagery as that of Apple’s MacBook Air, but putting its own spin on things with Razer’s per key RGB programmable lighting so that user’s can show off their lovely little laptops in their own eye catching ways. RGB keyboards are usually the stuff of aforementioned monstrous gaming computers, but I really think they are a nice touch on this little machine, making it memorable and personalized in ways that can really cement it as your laptop, even if it isn’t a graphical power house.
The base and mid range models are limited to a 256 Gb SSD, which feels tiny in modern computing, making external storage a must and further demanding an additional USB port, and the price feels a bit high when all things are considered. However, at the end of the day, what you have is a surprisingly solid computer in an attractive, compact design by a well regarded manufacturer, plus some neat-o colourful buttons.
The Razer Book 13 isn’t the gaming juggernaut you’ll find in it’s cousins, the Blades, but rather an overall exceptional computer for all of your non-gaming needs.
ASUS TUF Dash F15 Laptop
Writer: David Walters
Score: 9
Price: $2667.99
ASUS has managed to combine the power of a high-end gaming laptop, the battery life and the professional style of a notebook, and a display that rivals some monitors out there. The device itself is absolutely gorgeous. The Eclipse Grey model tested could possibly be the prettiest computer I have ever seen. I love the elegant simplicity of the laser etched TUF logo on the lid. When you open it up, you can see some subtle ridging on either side of the keyboard which is a very nice balance and breaks up the smoothness of the rest of the computer.
Though I had a few small gripes, ASUS has created something incredible here with the TUF Dash F15 from the sleek style to the future-proof hardware, making this device worth your attention. If you are looking for a laptop that fits every aspect of your gaming and professional life, look no further than the ASUS TUF Dash F15.
Despite there being no camera and the audio being less than ideal, the TUF Dash F15 is an amazing laptop and will easily do everything I want it to and aims to be future-proof.
MSI GE76 Raider Laptop (Winner)
Writer: Zubi Khan
Score: 9
Price: $3699
The MSI GE76 Raider features an i7-10870H clocked at 2.21Ghz, 32GBs of RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD (928GBs) with a GTX 3080 for graphics topped off with a high-quality IPS 300hz 17” panel. In terms of IO, the MSI Ge76 Raider features two USB 3.0 slots on the right side of the machine, along with an SD card reader, with another USB 3.0 port on the left, in addition to a USB Type C connector thrown in for good measure, and finally, a headphone jack and locking mechanism for those require it.
One of my favourite games on PC in recent memory has been Doom Eternal, which on the MSI GE76 Raider ran well over 200fps although at the cost of an inconsistent jitter brought upon by disabling v-sync, but perfectly playable at 60fps when re-enabled. Finally, I had to run what I consider to be the ultimate benchmark for higher-end machines, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Graciously, in a recent update, the game had dropped down from well over 150GBs to around 80GB, which made the installation process a little more reasonable. Even with the specs above, the MSI GE76 Raider seemed to prefer the game running on medium settings with an average of 35 FPS.
Ultimately, the MSI Ge76 Raider Is a Robust and Fully Featured Laptop, One Which Can Easily Handle Heavy Work and Gaming Sessions, Making it an Ideal Desktop Replacement Or, at the Very Least, a Dedicated Gaming Machine With Portability in Mind.
