These 5 laptops are among the best I’ve used through the years

Summary

• The PC industry has given rise to some absolutely iconic laptops throughout the years.
• Over the years, I’ve used a number of notebook PCs – some models are iconic, while others simply provide me with a sense of nostalgia.
• Here are some of the very best laptop PCs that I’ve had the pleasure of using in years past.

My first foray into the world of laptop computing arrived in the form of an entry-level Asus model circa 2009 — the PC shipped with Windows 7, had a 15-inch display, and was a hilariously chunky piece of kit by today’s standards.

My Asus was oversized and underpowered, to be sure, but it was also a game-changing product for me at the time. No longer was I shackled to the dedicated desktop PC tucked away in my den. Suddenly, I could watch YouTube videos, work on my homework, and play flash games from the comfort of my couch.

In the years since, I’ve had the privilege of using several laptop PCs on a regular basis. Looking back, some of the models I’ve used are what I’d consider to be iconic. Others, while less innovative, continue to fill me with nostalgia to this day. Here are five notebooks in particular that I look back upon with fond memories.

1 Apple MacBook Pro (2015)

The jack of all trades

For its time, the MacBook Pro (2015) was about as close to perfection as a laptop could feasibly hope to be. It was packed with useful ports, it had a crisp and pixel-dense Retina Display, and it came with the same incredible haptic trackpad that Apple first debuted in its 12-inch MacBook that same year.

While not the thinnest or lightest computer on the block, the 2015 MacBook Pro was a hearty and performant machine. It got me through four years of undergraduate studies, and it served as my first introduction to the macOS operating system.

2 Sony VAIO Pro 13 Touch (2013)

My very first Ultrabook

Back in the early 2010s, Intel outlined an all-new class of thin-and-light laptops, which the company referred to as Ultrabooks. These PCs were certified under specific qualifications relating to form factor, boot speed, and, naturally, they had the prerequisite of being powered by an Intel Core processor.

My first experience using an Ultrabook came in the form of the Sony Vaio Pro 13 Touch. At the time, Sony was still a notable player in the laptop industry, and its Vaio computers were always some of my favorites. The Pro 13 Touch was shockingly thin and light, owing to the use of carbon fiber for its frame, and, as its name suggests, it came with a touch-enabled display.

3 Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (2019)

Luxurious fit and finish from top to bottom

The first Microsoft Surface product I ever purchased was a Surface Laptop 3. What drew me to this particular PC was its luxurious build, its clean design language, its unique Alcantara palm rest material, and the fact that it’s designed by none other than Microsoft itself.

I always think back to the famous Alan Kay quote, which Steve Jobs cited during the 2007 first-generation iPhone keynote: “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” As the owner of the Windows platform, the Microsoft Surface hardware line has always intrigued me in its potential for greatness.

4 Asus Zenbook A14 (2025)

Ceraluminum and ARM make for a great pairing

When I reviewed the Zenbook A14 earlier this year, I came away incredibly impressed with what Asus had managed to craft. I’m a big fan of the company’s Ceraluminum build material, which is a sort of hybrid between aluminum and ceramic. The device feels silky in the hand, and its rounded corners are inviting and pillow-esque.

The Zenbook A14 happens to be one of the first laptops to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X processor — a less expensive and downscaled version of the existing X Elite and X Plus chipsets. WIth affordability in mind, the ARM-based Snapdragon X is remarkably power-efficient, and it has me excited about the future of ARM-based Windows computing.

5 Apple MacBook Air (2020)

The start of a new era for the Mac

When Apple ditched Intel and went all-in on in-house silicon, the entire PC industry took note. The first batch of M1 Apple Silicon computers pushed the boundaries of energy-per-watt efficiency, smoking traditional X86-64 solutions in the process.

The MacBook Air was among the first Apple products to receive the M1 processor treatment, and it remains a stellar and performant laptop to this day. The same external laptop design that proved thermally constraining for Intel became fanless overnight, sparking Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and others to scramble to catch up.