Best laptops over €1,000 in 2026

The 15-inch MacBook Air is the laptop we would recommend to most people with a premium budget. It takes everything that makes the 13-inch Air popular, a silent fanless design, a slim aluminium body and long battery life, and adds a much roomier 15.3-inch screen that is better for side-by-side windows and spreadsheets.

Apple's M5 chip has ten CPU cores and a ten-core GPU on this model, which is more than enough for office work, photo editing, coding and even light video editing. Memory now starts at 16GB and storage at 512GB, so the base model is no longer a false economy. Apple claims up to 18 hours of video streaming from the 66.5 Wh battery.

The screen is a sharp 2880 x 1864 panel at 500 nits, and the six-speaker system sounds full for such a thin laptop. You get a 12MP Center Stage webcam that keeps you in frame on calls, Wi-Fi 7 via Apple's own N1 chip, two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a MagSafe charger.

The main limitations are a 60Hz refresh rate, which looks less smooth than 120Hz rivals, and only two USB-C ports. If you do not need the larger screen, the 13-inch M5 Air is on our AI laptops page.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro is the laptop to buy if your work pays for it. Launched in March 2026, the M5 Pro version has an 18-core CPU and a 20-core GPU, with up to 128GB of memory, so it handles 4K and 8K video editing, large photo libraries, 3D rendering, music production and big software builds without fuss. The M5 Max option adds up to 40 GPU cores for the heaviest work.

The 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR screen is one of the best on any laptop. It uses mini-LED backlighting to reach 1,000 nits for everyday use and 1,600 nits for HDR highlights, with ProMotion refresh up to 120Hz. A matte nano-texture finish is available for bright rooms.

Despite all that power, Apple claims up to 24 hours of video streaming from the 100 Wh battery, the largest allowed on flights. Ports are generous for a Mac: three Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, an SDXC card slot, MagSafe 3 and a headphone jack, and it can drive three external displays.

The downsides are price and weight. At 2.14 kg it is much heavier than an Air, and for browsing, Office and photos you would be paying for power you never use. In that case the MacBook Air 15 is a better buy.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon has been the go-to laptop for business travellers for more than a decade, and the Gen 13 Aura Edition is the lightest yet. Lenovo's spec sheet lists a starting weight of just 986 g for the Lunar Lake versions, yet it still keeps a full-size HDMI port, two USB-A ports and two Thunderbolt 4 ports, so you rarely need adapters.

You can choose between Intel Core Ultra chips: the V-series models are Copilot+ PCs with the best battery life, while the H-series offers more power for demanding work. Memory goes up to 64GB, but it is soldered, so buy enough at the start.

The screen options range from a 500-nit 1920 x 1200 IPS panel, including a privacy-filter version, to a 2.8K OLED running at 120Hz that is the one to get for comfort and clarity. The keyboard remains among the best you can type on, with good travel and a spill-resistant design.

Lenovo claims up to 17 hours in the MobileMark 25 office test, but the 57 Wh battery is smaller than many rivals', so heavy days may need a top-up. You can also add 4G or 5G with eSIM for internet anywhere. It is costly for the raw performance; you are paying for weight, build and business features.

The Yoga Pro 9i 16 is Lenovo's answer to the MacBook Pro for people who need Windows. Its standout is the optional 3.2K tandem OLED screen: Lenovo rates it at 1,000 nits for everyday use and 1,600 nits for HDR highlights, with full DCI-P3, sRGB and Adobe RGB coverage. That makes it a superb screen for photographers and video editors, and the 2.8K OLED alternative is no slouch either.

Power comes from Intel's 16-core Core Ultra 7 255H or Ultra 9 285H, paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050, 5060 or 5070 running at 100W. The dedicated graphics speed up Adobe Premiere, DaVinci Resolve and Blender, and they are capable of modern games too. Memory starts at 32GB, which is soldered, but there are two SSD slots.

Ports are excellent for creative work, including two Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, USB-A and a full SD card reader. The 5MP IR webcam is good for calls and the keyboard includes a number pad.

The compromises are weight and battery life. At 1.92 kg it is hefty, and Lenovo's own figures of 14 hours of video and 5.5 hours in an office benchmark are far behind Apple's claims. Expect to carry the charger.

Gaming laptops have become noticeably more expensive in 2026, and many RTX 5060 models now cost around €1,300 to €1,500 in Europe. The Acer Nitro V 16 AI is one of the more affordable ways to get a current NVIDIA RTX 50-series GPU.

This ANV16-42 model pairs AMD's six-core Ryzen 5 240 with an RTX 5050 with 8GB of graphics memory, running at up to 95W including Dynamic Boost. That is enough for most current games at the screen's native 1920 x 1200 resolution, especially with NVIDIA's DLSS upscaling, and the 16-inch 180Hz panel keeps fast games looking smooth.

It is also practical. Memory sits in two standard slots, there is a free SSD slot, and the port selection includes USB4, three USB-A, HDMI 2.1, Gigabit Ethernet and microSD. The 76 Wh battery is large for the class, although Acer's own spec sheet quotes a maximum run time of about 6 hours.

The trade-offs are typical of budget gaming machines: expect loud fans under load, a basic 720p webcam, and at 2.44 kg it is not something you will carry daily. Check the exact GPU in the listing, as Acer sells several Nitro V 16 versions.