The questionThe first laptop was launched in 1981. It had a teeny five-inch screen, weighed 11.1kg and cost £1,346 (in today’s money that’s £4,795). Thankfully, the market has since improved. But when a department store can sell than 230 kinds of identical-looking laptops, how can you tell which is best to buy?

The basicsFive members of theWhich?lab team tested 244 laptops. At current prices, the steepest (a 16-inch MacBook Pro) costs £2,499 and the cheapest (an 11-inch Samsung Galaxy Chromebook) costs £160.

The methodThe lab boffins performed objective tests including weighing the laptops, timing their battery life, gauging start-up time and measuring screen brightness. Then 30+ subjective tests assessed how easy each laptop is to use: is the keyboard sticky? How responsive is the touchpad? Is it easily portable? Also,Which?deployed a group of audio experts to rate sound quality.

The thing to rememberWhich?has been going since 1957 and, unlike other product experts, it buys the items before testing them. That means there’s no relying on freebies and no biased results.

See the full range of expert-recommended laptops at which.co.uk/laptops

BEST BLOWOUT

Memory16GB

Storage256GB

Weight1.23 kg

SizeH 13mm x W 304mm x D 215mm

Battery life17 hours video streaming, 12 hours 20 minutes web browsing.

What works?A lot. This is Apple’s thinnest, lightest laptop. It’s speedy, with a long battery life and great sound and screen quality. It’s also powerful enough to handle things like professional video editing.

What’s the catch?If you want storage and memory you’ll have to pay a fortune. An extra 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage cost around £200 – each.

BEST MID-RANGE

Memory16GB

Storage512GB

Weight1.15kg

SizeH 16mm x W 295mm x D 209mm

Battery life11.5 hours video streaming, than 13 hours web browsing.

What works?The battery life is brilliant and so is the storage, plus it comes with Windows 11. It’s also, compared to other models of its size, very, very light – ideal for slinging in your bag and using while out and about.

What’s the catch?The speakers are slightly muffled and the screen quality could be a bit sharper.

BEST BUDGET

Memory8GB

Storage128GB

Weight1.73kg

SizeH 21mm x W 362mm x D 243mm

Battery life9.5 hours video streaming, eight hours web browsing.

What works?You won’t find better at this price. Plus it’s got a large screen and, as long as you only need it for basic tasks, the speed is good, too.

What’s the catch?The storage is small but most people find 128GB adequate. Besides, Chromebooks, including this one, save things to ‘the cloud’ anyway. It is, however, heavy and it doesn’t support Windows.

*Prices correct at time of going to press.