Best laptops for working from home and digital nomads

Working practices are in a state of flux. We've never been so free to work from where we like and even when we like, with flexible working practices now very much part of the mainstream. Yet some businesses are pushing back, with many larger enterprises now asking employees to return to the office for more days per week. According to the latest figures from the UK Office of National Statistics, only 13% of workers now work completely from home, down from 26% in early 2022. A larger proportion – 28% – are hybrid workers, working between the home and office.

Meanwhile, more and more of us are embracing a different lifestyle, working full-time or freelance from a wide range of locations – or even working while we live abroad or travel.

This makes it all the more important to have devices that are as flexible as possible; that deliver a balance between size, weight, and portability, without sacrificing performance or battery life. Different workers will have different requirements, prioritizing mobility, speed, or screen size according to their location and their workloads. The trick is finding the right laptop to meet your specific needs.

What is the best laptop for home workers and digital nomads?

If you're working primarily from home, comfort comes first. You need a device that enables you to stay productive all day long, so it's entirely reasonable to prioritise a larger screen and spacious keyboard over size, weight, and even battery life.

Hybrid workers may be less willing to compromise, however. Size and weight matter on a device that you'll be carrying between home and work, while a longer battery life gives you more flexibility over when and where you charge. Connectivity is crucial if you're moving between home and office networks, or connecting to different desktop keyboard, mouse and monitor setups across the two locations.

For fully remote workers or digital nomads, the requirements shift again. You need to balance comfort with having a device that can work effectively in a wide range of scenarios, whether that's a client's office, the kitchen table, the hotel desk, a coffee shop, or on your lap. If you spend a lot of time on trains, planes, or in airports, you may want a laptop with a compact footprint that excels in cramped conditions, and that weighs as little as possible.

In 2026, you're spoiled for choice – it is actually possible to find laptops which excel in almost any scenario. The 16in laptops here weigh as little as 1.2kg, and the increased competition between Apple, AMD, Intel and Qualcomm has seen huge leaps in performance and battery life over previous generations.

Broadly speaking, performance just isn't as important as it used to be. Most mid-range business and consumer laptops will handle everything from everyday productivity applications to content creation, and the integrated graphics chips deftly handle light gaming. It's mostly professional creative desks or more specialist roles that benefit from a top-end CPU or dedicated GPU for accelerating demanding workloads.

The buzz around on-device AI continues, but it's not something to base a purchase around. Most mid-range processors feature dedicated neural processing units (NPUs) to efficiently handle complex AI operations. Right now, neither Windows, Microsoft Office, nor most applications make enough use of the NPU to make an AI PC a must-have, though. It's there if you need it – but you probably won't.

When you're making your choice, don't neglect the less interesting stuff. Warranties, repair packages, insurance, and replacement services are a sound investment for laptops that spend some or all of their time out in the wild. There are higher risks of damage, loss, and theft, and you may need European or global cover. If your chosen manufacturer or supplier can't provide the after-sales support you need, either look elsewhere or find a third-party service specialist or insurer.

The MacBook Neo redefines the budget laptop. For £600, it's uncannily well built, a pleasure to use, and the combination of light weight, adequate performance, and refined all-round design is impossible to beat.

The A18 Pro processor has been plucked from the iPhone 16 Pro, but it's more than capable. The benchmark scores are downright fast for single-core workloads, and it's only multi-core tests where the limitations show. Push it too hard with video editing duties, and you'll start to wish you'd budgeted for an Air or Pro model. For this price, however, it's still highly respectable. Battery life is decent, too, if not class-leading.

Ultimate performance is limited by the 8GB of RAM – the only optional upgrades are to double storage from 256GB to 512GB and add Touch ID. For the sake of time-saving fingerprint logins and enhanced security, though, it's worth paying the £100 premium for.

The Neo's 1.23kg package is easy to love. Minimalist connectivity – two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone out – partners with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6, and the keyboard and touchpad are typically refined. Even the IPS display is good. Bright, crisp and colour accurate.

Some desks will benefit hugely from the extra power of a Pro model, but if you can live with its limitations, the MacBook Neo is a fantastic all-rounder for sensible money.

Read our full Apple MacBook Neo review here

We loved the MSI Prestige 16 AI – and we feel exactly the same way about the MSI Prestige 16 AI+. There are some less popular changes – the numeric keypad is gone, and the potent AMD chipset has made way for a weedier Intel part – but the lower price and good design mean that the benefits outweigh the negatives.

The thinner chassis and lower weight bolster its appeal for more mobile users. At 1.59kg, this is not heavy for a 16in laptop. And despite slimming down to a mere 13.9mm-thick, the Prestige 16 AI+ retains its MIL-STD-810H certifications for toughness.

Add in plenty of connectivity – two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A, 3.5mm audio out and a full-sized HDMI – and a good touchpad and keyboard, and the MSI is as happy on a lap as a desk.

Our review unit opted for a relatively modest Intel Core Ultra 7 355, and despite lower benchmark scores than the outgoing AMD-powered model it remains a good all-round choice for productivity. The graphics performance is ample for most work-related duties and still handles games at lower resolution and detail settings. The payoff here is that battery life soars to over 17 hours.

The OLED display is a stunner. The 2,880 x 1,800 resolution is pin-sharp and the colour accuracy is really very impressive for a £1,250 laptop. It even handles HDR with aplomb thanks to the VESA DisplayHDR True Black 600 certification.

Read our full MSI Prestige 16 AI+ review here

The IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 demonstrates the more affordable Plus models in Qualcomm's latest generation Snapdragon X2 family. The result? A classy thin-and-light laptop with good performance and astonishingly long battery life. The clincher is the sub-£1,000 price.

At 1.41kg, the Lenovo is very much a middleweight for a 13in laptop. That said, it has a MIL-STD-810H certification for all-round toughness, and the aluminium body feels reassuringly solid in all the places that matter. The keyboard feels good, and the glass touchpad is positively luxurious.

Connectivity is a little more generous than its most slimline rivals, with pairs of USB-A and USB-C ports, a full-sized HDMI port, microSD card reader and 3.5 headphone out. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 are a welcome sight, too.

The 1,920 x 1,200 IPS display is the only chink in the armour – but then this is a sub-£1,000 laptop after all. In any case, it's perfectly adequate for productivity use. It covers the sRGB colour space accurately and gets reasonably bright, too.

The Snapdragon X2 Plus processor seals the Lenovo's appeal. It produces good performance alongside stunning reserves of stamina, lasting more than a full day in our tests. If you're always on the move, this is a sensibly priced laptop that you'll be glad to have in your bag.

Read our full Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 13in review here

This is Samsung's premium business notebook. You can take your pick from 14in and 16in models – we tested the larger of the two – and specifications range from the capable mid-range to the high-end.

The big advantage here is that this is a laptop designed for the needs of business. You get a clean, fluff-free installation of Windows 11 Pro alongside Samsung's Knox Suite for enhanced security features and easy deployment. Samsung also guarantees that the same specific models will be available for at least two years, and parts and software support for five, which makes life easier for IT teams.

The overall build is typically refined. It's an understated looker, but even the 16in model is only 14.6mm thick, and the weight is acceptable at 1.74kg. Granted, this is no ultralight laptop, but the focus here is on longevity and practicality – and here it succeeds. There are ample USB ports and an Ethernet socket, and the solid-feeling keyboard has a numeric keypad alongside, too.

The 16in model has a basic 1,920 x 1,200 IPS display. It's not fancy, nor especially bright. Colour accuracy is fine, though, and brightness is enough for all but outdoor use on sunny days. More crucially, the matte anti-glare coating does a good job of suppressing bright office lighting.

Freelancers should look to one of the other laptops here, but bigger IT budgets will better appreciate the Galaxy Book6 Enterprise Edition's overall appeal.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Book6 Enterprise Edition here

It's best to see the Surface Pro 11 not as a clever, convertible tablet, but as an excellent ultraportable PC. The click-on, click-off keyboard is pretty much a requirement, and even with it attached the whole shebang weighs just 1.23Kg. The ingenious kickstand holds the screen up in a wide range of positions, and the unit is extremely robust. You can even switch out the supplied storage yourself for a 30mm M.2 NVMe SSD. Not all ultraportables can say the same.

There's a limit to the connectivity you can fit into a tablet form factor, but with two USB 4 ports, Wi-Fi 7, and the standard Surface power/data connector, this isn't a huge issue. Microsoft's new Pro Flex keyboard can now work unconnected to the tablet and makes up for its limited travel with a lovely fast and clicky feel. And while entry-level versions have a decent 2880 x 1920 IPS display, mid-range, and high-end variants have a stunning OLED screen with vivid colors and a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. Throw in the Snapdragon Elite XE-80-100 processor, and you have strong performance and formidable battery life, with nearly 16 and a half hours of video playback in our tests. If your priority is packing light, the Surface Pro 11 is a hard device to beat. Just remember to budget extra for the keyboard.

Read our full Microsoft Surface Pro 11 review here

The Lenovo ThinkPad range has a serious pedigree among business users – and for good reason. The latest iteration, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, retains the iconic ThinkPad styling and keyboard layout, while swapping out the chassis materials to reduce weight and improve its portability.

In our performance tests, the X1 Carbon excelled, achieving near M4 MacBook Air levels on a 4K test and a very respectable 2,725 and 10,937 in the GeekBench 6 single-core and multi-core tests. Lenovo has also addressed criticism of the battery life in previous ThinkPad models, with our battery video test pushing the machine to run for 20 hours and 45 minutes – far ahead of the MacBook Air.

A much-overlooked element of laptops for digital nomads is the keyboard and touchpad. Whether you're working from home or on the go, this is just as important as build quality in making the overall experience of using the machine a good one. In the X1 Carbon's limited space, it fits a responsive trackpad with optional haptics, a solid keyboard with excellent travel, a fingerprint scanner, a Copilot key for AI tasks, and of course, the iconic red TrackPoint that makes it even easier to use in confined spaces.

For more information, read our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition review

How we test

For laptops, IT Pro runs a series of tests on the display, CPU, battery, and storage, with the exact line-up of tests dependent on the laptop and its main usage scenarios. Our aim is to give you a metric for comparison so that you can make an informed decision.

For performance testing, we use Geekbench 6 as a cross-platform, baseline test, and PC Mark 10 and 3Dmark to provide a measure of real-world application and 3D performance. We may also incorporate other benchmarks, including the Cinebench R24 and 2024 3D rendering tests, the SPECViewPerf 2020 professional graphics benchmark, and the Geekbench AI and Procyon AI Computer Vision and AI Inference benchmarks.

For the display, we use a colorimeter to measure maximum brightness, contrast, and color reproduction for the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts. We also test against the sRGB profile for color accuracy. We also use the CrystalDiskMark and AS-SSD storage benchmarks to test the sequential and random read/write speeds of the onboard SSD.

Finally, we test battery life with a looped video test. The device is fully charged and the screen set to a specific brightness level of 170cd/m2. We then time how long the video keeps playing before the laptop reaches a critical brightness level and switches off. This gives us a time score we can compare with other laptops and helps us estimate how long the laptop will last during working hours.