Examined: the very best laptop computer productiveness chip in 2026 was made in 2024

When evaluating productiveness laptops, two key options that I start with are workplace efficiency and battery life: How effectively can I work, and the way lengthy can I work for?

PCWorld’s checklist of really useful laptops is already divided up into a number of classes, for avid gamers, worth customers, and so forth. And you could find a terrific laptop computer in that checklist, reviewed and examined by PCWorld staffers and their colleagues.

Right here, although, I’ve taken a distinct strategy. Every processor producer often sends a consultant laptop computer to reviewers as the very best instance of what their chips can do. Consider it like a Miss America pageant, however with nerdy white-collar employees competing to assert the productiveness crown. I’ve taken most of those laptops, gathered over the previous months and years, and put them to the check: particularly in workplace functions, and working these workplace functions for so long as attainable. My pondering is that earlier than you select a laptop computer to purchase, you need to know the way productive that laptop computer chip might be.

PCWorld has historically examined battery life by downloading and looping a pre-recorded video till the battery expires, however that’s not how folks watch films on their laptops. As an alternative, right here I exploit a Netflix streaming check with the anime One Piece as a centerpiece. My objective is to learn how consultant productiveness laptops reach an on a regular basis work setting. This check additionally coincides with the discharge of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Excessive, which Qualcomm designed for power-efficient, performant work environments.

There’s one caveat: On the final spherical of testing, after I had compiled days of efficiency testing and battery exams, the Asus A14 (UX3607O) laptop computer housing the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Excessive chip refused as well or maintain a cost. That doesn’t invalidate my testing, although it’d bitter you on that exact pocket book.

Placing the chips to the check

What I need to know is how effectively every laptop computer runs the Microsoft 365 / Workplace apps: Phrase, PowerPoint, and Excel. Luckily, two benchmarks from UL do exactly this. The primary, PCMark 10, runs these three apps in a specialised “Apps” check, including Microsoft Edge’s searching capabilities to the combination. Its successor, Procyon, swaps Edge for Outlook. Usually, I’d take into account the usual PCMark 10 benchmark as a substitute, because it provides specialised functions like CAD and light-weight gaming. However there’s a catch: A few of its exams had been (initially) incompatible with Arm processors.

For compatibility’s sake, then, I caught with the older PCMark Apps check. Procyon, nonetheless, additionally features a nifty battery rundown check, which simulates the identical workplace work because the battery expires. I solely point out it as a result of my testing mentions each.

For this check, I pitted the Microsoft Floor Professional (2024) with a first-generation 4.0GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon X1E-80-100 chip inside in opposition to the brand new Asus A14 (UX3607O) laptop computer, with a second-gen 4.7GHz Snapdragon X2E-94-100 processor. To symbolize Intel, I used a Core Extremely 200-series (Lunar Lake) chip contained in the MSI Status 16 AI Evo, and a Core Extremely 300-series chip (Panther Lake), housed contained in the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407A). AMD’s consultant processor, the Ryzen AI 300, is discovered throughout the Asus ZenBook S 16 laptop computer. I additionally included two legacy gadgets, the Microsoft Floor Professional 9 (5G) with the Microsoft-Qualcomm SQ3 Arm chip inside, and the first-gen Core Extremely (Meteor Lake) processor contained in the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED.

Which laptop computer processor is finest for workplace work in 2026?

Once we take into account Microsoft’s Workplace apps alone, the info is fairly clear.

Intel’s Core Extremely 300 (Panther Lake) chips outperform every little thing else by a big quantity, although Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon X2 Elite makes a valiant effort to overhaul it. AMD’s last-generation Ryzen AI 300 processor finishes in the midst of the pack. (Although AMD introduced its Ryzen AI 400 processor at CES in January, we’ve but to obtain a laptop computer with one inside it.) The excellent graphics capabilities of Intel’s Panther Lake chip doesn’t actually meaningfully have an effect on these scores.

Mark Hachman / Foundry

All this check tells you, although, is a quantity. What does it really imply in real-world efficiency?

In sure instances, not that a lot. PCMark 10’s Apps use “small” doc sizes, whereas the next-gen Procyon exams use bigger, extra complicated recordsdata. In PCMark 10, for instance, it takes the Floor Professional (2024) about 2 seconds to launch Phrase; it takes the Asus ZenBook Duo (Panther Lake) about 0.5 seconds. In Excel, it takes the Floor 0.47 seconds to resize the doc, versus 0.43 seconds. The distinction, below these older exams, is uniformly small.

Procyon’s check suite teaches a distinct lesson: Fashionable employees use bigger information units, and the variations in productiveness turn into magnified.

Utilizing Procyon, the Floor Professional exported a check doc as a PDF in Phrase in 18 seconds; it took the Panther Lake machine 11 seconds to compete the identical job. Fixing a collection of check equations took 7.5 seconds on the Floor Professional, and 4.7 seconds on the Panther Lake machine. In Outlook, it took the Professional 8 seconds to seek for a particular e-mail, versus about 5 seconds for Panther Lake. Once more, these are usually the very best and worst performers throughout these efficiency exams.

So, sure, these variations could also be vital — or possibly they’re not! Bear in mind, all of those little duties will usually add up in the course of the course of a workday. However whether or not they’re true annoyances or one thing which you could reside with will differ from person to person.

To me, battery life is one other essential metric — however once more, there are some issues to be careful for. An even bigger battery permits for a much bigger “gasoline tank” of battery energy. Right here, I needed to winnow down the sector considerably to only embody the newest laptop computer generations that we examined utilizing the UL Procyon benchmark.

Mark Hachman / Foundry

From a battery life perspective, the Core Extremely Collection 2 (Lunar Lake) laptop computer simply outlasted the opposite opponents. Panther Lake got here second — helped considerably by its 99Wh battery. That’s the utmost capability allowed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aboard a home flight. It additionally provides to the load and thickness of the laptop computer.

Merely attaching a huge battery to a laptop computer, nonetheless, doesn’t intrinsically make it extra environment friendly. In a way, it feels a bit like dishonest! Not each Panther Lake laptop computer will embody a 99Wh battery, and there needs to be a manner of checking if a lighter laptop computer with a smaller battery could possibly be used as a substitute.

I’ve used an arbitrary “productiveness index” to try to reconcile the 2. Multiplying the PCMark rating by the battery life in hours represents the entire “work” performed, which might then be divided by the dimensions of the battery in watt-hours. This offers us the entire work performed per watt-hour of battery life, which tells us what essentially the most environment friendly laptop computer processor platform is: Intel’s older Core Extremely 200 chip household, code-named Lunar Lake.

Mark Hachman / Foundry

A few of you might merely need the very best performing laptop computer. Others could merely need the very best laptop computer offers. Each methods make excellent sense, particularly for those who’re trying to save cash by contemplating an older laptop computer. And you need to! My exams present that Intel’s older Core 200 and the last-gen Snapdragon X1 Elite are essentially the most environment friendly laptops when it comes to extended efficiency, even when the newer fashions outperform them.

Both manner, I hope you begin interested by productiveness laptops the best way I do: not simply as a set of numbers, however when it comes to real-world worth for what they will do and for a way lengthy!