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- Each year, laptops
are one of the most

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well represented categories in
our back to school gear guide.

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And for good reason.

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With the exception of
the relative few who

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prefer desktops, for almost
every other student setting

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foot on campus this
fall a notebook

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is going to be one
of the most important

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tools at their disposal.

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And it's no minor purchase
either, with our favorite ultra

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portables costing north of
$1,000 and even a decent budget

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model setting you
back at least 500.

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And once you do
make the investment,

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it's something you're not
likely to replace for 3,

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4, or who knows how many years.

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For the purposes
of this guide, we

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are going to focus on
what Engadget considers

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to be the best of the best.

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Our philosophy is a laptop is
one of the most critical pieces

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of gear a student
needs, and it's worth

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investing in build quality,
performance, and battery

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life that will stand
the test of time.

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And don't worry, we have
lots of picks for gaming

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laptops specifically.

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You're going to
want to check out

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the gaming section of our back
to school guide just for that.

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Right now, we're just
thinking about the best

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all around laptops--

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the best for most people
in most use cases.

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So without further ado,
here's what we would buy if we

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were spending our own money.

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First up, Microsoft's
Surface Laptop 2.

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Looking at the online
store, it is no secret who

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the Surface Laptop 2 is for.

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Hint, Microsoft compares
its ultra portable

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to the MacBook Air no less than
four times on its product page.

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Indeed, if you were looking
for something similarly

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thin and light
that runs Windows,

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the 13 and 1/2 inch Surface
Laptop 2 weighs just

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about the same as the air and
is slimmer too, as Microsoft

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is quick to point out.

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It also offers a quad
core CPU option, which

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isn't available on the
Air, and the battery life

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was even longer in our tests--

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nearly 16 hours of
video playback all told.

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Factor in a comfortable
keyboard, responsive trackpad,

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and stylish, not at all
Mac-like, design, and we

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were hard pressed to name any
shortcomings in our review.

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If anything, we said we
would have liked to see

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two USB ports and not just one.

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Microsoft's proprietary charging
plug also disconnects a little

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too easily.

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When the machine
launched, it started

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at $999, which is already
cheaper than the MacBook Air,

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mind you, but as of this
video the entry level price is

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down to 899 with
a $300 price cut

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on every other configuration.

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Speaking of the Air,
it was a tough call,

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but when it came down to
deciding which Mac to recommend

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for our laptop guide, we went
with the 13 inch MacBook Pro

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over the Air.

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With a starting price of $1,299,
the 13 inch MacBook Pro is only

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$200 more than the 13 inch Air.

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They share a lot
of the same DNA,

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including keyboard
design, screen

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resolution, and port selection.

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For the record there,
that is two USB C sockets.

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But the entry level
Pro will get you

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faster performance with a
quad core CPU and a screen

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with a wider color range.

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That's it.

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You can't go wrong
with the Air either,

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which is a quarter pound lighter
and has the same touch ID

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fingerprint sensor now
included across the board

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on the Pro line.

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However, it is stuck
with only a dual core CPU

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and it retains the
physical function keys

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instead of the touch
bar, which some people

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might actually prefer.

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You have a hard choice between
two very capable machines,

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but we imagine most people
will decide the performance

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boost of MacBook Pro brings more
practical value than the Air.

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But wait, we still have a
few more Windows machines

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for your consideration.

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Now it's rare we throw
around the word perfect,

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but that's precisely how we
described the latest version

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of Dell's XPS 13
ultra portable, which

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earned an unusually high
score of 93 in our review

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earlier this year.

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The notebook, which starts at
$900, has topped best of lists

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since it first came
out four years ago,

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and it stayed current with
fast performance, a 12

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and 1/2 hour battery,
and standard issue

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Dolby vision HDR screen.

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And for those who've been
reading our reviews all

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these years, Dell finally
heeded our feedback

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and moved the webcam up to where
it belongs above the screen.

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That's right.

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No more awkward
under screen mounted

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camera to catch
you from the least

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flattering angle imaginable.

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With so many of our
boxes checked off,

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we're left with just a couple
nit picks, including the lack

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of a full sized SD card
reader, and the fact

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that some competing
machines now offer more

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powerful discrete graphics.

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Can't have everything, I guess.

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We know we just recommended
the standard Dell XPS 13,

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but the 2-in-1 in
one variant is also

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stellar and different
enough from the traditional

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clamshell version
that we felt it

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deserved its very own mention.

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Simply put, if the XPS 13 is
our favorite windows laptop,

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then the XPS 13 2-in-1 is our
favorite windows convertible.

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We like it for many
of the same reasons

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we like the regular XPS 13,
including the HDR display

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and better placed webcam.

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But we also appreciate it's
taller 16 by 10 13.4 inch

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screen, large keys,
and premium design,

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which features
more metal elements

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than the regular XPS 13.

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It is slightly more
expensive than the XPS 13,

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with a starting price
of $1,000 compared

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with 900 for the regular 13.

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Lastly, if you're
serious about PC gaming,

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consider the Asus ZenBook S13.

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Again, we have an entire section
in our back to school guide

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for gaming laptops,
plus a couple picks

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on our desktop list, but we are
calling out the Asus ZenBook

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S13 here because it doubles as
both a gaming laptop and a more

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mainstream ultra
portable notebook you

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can use for everything else.

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Inside the system's
lightweight 2 and 1/2 pound

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frame is a discrete NVIDIA MX150
GPU and a nearly bezel less

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13.9 inch screen, with
a battery large enough

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to last 12 and 1/2 hours in our
standard video playback test.

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If you're shopping
here in the US,

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you've got one basic
configuration, a Core i7

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processor with eight
gigabytes of memory

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and a 512 gigabyte SSD.

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That'll cost you $1,299.

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But there's also a variant
with 16 gigs of RAM for 1399.

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In addition to the
S13's performance chops,

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we're also fans of its
comfortable keyboard,

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smooth trackpad, and
relatively full port selection,

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which includes two
USB C sockets and one

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full sized USB connection.

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Sure, we have a couple quibbles.

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The fingerprint
sensor is oddly placed

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and the webcam could be better.

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But if you're
looking for an ultra

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portable you can also use for
some gaming, look no further.

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Check out our entire back
to school guide for way

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more recommendations,
and hit subscribe

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for more videos from Engadget.

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