Most laptops you’ll run across in-store or at your favorite online seller will run Windows (unless the seller is named “Apple”), but Microsoft’s best-known product isn’t necessarily the best operating system for everyone. Thanks to the ascendance in recent years of Google’s ChromeOS up the ranks of budget laptops, you now have an alternative to Windows at every price level. The tipping point for non-Windows laptops is around $1,000; above a grand, your main alternative to a Windows machine is a MacBook; below it, it’s a Chromebook. Today, laptops based on ChromeOS are the primary alternatives to budget-priced Windows laptops. A Chromebook could be a fine, value-minded choice for someone who needs a laptop just to watch movies, create text documents, write emails, and putter around in basic spreadsheets. With a Chromebook, the main features you will really need from your laptop are a decent screen and a comfortable keyboard, since cloud services like Google Drive can handle most of your storage and processing needs. And, if you still insist on key creature comforts, you can find midrange Chromebooks with full-HD (1080p) displays and comfortable keyboards just as easily as you can find bargain-basement ones these days. PC Labs has tested Chromebooks all across the market, including clamshell models, convertibles, and even a few detachable 2-in-1 Chrome tablets. (We've detailed our top Chromebook pick in our lineup of favorites above.) For people with similar needs but larger budgets, an Apple MacBook might be the way to go, assuming you’re cool with running your day-to-day computing life on macOS. You won’t find a “cheap” MacBook anywhere in the Apple family, but you will find solid industrial design, universally excellent battery life, and a ton of built-in apps to manage your multimedia collection and sync with your iCloud account and the rest of your Apple devices.  Higher-end MacBook Pros also suit content creators, with the option for a 16-inch Retina display and for CPUs up to Intel’s Core i9. One of the most significant Mac-laptop drawbacks is a total lack of touch-screen support, which is an option in various ChromeOS and Windows machines.   A Windows-based machine affords access to the widest range of software, including most AAA games; the subset of popular, first-rank game titles is much smaller on macOS, and games on ChromeOS are limited to what runs in a browser, or that you can download as an Android app or from the Chrome Web Store. A Windows machine also offers the most form-factor flexibility. A few Chromebooks have designs built around detachable or foldable keyboards, letting you use them as tablets, but Windows offers a far broader selection of these flexible physical designs.  In fact, the vast number of Windows devices means Microsoft’s OS gives you the most flexibility in choosing a laptop, period. Most of the rest of your buying decisions, which we’ll address below, are therefore relevant mainly to Windows machines. (We’ll be sure to note when Macs or Chromebooks offer a certain feature as well, however.)