 We all have smartphones and a lot of us also have tablets. But when it comes time to get a lot of work done, nothing beats a trusty old laptop. A laptop is great whenever you need to do a lot of typing, multitask between a bunch of different programs, or really plow through your inbox. The options for laptops are seemingly endless and can be daunting. And if you choose the wrong one, you'll be living with that mistake for years. A good laptop is easily portable, fast enough for multitasking, has a great keyboard and trackpad, has a display that's bright and easy on your eyes, and lasts all day without needing to be plugged in. There are a lot of laptops that offer some of those qualities, but the best laptop for the most people hits all of the marks. If you want the best all-around laptop that you can get, the 13-inch MacBook Air is the one you should buy. That shouldn't really be a surprise. The MacBook Air has been the gold standard for years because it hits all of the marks you need for a great laptop computer. It's super thin, really light, really well built, and has a best-in-class keyboard and trackpad. Outside of gaming or video editing, the base MacBook Air is fast enough for the vast majority of things you need to do with a laptop. The Air's display isn't as good as the displays on the larger and heavier MacBook Pros, but it's bright and good enough for web browsing and watching video. It also has awesome battery life, easily topping 12 hours away from an outlet, something that the new, even thinner MacBook can't come close to. The MacBook Air isn't cheap, but if you use your computer for many hours a day, it's worth the investment. If you want a Windows computer, the options for you are even more daunting, but Dell's XPS 13 is an excellent laptop. It's thin and light, just like the MacBook, has an even nicer display, and is powerful enough in any configuration for most any task. The XPS 13's keyboard is excellent, and while its battery life and trackpad can't quite match the MacBook Air, neither are deal-breakers. Other Windows laptops, like Microsoft's Surface Pro 3, try to be both a tablet and a laptop at the same time, but they're not really great at either. It's a classic jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none problem. If you want a tablet, get a tablet, but if you need a laptop, you should really focus on getting a great laptop. There are a ton of cheap Windows laptops, but if your budget is really tight, we strongly recommend considering a Chromebook. Toshiba's Chromebook 2 is a great option, it's got a great screen and fast performance, and only costs a few hundred dollars. Picking the right laptop is a big decision. This is a machine you're likely to use day in and day out for at least a few years. Do yourself a favor and make the right decision. And right now, the right decision for the most people is the 13-inch MacBook Air.