The best PC hardware and software of 2024/2025

The titans of the PC industry slugged things out in 2024, jockeying for dominance in the new AI era blossoming before our eyes.

It was most evident in laptops: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips kicked off Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC era with long life and surprisingly competitive performance, only to be rivaled by Intel’s Macbook-killing Lunar Lake chips months later. AMD, meanwhile, focused on bringing high-octane speed to Copilot+ PCs, zigging for oomph while the others zagged to endurance. With competition flourishing, PCWorld expects to review over 120 laptops by the end of the year, by far a new high water mark!

But laptops weren’t the only category laser-focused on innovation and performance. This year, cutting-edge monitors became the norm, Thunderbolt docks and SSDs embraced newer, faster standards, Intel and AMD launched overhauled desktop CPUs, gaming handhelds got truly competitive, and the software that runs on all that hardware kept getting better and better, too.

You love to see it. With such a gluttony of choice, it became harder than ever for PC hardware and software to impress us. Few products earned our rare Editors’ Choice award. And only the very best of the best grace this list.

Without further ado, this is the Best PC Hardware and Software of 2024, as chosen by PCWorld’s editors. Congratulations to the winners – with a field this crowded, they’ve definitely earned it.

Best laptop: Dell Inspiron 14 Plus

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus

Read our review

Price When Reviewed: 1000 Euro

Best Prices Today: 998,99 € at Dell

The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is one of the most well-rounded laptops we’ve ever tested here at PCWorld. You’re getting strong performance, phenomenal battery life (17 hours on a single charge!), and a vibrant 14-inch 1400p display to boot. It hits nearly every mark and is clearly the best laptop for most people. The aesthetics are a little bland, sure, but the hardware capabilities and marathon battery life more than make up for it – and a laptop that fits in with the crowd isn’t a bad thing. -Ashley Biancuzzo

Best desktop CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D

Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry

It’s been a dour year for CPUs – AMD’s initial Ryzen 9000 lineup offered minimal performance uplift and suffered from (since-fixed) Windows-related performance woes, while Intel’s radical new Core Ultra chips wound up being slower than their predecessors in gaming. But things ended with a bang courtesy of AMD’s jaw-dropping Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

Thanks to a second-generation V-Cache that eliminated the caveats required by earlier X3D models – the 9800X3D isn’t a drawback for productivity now! — AMD’s new gaming champion brought the heat against Intel. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D obliterates Intel’s flagship Core Ultra 9 285K by 25 to 30 percent on average, with the whupping hitting an almost unbelieveable 45 percent in Cyberpunk 2077.

Madness! I can’t remember the last time I witnessed a hardware beat down this relentlessly violent. If you want the single best gaming chip you can buy, the Ryzen 9 9800X3D is it – by a whole hell of a lot. -Brad Chacos

Best password manager: Dashlane

Dashlane

Read our review

Best Prices Today: $4.99 at Dashlane

As data breaches increase in number and severity, password managers have become ever more important. A good one makes staying on top of your online security easy—quickly creating strong passwords, alerting when one’s been compromised, and updating compromised or weak credentials.

Of the options out there, Dashlane’s consistency and continual feature updates have helped keep it as a long-standing favorite among our staff. Its paid Premium plan includes passkey support, passwordless login, dark web monitoring, VPN access, and even real-time phishing protection. The latter two features are a proactive stance against other dangers to your password health—a welcome touch if your online habits would benefit from extra privacy and online protection, but you haven’t yet looked into a dedicated VPN or antivirus subscription. – Alaina Yee