Best Laptops and Longest Battery Life

No matter how stacked its specs are, a laptop is useless if it can’t hold a charge. Fortunately, there are plenty of notebooks that go the distance. Using our Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi), we’ve identified the 10 longest-lasting notebooks on the market. We’re talking anywhere from 9 hours to more than 20 hours of endurance, which should more than suffice for that cross-country fight, long day of meetings or multiple, back-to-back classes.

Lenovo ThinkPad X240

Lenovo's X200 ThinkPad series is synonymous with portable productivity, and the X240 lets you get more done than ever without rushing to the nearest outlet. This lightweight laptop's built-in battery provides a good 7 hours and 40 minutes of juice, which stretches to a whopping 20 hours and 28 minutes when you upgrade from its 3-cell to its 6-cell battery. This endurance is the most we've ever gotten from a laptop without a sheet battery attached to the bottom, and makes the X240 the perfect productivity companion.

Lenovo ThinkPad T440s

One of our favorite business notebooks, the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s has the battery life to back up its strong fourth-generation Intel Core performance and vibrant display. This comfy laptop can be configured with a 3-cell battery that lasts an above-average 7 hours, but you should spend the extra $5 for the optional 6-cell battery that more than doubles that life to 14 hours and 36 minutes. The T440s also has an additional 3-cell internal battery, so you can swap out battery packs without your device going dead.

Asus X205

Not only does the Asus EeeBook X205TA offer more than 12 hours of battery life, but it's also cheap. At $199, it gives Chromebooks a run for their money while offering Windows 8.1 and solid everyday computing performance. That's all while being clad in a dark navy blue that shimmers almost purple. The thumping speakers are surprisingly good, too.

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch

The latest MacBook Air keeps the same sleek design as its predecessor and adds a zippier Core i5 processor for $100 less. The best part? You still get awesome battery life. The 13-inch Air lasted a very long 12 hours and 20 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test. Add in a comfy keyboard and touchpad and easy-to-use OS X Mavericks, and it's easy to see why this $999 Air is our favorite ultraportable value.

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina display (2014)

The robust MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina display grew even stronger for 2014, and Apple didn't have to sacrifice battery life for added power. This stylish notebook lasted 10 hours and 44 minutes on our battery test--an hour longer than the 2013 version--providing plenty of juice for photo editing, video chatting with friends or spending late nights in the studio with GarageBand.

Dell Chromebook 11 (i3)

When you’re busy living life in the cloud, you don’t want to stop and plug into the ground every few hours. That’s one reason the Dell Chromebook 11 is such a catch. This Web-based machine with a 11.6-inch display also performs admirably without a hiccup, thanks to the onboard Intel Core i3 processor. The matte finish design also ensures this little puppy will stay looking like new for quite some time.

Acer TravelMate P645

Acer's TravelMate P645 is an impressive IT powerhouse with the endurance to match. Clocking in at 9 hours and 46 minutes, the sleek P645 outlasted many of its thin-and-light competitors with more than enough juice to get through the workday. The P645 comes loaded with security features, and its staying power gives business users even more peace of mind when working remotely.

MacBook Air 11-inch (2014)

One of the best Apple laptop values ever, the updated 11-inch MacBook Air costs just $899 and includes a faster new Core i5 processor running at 1.4-GHz. With a speedy SSD under the hood, this is one of the zippiest ultraportables available. But the new Air also boasts fantastic endurance; this 2.4-pound powerhouse lasted a strong 9 hours and 19 minutes on our rundown test.

Lenovo N20p Chromebook

Affordable and long lasting: two of the hallmarks of the best Chromebooks. The 11.6-inch Lenovo N20p Chromebook meets all expectations. What sets it apart from the crowd is a touch-screen and a dual-mode rotating display. The Intel Celeron CPU inside makes for sprightly everyday performance.

Dell Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme

Built to withstand the harshest environments and every possible type of punishment, the Dell Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme is ready for anything. It features protected ports and a 14-inch resistive touch screen that's made to be read outside. Inside, you'll find discrete Nvidia graphics, an Intel Core i5 CPU and a 256GB SSD. The nearly 9 hours of runtime means you won't need to find an outlet until your workday is done.