Acer Swift 3X (SF314)

The Acer Swift 3X offers more powerful specs than most laptops you’ll be able to find at its price point, with a standout display and battery life, and it manages to do so while being quite light and portable. It’s a step above machines with Intel’s integrated graphics, and a step below anything with a half-decent Nvidia GPU. That’s the clearest case in its favor — and if that sort of laptop is what you’re looking for, you may be uniquely suited to the 3X. The major competitor at this weight and price point I can think of is the Asus ZenBook 14, which can come with an entry-level Nvidia GPU, but the chips in it are a generation old now, so we wouldn’t expect the same performance.

The Acer Swift 3X is an ultraportable, affordable, and competently designed laptop for creators—a combination you don't see often. Intel's Xe Max GPU unlocks strikingly good performance but only in specific creation workloads. If your work apps support Intel's Deep Link software, you'll love this.