There's nothing quite like watching a movie on a laptop. I know, a 65" 4K OLED TV is also not a bad alternative, but it's not as convenient, at least for me. Whether you're curled up in bed or sprawled out on the couch, laptops provide the perfect way to experience your favorite films, given they're picked for the job. But with so many different laptops on the market, it can take time to know which one is right for you.
This guide will show you the best laptops for watching movies in 2022. We'll help you choose the right laptop for your needs, whether you're looking for the best value, performance, or portability. We'll also give you our top picks for specific movie-watching scenarios – small notebooks that are just a bit more than a tablet with a stand and large workstation-like laptops that can double as a work machine.
So whether you're looking for the best way to watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy or want to find an excellent laptop for Netflix, read on for our recommendations.
Without further ado, let's jump into (queue the opening sequence).
How to choose the right processor for Watching movies?
Picking the right processor for watching movies is one of the most important decisions you'll have to make when choosing a laptop. If you don't have a firm grasp on what processors are available and what kind of performance you can expect from them, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of options.
That said, the processor market has changed significantly over the last few years. Apple has released its own ARM-based M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max and M2 system-on-chip modules, while AMD has taken 20% of the CPU market with their 6th generation Ryzen processors. We're still waiting for Intel's 13th-gen processors to reach laptops, but Intel's 12th generation is currently their latest. Intel and Apple's silicon chips both adopted hybrid performance/efficiency core designs based on big.LITTLE architectures.
Fortunately, you don't need the fastest processor available on the market to watch movies. What you need is adequate performance and, depending on your budget, good battery life. That's why I'd recommend looking for Apple's M-series, AMD/Intel U-series, or Intel's P-series processors – these have a better balance between performance and battery life than H-series processors, which are usually found in gaming laptops.
In terms of performance, you can check out benchmarks like Cinebench (I prefer Cinebench R23 as it's more up-to-date) or PassMark to get an idea of what to expect. Here's what you should aim for in each budget range:
Price Range | Recommended Processor |
---|---|
Minimum | Any up-to-date processor |
Mid-Range | i3-1215U; Ryzen 5 5500U |
High-End | i7-1260P; Ryzen 5 6600U; Apple M2 |
Ultimately, you should also consider thermals, battery life and whether the laptop you're looking at has multiple chips (if you're on a tight budget). All things considered, you should be able to find a good processor for watching movies within your budget!
How to choose the right graphics for Watching movies?
The laptop graphics card market has changed a lot in the past few years. Nvidia's RTX 30 series continues to dominate the scene and its latest notebook GPUs are now in RTX 30 series. Unfortunately, this is also when Nvidia has discontinued the Max-Q label; now, an exact GPU wattage is determined by a laptop manufacturer (OEM). This leads to a wide variance in graphics performance even in laptops with the same GPU chipset.
If you're looking to watch movies and listen to music, you don't need a dedicated graphics card at all. Even the simplest integrated graphics chips are more than enough for most media consumption tasks. However, if you're into gaming or professional work, then you'll need a discrete graphics card that can deliver better performance.
When considering a GPU for media consumption, look for a laptop with an integrated GPU that offers good performance and battery life. Intel's Iris Xe and AMD's RDNA 2 are great choices for high-end integrated GPUs. If you're looking for an even better performance, the RTX 3060 is a good mid-range option for gaming laptops.
To help you decide on the best laptop graphics card for watching movies, we've put together this guide:
Price Bracket | Recommended GPUs |
---|---|
Up to $500 | Integrated GPU |
$500 – $1000 | High-end Integrated GPU (Iris Xe, AMD RDNA 2) |
$1000+ | RTX 3060 |
Choosing the right storage for Watching movies
When it comes to picking a laptop SSD for watching movies, most people don't need to overthink it too much – the market is so dominated by SSDs now, and the majority of them are PCIe M.2 NVMe, that you don't need to worry about performance too much.
But what about the storage? A lot of budget and mid-range laptops come with 500 GB, which is just enough for the average user. Sure, some people still rip their movies from DVD, but most people get by with just streaming services. So if you want to stay in the budget range, I'd say go for 500 GB if you can find it.
If you're a power user, you may want to consider more storage than that. Some mid-range and high-end laptops come with 1 TB and even 2 TB of storage, and if you're a fan of downloading movies from certain sites, it may be worthwhile getting a laptop with as much storage out of the box as possible.
If you have a bit of budget left over, I'd recommend spending it on getting a good display panel instead of storage. After all, while storage is important, you don't want your movies to look like crap, do you?
As for recommendations, here's a table summarizing the average SSD prices for every budget, and what I'd recommend for each price bracket.
Price Range | Average Price | Recommended |
---|---|---|
< $900 | 250 GB | 500 GB |
$900 – $1.5k | 500 GB | 1 TB |
> $2k | 1 TB | 2 TB |
Choosing the right display for Watching movies
It’s no secret that a great display is a must for a great movie-watching experience. And finding the right laptop display for the job can be tricky. But don’t worry – we got you covered.
When shopping for a laptop for movie-watching, there are several factors to consider. First and foremost, you’ll want to look at the display size and resolution. The current standard is an IPS or IPS-level screen, whereas TN is only found in the cheapest laptops. Full HD is still the most common display resolution. QHD is most frequent in premium gaming/business laptops, while 4K is most common in professional notebooks for creators.
You might think that getting a laptop with a high refresh rate screen would be a good idea, but keep in mind that movies are usually shot in 24 frames per second, and you won’t get any benefit from the high refresh rate.
Brightness, contrast, and color space coverage are also important for a great viewing experience. When watching movies in a dark room, I prefer displays with wide color gamut coverage since it makes colors pop out more and helps with the contrast ratio. However, if you often watch in bright daylight conditions – pay more attention to raw brightness, measured in nits. Another thing to look for is whether or not your laptop has any extra features such as HDR support or wide color gamut coverage – Display P3, which is used by the cinema industry.
Now that you know what to look for, let’s break down what specs you can expect at each price range. As a minimum, you should look for an IPS display with 300 nits brightness. To get the most out of your viewing experience, you’ll want to look for something with 350 nits brightness and 90% Adobe RGB coverage. If you’re really looking to go all-out, look for an IPS mini LED/OLED display with 400 nits brightness and 95%+ P3 coverage.
With all of this in mind, you should be able to pick the perfect laptop display for watching movies!
Battery
The past few years have seen some great leaps forward in terms of battery tech and its ability to provide decent battery life, even for budget laptops. However, more power-hungry components like CPU, GPU, and high refresh rate displays can take their toll on your laptop’s battery life.
So, if you're planning on watching multiple movies while away from an outlet, you need to consider the type of battery that can handle the load. At minimum, you'll want a laptop battery with a capacity of 4,000 mAh or higher, which should offer you a runtime of 6 hours – plenty of time to watch 2 or 3 movies!
For those looking for something that can last longer, 8 hours of battery life should do the trick. You can find this with a slightly bigger battery capacity (around 50Wh), which is still pretty reasonable for most laptops. High-end laptop batteries may be able to squeeze out 12 hours or more of battery life, so if you need more longevity, those might be worth considering.
When looking for a good laptop battery, it's important to pay attention to benchmarks and capacity ratings. Generally speaking, the higher the battery capacity and benchmark rating, the better it should be for prolonged movie watching sessions. We use an aggregate rating from various 3rd party review sites in our battery ratings, which can help you determine how good a battery is.
Finally, here's a table to give you an idea of how much battery life you can expect from different types of laptop batteries:
Battery Capacity | Expected Battery Life |
---|---|
4,000 mAh | 6 hours |
50Wh | 8 hours |
70Wh | 12+ hours |
4 Best Laptops for Watching movies
1.Acer Swift 3 SF314-59-75QC
Acer Swift 3 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly- Attractive aluminum chassis
- IPS display with wide sRGB color gamut
- Fast SSD storage
- Great battery life
- Display does not get bright enough
- Uncomfortable keyboard for extended typing
- No touch support for the display
Summary
The Acer Swift 3 SF314-59-75QC offers an attractive aluminum chassis, an IPS display with a wide sRGB color gamut, fast SSD storage, and great battery life, making it a great laptop for watching movies. It's fairly lightweight, which makes it easy to carry around, but its display does not get bright enough and the keyboard is uncomfortable for extended typing sessions.
Reviews
Alternatives
Lenovo ThinkBook 15 G3
- Portable lightweight
- Ryzen 5 APU for smooth streaming
- Display contrast and brightness could be better
- Permanently soldered-on RAM
Summary
For movie watchers, the ASUS Zenbook 14 is an excellent choice. It features a bright, crisp display, low weight, long battery life, and fast processor, making it the perfect companion for any movie marathon. Pros include a compact size, impressive sound quality, good battery life, and fast processor. Cons include only a few ports, no expandable RAM, and hot air that can blow directly into the screen.
Reviews
Alternatives
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 9i
3.HP
An Ideal Movie Watching Companion- Use of premium materials
- Great trackpad and keyboard
- Good performance
- Good integrated speakers (Bang Olufsen)
- Few ports
- Subpar display
Summary
The HP laptop is a great companion for movie lovers, with its premium materials, excellent trackpad and keyboard, good performance, and great integrated speakers. However, it is let down by a subpar display and a lack of ports.
Reviews
Alternatives
Apple MacBook Pro 14
- Excellent display with accurate colors and high HDR brightness
- Long battery runtime
- Notch (affects the functionality)
- SDR brightness limited to 500 nits
Summary
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 is a great choice for those looking for a powerful laptop to watch movies. The Pro and Max SoCs are powerful enough to handle high-definition video playback, while the 120Hz display and HDR support provide an excellent viewing experience. Plus, the battery will easily last over nine hours of video playback, and the speakers provide an immersive audio experience. However, the lack of touch support and the 16:10 aspect ratio might be an issue for some.
Reviews
Alternatives
Apple MacBook Pro
- Splendid processor (Apple M1 Max)
- Exceptional display (16 mini-LED)
- No IPS Panel (limited viewing angles)
Table of the Best Laptops for Watching movies
Laptop | Price (approx) |
Acer Swift 3 SF314-59-75QC | |
ASUS Zenbook | |
HP | |
Apple MacBook Pro |
I recently purchased the Acer Chromebook CB3-131-C3SZ. When streaming the Olympics or anything from NBC.com to AMC.com, wired or wireless, it stutters and sometimes freezes. I do the very same thing on my 2011 Mac Book Pro and no stutters or freezes. What can be going on?
How you’re using a wired connection as there’s no LAN port in the Chromebook? USB modem, LAN/Ethernet to USB adapter? Right now, it sounds as a wireless internet issue.
There’s a Reddit thread on fixing video strutter.
When determining the quality of a display you have missed an essential element, PPI. The Pixels Per Inch make a big difference on how crisp and clear the image will be. You can have 2 1920×1080 displays, but if one has 135ppi and the other has 226 ppi, one will look like crap next to the other. Manufacturers of lesser HD displays often hide the PPI. Only the manufacturers of high end displays boast (rightfully so) about a high PPI.
What is best movie watching with 17.3 screen?? Nothing complicated – using AmazonPrime for movies, tv show, email and search engine. thank you.
I would like a 17.3 or larger screen. Thank you.
I am currently looking for a laptop to connect to a TV monitor (41 inch or larger) and watch movies from that. (Netflix, Amazon etc.). Do the same standards apply for this usage, or is something more required to get a good picture on a larger screen?
Thank you for any advice.
Thanks for the review, Zyg. This gave me some good ideas about what to look for. Good speakers and sound are important to me as well.
Yes,size of screen is probably top priority for most. 17″ or bigger. And for me a beautiful picture.
Hust wanted to thank you for writng this article. I found it very useful!
i found this article terrific. Older and tech stupid, i print the article and went shopping for the inspire on 12 hr plane trips. Thank you
I’m a cord cutter and currently use Plex Media server, stored on my PC, and Roku, to watch all of my content. I’m in Canada, so I also use a VPN to watch American content.
I need a laptop to download my Plex server to so that I can travel with it. I don’t store movies, etc, just stream from Primewire, networks, etc, through Plex. At home it would be my media centre through my smart tv and Roku. What should I buy?
Thank you Steve
Awesome post for movie lovers who want to watch the movie at their room. Allstockin offer Top 5 Best Budget Refurbished Laptops under $100 for people who have low budget and also for gaming lovers.
The MacBook Air does not have a IPS display, its the only MacBook that does not have one. Its pretty good and better then most TN screens on cheap Windows notebooks. But you’ll have to buy a MacBook or MacBook Pro to get a good Retina IPS display. Let’s also remember not all IPS screen are of the same quality just like a TN screen. IPS is just a type of screen rendering technology and does not guarantee image quality or color accuracy. Some have weaker brightness which may not be great in a brightly lit room or outside. Read reviews carefully on screen quality which in my book is a priority over anything else given your eyes will thank you for a good quality screen.
I just purchased the new MacBook Air it has no cd drive , no USB ports so u have to buy a cable but how u buy a cd driven , super fast and nice view , but disappointed so now what/ cry
I use all the streaming sites at one time or another, I also search web, and goof off on social sites. What’s a reliable laptop for a retired person, that just wants to plug a HDMI to it and to a TV.? I’m giving my nice one to my sis who does a bunch of things with it, but I don’t need all the bells and whistles, just want to watch my movies on it, w/o buying new TV’s. I’m not that into it just yet.
The information given above is highly relevant.
Your opinion of the Lenovo Yoga C940 2in1 14″. I’ve had my eye on it, but I’d like your opinion for streaming and in general as well. I’ve heard fan is loud and fan is not loud??
Would the Acer Nitro 5 be a good buy for watching YouTube, live streaming, and general surfing the web?
would you get the 17 inch screen?
Want something, that will not buffer in 1080 mode.
Many thanks for this post. I’ve been following this
website for a couple of weeks now, and I seldom post a comment on any articles.
However, credit where it’s due, I really like this article.
Please keep up the great work.I’m taking in as much advice as possible so I can have
a exceptional wedding next year.
retired and on a budget.. me and my husband like to watch movies in bed- currently using the I pad pro.. What would you recommend with a 17″ in screen – to watch movies with- we do not save any movies- and one that will last a day on a full charge . Thanks