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The Best Computers and Desk Accessories of 2023

We round up our favorite computers and desktop gadgets for your remote workstation. These are the best of the best in 2023.

a laptop with colored squares

By Tucker Bowe

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This story is part of the 2023 Gear Patrol Tech Awards. To see the full list of winners, click here.

Most of us don’t have dedicated devices for work and play — we use the same computer and smartphone (and maybe tablet) when we’re on and off the clock — and that means that the devices that we own are ever-so important. But everybody does things a little bit different. For those looking to create an organized home workstation or just upgrade one component in their existing setup— be their monitor, speakers or mouse — this is where you should start.

We’ve reviewed a lot of laptops, tablets and desktop accessories over the years. Below you’ll find our favorites of 2023.

To learn more about our testing methodology and how we evaluate products, head here.

The M2 MacBook Air is an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a new laptop. It’s a gorgeous lightweight laptop with a wonderfully click-y keyboard and smart features like MagSafe charging and Touch ID. More importantly, it’s decked out with Apple’s super-impressive M2 chip, which has more power than most everyday computer users will ever need.

RELATED: Read Our Review

The 2023-released MacBook Pros are the answer for anybody that wants the best all-around MacBook. They’ve got the best displays, the longest-lasting battery, better speakers, a more diverse port selection — and most significantly, you can deck them out with Apple’s M2 Pro or M2 Max chipsets. Both 14-inch and 16-models are available.

RELATED: Read Our Review

The Dell XPS 13 is our pick for the best lightweight Windows laptop. It has a gorgeous, slim design, an edge-to-edge display, a wonderful trackpad and keyboards, and you can configure it with Intel’s 12th-gen processors. It’s also a good deal cheaper than the MacBook Air.

RELATED: What You Need for Your Home Office

The Galaxy Book3 Ultra is a bonafide MacBook Pro alternative. It’s Samsung’s top-of-the-line 16-inch laptop for creators and pro users. It has a big, beautiful display, a sleek metal design, a beefy battery and enough power and graphics for most complex editing tasks. And if you have a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, you can streamline your workflows thanks to some really tight integrated software features.

RELATED: What You Need for Your Home Office

The Mac Mini is a little powerhouse that can be configured with either of Apple’s M2 or M2 Pro chipsets. It’s completely modular — you can pair it with the wireless keyboard, mouse and monitor of your choice — making an ideal machine to build your home workstation around. It’s also the most affordable new Mac you can buy.

Logitech Brio 500Amazon

Best All-Around External Webcam

Logitech Brio 500

The Logitech Brio 500 is our favorite external webcam. It’s easy to setup and use; it delivers a good high-def picture; it even has advanced software capabilities to help better keep you in the frame. It’s a standout in looks because of its cylindrical design, and in privacy thanks to its rotating shutter, which you can manually open and close to give you extra peace of mind.

RELATED: The Best Webcams

The Dell UltraSharp U2723QE is an awesome 27-inch external 4K monitor. It’s a standout for its beautiful, slim design, gorgeous image quality and generous array of ports. It’s the perfect display for a home workstation … and it’s a third of the price of Apple’s Studio Display.

RELATED: The Best Portable Monitors

If you’re looking to upgrade to a new iPad, the 2022-released iPad Air is your best bet. It has the look and feel of an iPad Pro — and even supports many of the same accessories — but doesn’t demand quite as high of an outlay of cash. It’s also decked out with Apple’s M1 chip, which is probably overkill for a tablet, but ensures that your iPad Air will run well for years to come.

RELATED: Read Our Review

The Pixel Tablet is the first Android Tablet that Google has made in years — and it’s fun. It’s a 11-inch tablet and feels like a big-screen Pixel smartphone; in fact, it’s powered by the same chip (Tensor G2) that’s in last year’s Pixel 7. The coolest thing about the Pixel Tablet, however, is that it comes with a speaker dock that transforms it into a Google Assistant smart display.

RELATED: Read Our Review

The Audioengine A2+ Wireless are a fantastic and versatile little desktop audio system. They connect to your laptop or desktop via a 3.5mm jack, but they RCA connections as well meaning you could even hook them up to a turntable or hi-fi system. And they have built-in Bluetooth, too, meaning you can stream music straight from your smartphone.

RELATED: The Best Computer Speakers

The 2022-released MX Master 3S is a more refined version of what was already our favorite productivity-focused wireless mouse: Logitech’s MX Master 3. The “3S” model has the same ergonomic design, dual scroll wheels and customizable buttons, but it’s more sensitive and significantly more quiet (which is a big thing for those back in the office).

RELATED: What You Need for Your Home Office

Logitech’s 2023-released MX Keys S is an excellent wireless keyboard that works with PC and Macs. It’s similar in size, profile and “clickiness” to Apple’s Magic Keyboard, so it will no-doubt feel familiar to a lot of people. The kicker is that it comes with some special software — called Smart Actions — that allows you to customize the keyboard and so that it works better for you.

RELATED: What You Need for Your Home Office

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