15-inch device from Stiftung Warentest: Good notebooks don't have to be expensive

Stiftung Warentest assessed 13 current notebooks with display sizes between 15 and 16 inches. The clear test winner is the sinfully expensive Apple MacBook Pro for 2700 euros. But there are also good devices for less than 900 euros, the cheapest of which only costs around 700 euros.

Because many people work at home in the Corona crisis, the demand for notebooks has risen significantly again this year after a long dry spell. Compared to the same period of the previous year, according to Statista, sales worldwide increased from 10.25 million devices in the same period last year to 14.58 million in the third quarter of 2020. Laptops with displays between 15 and 16 inches are particularly popular. Stiftung Warentest has tested 13 current notebooks of this size class.

Apple dominates, price-performance winners are others

With an overall grade of 1.8, the won by a large margin Apple MacBook Pro (16 inches) overall victory. It offers the best performance, the best display, the most long-lasting battery and otherwise does at least well in almost every category. Only the handling was found to be satisfactory (2.6). With an average price of 2700 euros, the MacBook Pro is also extremely expensive.

Much cheaper good devices can be found in the tested Windows laptops, none of them are more than 850 euros. The best cut here Asus VivoBook S15 (830 euros), the Dell Inspiron 15 5590 (850 euros) and that Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15IIL (800 euros). All three received the quality rating 2.3.

The Asus laptop is the only test candidate besides Apple's number one to offer a very good display (1.5) and is one of the few devices with good handling (2.4). However, its battery performance is only satisfactory (3.0). The Lenovo notebook scores with its functions (2.1) and a good display (2.0). The Dell laptop performs consistently well, only its handling is satisfactory (2.7).

Good and cheap or good and sustainable

The cheapest good notebook, which you can get for less than 700 euros, does hardly worse. The Acer Aspire 5 (A515-54) received an overall grade of 2.4 and is on par with the Windows devices placed before it in almost all categories. The Acer laptop missed an even better rating due to its somewhat weaker display, which the product test found only satisfactory (2.6). In return, however, the device offers the best battery performance after the MacBook Pro (2.1).

Good (2.5) cut that too Wortmann Terra Mobile 1516 for around 820 euros. The German laptop is much thicker, but more sustainable than the streamlined competition. Among other things, it offers a DVD burner, a VGA monitor socket as well as an exchangeable battery and exchangeable hard and working memory. In return, some users are happy to accept a screen that is not quite as good (2.8) and a weaker battery performance (2.8).