The best PCs of 2024

For the best performance, there are few gaming PCs that can truly compete with the CyberPowerPC Luxe gaming PC. Easily capable of unshakeable 4K gaming, this titan of a PC rocks a huge RTX 3060 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and an impressive 1TB SSD storage for a vast library of games and more.

For those more inclined to creative projects, the CyberPowerPC Luxe's 32GB of RAM offers faultless multitasking, browsing and demanding software support. What's more, there are plenty of USB 3.1 slots for peripheral devices such as graphics tablets and external storage, so you'll have no trouble uploading your projects from one device to another.

The design of the PC itself is stunning, albeit perhaps too large for space-constrained users - this bulky PC tower looks the part desk-side, but might put some buyers off. Top-tier hardware, gorgeous visuals and a decent price - what more could you want?

Although many students would love a dream gaming (and studying..) rig in their room, they don't come cheap. Any student is likely to be on some sort of budget, and although this will run well enough for some light gaming while you're not writing that essay, Lenovo's IdeaCentre 5 tower PC is one of the most solid student PC options available.

Its refined yet subtle design has been solidly assembled, and the Lenovo IdeaCentre 5's mineral grey PC case is simple and practical. Inside, there's a wealth of excellent hardware to ensure your browsing or office applications will run unhindered. And that's partly down to the excellent Intel Core i7-10700 CPU, plus the generous 16GB of RAM. The SSD is only 512GB - but this can be upgraded if needed, most easily via an external SSD.

Overall, there's not much flash to this PC, no high-end graphics card, giant case or elaborate liquid cooling - which makes it perfect for packing into a car and slotting into the corner of your desk in the halls of residence.

Creatives are something of a special breed when it comes to PC specifications. Although they need a ton of grunt from the CPU and GPU, plus upgradability, they don't necessarily need the same kind of processing power as gamers. And here's a prime example - the Dell Precision 3660. The Intel Core i7 is right in the processor sweet spot, but it's the graphics card that really takes the cake for creatives here. It's an Intel UHD Graphics 770. Intel UHD Graphics 770 cards are optimised for CAD, design and other creative application workflows - they process those operations in a bespoke way, unlike gamer-oriented cards that are all geared for rendering real-time 3D gaming graphics.

As for the rest of the specs, there are a truly staggering number of high-speed ports on offer, including USB-C, USB-3 and more. Handily, there are several available from the front panel - ideal for creatives with external drives. And speaking of expandability, internally this is a monster of a build - with support for up to 28TB of RAID storage. So, If you're a serious creative who has a lot of large working files or image libraries, this is about as future-proof as you'll get.

The benefits of a mini PC are, ironically, huge. Beelink's AMD Ryzen7 5800H machine is a mini PC with a ton of grunt. Designed to sit quietly in places like living rooms, often out of sight, they're ideal for running media centre software for streaming videos straight to your TV. Others use them as small form-factor gaming machines. They don't offer the same upgrade paths as larger cases, of course, but RAM and storage are easily added. Those who like tidier desktops and simple PCs love them, as they don't compromise on power where you need it.

And to prove it, this is packing a full Ryzen7 CPU with a humongous 32GB of RAM. There's even a 1TB SSD - much like all of the other machines here. As you might expect there's only an integrated AMD graphics card included here. But, gamers can up the spec here with an external GPU if needed. But this is a mini powerhouse right out of the box for the rest of us.

As with many high-performing systems, once again this is marketed as a gaming PC. Not only do you have a respectably capable Quad Core Ryzen processor, but also a huge 16GB of RAM. The CPU and onboard graphics are fine, but it's not going to run the latest games or render video at super-high speeds and resolutions. However, It is going to run everything that a casual browser, shopper, and YouTube fan will want or need.

As for storage, the 1TB SSD is on par with many of the systems here, so you can expect a decent amount of storage and lightning-fast boot and application load times. The operating system is the latest Windows 11 Home, and the machine comes with a decent keyboard and mouse. This is one of the best starter-level PCs we've seen for the price tag. As long as you're happy with a case design that's a little gamer-oriented, this Vibox I-7 Gaming PC is our top all-around budget performer.

This PC from Veno is a monstrous build compared to the ones we've seen so far. After all, the Intel i9 processor is right up there in terms of sheer computing power. The 1TB SSD is standard fare, but again easily expanded via an external SSD or HDD. The star of the show here is the Scorp V6-21's graphics card. It's a cutting-edge 40-series NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti with 12GB of VRAM. This thing is going to render real-time 3D gaming and still have GPU power left over.

But all that silicon will need enough memory to work with - and so there's an impressive 32GB of RAM on the board to power the most demanding first-person-shooters or MMOs. Yes, you'll find gaming PCs out there with larger SSDs and liquid cooling systems for a similar cost, but you can blame some of the Scorp's price tag on that stellar Nvidia card.

Gamers will be far from the bottom of the leaderboard with this Cube Mythic machine. It's one of the best sub-£1000 gaming PCs out there and comes with a 1TB SSD. Seriously impressing us, even compared to others in this line-up, is the inclusion of a 2TB HDD. That's more than enough storage as your game library expands. Yes, it would have been better if this was an SSD, in terms of game load times, but this is a budget machine - a reliable HDD is ideal for the price. Design-wise, this is a matter of taste - the Cube Mythic is quite blocky, unlike a standard tower. So, if you're low on desk space measure up first.

As for performance, the Cube Mythic hits a welcome balance between processor power, RAM and graphics capabilities. It's not going to run AAA games at the highest resolutions and framerates, but for a budget gamer it's ideal for blasting away on games like Rocket League or Apex legends.

If there is any negative to talk about here, we would only the size and shape of it. As per its name,

Not everyone needs a lightweight home-office PC or a monster gaming rig, instead preferring a more general home PC that can handle a wide range of tasks. That's where the Lenovo ThinkStation P360 comes in. As a desktop PC, the case is refined yet rugged, simple yet practical. Inside, we have a surprisingly high level of hardware to rival even some mid-budget dedicated gaming PCs. The P360 has an Intel i7 processor - more than enough power for those looking to dabble in a spot of video editing, gaming or other resource-intensive applications.

RAM is well-considered too, as 16GB hits the sweet spot for having enough power for a lot of advanced tasks without being overkill. Once again, we have a 1TB SSD for fast boot and load times, but the graphics capability is an integrated Intel 770 - so don't expect cutting-edge gaming performance. That said, the beauty of this rig is that the tower case makes future upgrades easy. So, as a well-configured powerhouse for CPU-intensive computing mixed with general home use, it's absolutely ideal.

In a market dominated by enormous tower cases, it's refreshing to see a more space-conscious PC that is still large enough to upgrade if needed. HP has designed this Slim Desktop to slot neatly into smaller spaces and desktops, giving it a stylish isometric cube texture that makes it more pleasant to look at - particularly at home.

Thankfully, despite the smaller case, there are plenty of USB ports, an SD card reader, and a DVD drive. That's right - this will read your CDs and DVDs - an increasingly rare feature in many modern PCs.

Storage comes as a modest 256GB SSD - just enough for the Operating System and a few files and applications. But thankfully this can be expanded via the SD card slot or USB ports. Processor power is provided by the Intel I5-12400.

The Intel UHD 605 integrated graphics won't be for anything but very light gaming, as is the 8GB of RAM. But considering that this is all about keeping things small, but still retaining upgradability, these concessions are to be expected. This is a solid but basic PC from a well-respected brand that will fit anywhere and look great too.

Once again, we have a machine that's clearly designed for gaming but is our pick for a business machine for very good reasons.

While it's tempting to see a business PC as a lightweight workhorse that will only need to handle Word documents and spreadsheets, we know that many businesses have needs that are more varied than that - from media and content creation to Office 365 and perhaps more.

And, we've kept in mind that many businesses, particularly startups, may need to buy several PCs at once, so this AWD machine has an ideal price tag.

The AWD Patriot has an Intel i5 processor, perfect for any office task and a bit more than that. But, one of the great additions here is the MSI AMD Radeon graphics card.

It may not be an Nvidia gaming beast by a long shot, but businesses won't need that. This is an excellent step up from a standard integrated card though, which means this PC will have lots of flexibility for any business who may need a bit of graphics power for content creation.

The 480GB SSD storage is on the small side but should be fine for a standard business machine. There is however a generous 16GB of RAM - often rare in budget PC builds, and great future-proofing in terms of power.

Here, CYBERPOWERPC has given us the sort of gaming spec that makes for an ideal video editing PC. The key to its success is the well-balanced and powerful components. The CPU is an Intel i9 - often recommended for top-class editing solutions. It'll crunch more numbers than the average edit timeline can throw at it.

And then there's the Nvidia dedicated graphics card - the RTX 3080. It's not quite as fast as the latest 40-series cards, but it's more than up to the task here. The 3080 has a massive 10GB of onboard video RAM to keep your rendering ticking along nicely.

As for system RAM, this comes with a respectable 16GB - so even running software like the Adobe suite will leave enough memory left over for plenty of other tasks. This performance is backed by the 1TB SSD for fast boot times and loading. But, as with most machines here, you'll definitely need to invest in a separate SSD or HDD if you're working on large video projects.

Thankfully, this comes with a 750W power supply, which means upgrading the graphics card later will mean the system can still deliver enough power to a more power-hungry card. Last, but certainly not least, is the liquid cooling system - somewhat surprising to see on a pre-built machine, and ideal to keep those temps in check.