The Top 10 Bestselling Laptops from Computer Upgrade King

Sitting in first place with nearly three times the sales of the 10th bestselling notebook on this list is HP's 15.6-inch flagship consumer convertible. The popularity of this  system is not entirely unexpected as the manufacturer has been pushing its Spectre series into more brick and mortar electronics stores in North America with hard-to-miss ads. Fortunately, its bark is as big as its bite since the latest generation of Spectre convertibles has been receiving rave reviews from press and is attractively designed to appeal to the Millennial generation. We highly recommend either the latest generation model (i7-8550U, GeForce MX150) or the previous generation model (i7-7500U, GeForce 940MX) since these systems utilize narrower bezel designs. The older first generation units were notoriously bulky and unwieldy even for a 15-inch a convertible laptop.

See our full take on the latest Spectre x360 15 here and the previous generation model here. Note that HP very recently unveiled its 2018 refresh scheduled to launch in the coming months, so the best deals on these outgoing models are likely coming to fruition.

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Spiking to second place is one of Asus' most powerful gaming laptops. The 17.3-inch Republic of Gamers GL702VS and GL702VI are equipped with GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 GPUs, respectively, for extreme gaming performance that can be faster than what most gaming desktops have to offer. According to CUKUSA, interest in these two GL702 models rose in direct response to a significant $600 USD price cut on the GL702VI SKU. When considering the high prices of desktop GPUs as of early 2018, the GL702 series should be even attractive from a gamer perspective.

In our recent review on the GL702VI, we praised its easy serviceability, acceptable running temperatures, and light weight considering the high-end hardware. Unfortunately, graphics performance is a hair slower than anticipated since the GPU has weaker Boost potential and fan noise can be an issue if gaming without headphones.

See our take on the GL702VS here and the GL702VI here. 

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The Spectre series started life as a 13.3-inch offering and this size remains a popular choice for users on the go with sales very close to beating the #2 spot on this list. Both the Spectre 13 and Spectre x360 13 were recently refreshed with Intel 8th gen Core processors and brand new narrow bezel designs that likely boosted sales to where they are now for this family. The x360 version in particular is one of our highest-rated convertibles and so we can't disagree with its position.

Note that the refreshed Spectre 13 is not included on this list because it was not on sale at CUKUSA last quarter. Thus, should we update this list again in the near future, we will likely see the Spectre 13 family yet again should the redesign be popular with press and readers.

See our take on the 2017 Spectre 13 here and the latest 2018 Spectre x360 13 here. Our review on the latest 2018 Spectre 13 is currently ongoing as of this writing.

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The 17.3-inch Omen 17 was built for mainstream gamers with its GTX 1050 Ti, GTX 1060, and GTX 1070 GPU options to compete directly with MSI's GP72 and GE72 series. The HP was refreshed with a sleeker chassis late last year that is leagues beyond what the older model had to offer in terms of features and durability. Whereas the older design looked like a rebranded Pavilion 17, the newer design is distinctly Omen in the same way that Alienware notebooks have their own visual idiosyncrasies to distinguish them from "standard" Dell notebooks.

We recommend avoiding the older Omen 17 chassis as it is poorer than the current design in almost every way. Still, we can't shake off how heavy the Omen 17 series can be even for a large gaming notebook and its difficult serviceability will be an annoyance to tinkerers.

See our take on the 2016 Omen 17 here and the latest generation 2017 Omen 17 here.

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Squashed between two 17.3-inch notebooks is MSI's mid-range 15.6-inch GF62 series with the GTX 1060 GPU. It's not a perfect system by any means as we found its display underwhelming with an equally disappointing plastic chassis and flexible lid. After all, the GF62VR is supposed to be a cheaper version of the flagship GT62VR. Actual performance, however, is still excellent as one would expect from a GTX 1060. The system is able to play most modern titles at native 1080p and 60 FPS on Medium to High settings, which is likely the benchmark most mainstream gamers are after in a purchase.

See our review on the MSI GF62VR here.

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After three dedicated gaming notebooks in a row, the affordable HP ProBook 450 G5 is the only business-centric model to make it on the list. The 450 G5 is a complete redesign from the outgoing 450 G4 as it omits the optical drive in favor of a thinner form factor, larger battery capacity, and Intel 8th gen ULV options. Unfortunately, the outdated GeForce 930MX remains as the only discrete GPU option with no MX150 in sight.

We can't comment on the ins and outs of the ProBook 450 G5 as we've yet to publish a full review on the unit. Based on what we've experienced on previous generation models, however, we can safely assume that the budget business notebook will be reliable for common office work without the bells and whistles found on the much more expensive EliteBook series.

See our review on the ProBook 450 G4 here with the 450 G5 coming soon.

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Whereas the Omen 17 covers most mainstream gamers, the Omen 15 dips slightly lower into the budget-mainstream category of users with GPU options ranging from the GTX 1050 up to the GTX 1060 and GTX 1060 Max-Q. Its overall quality is very similar to the Omen 17 because both sizes share an identical visual design, but this also means that users should again avoid the much older Pavilion-inspired models since the newer redesign is stronger, sturdier, and with more features. Potential Omen 17 buyers will be saving themselves a few hundred Dollars by going with the smaller Omen 15.

See our reviews on the older Omen 15 here and the newer redesigned Omen 15 here.

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Dropping down even further in the gaming category is the budget-oriented Pavilion Power 15. Although the series also ships with AMD RX 550 graphics, it's the GTX 1050 SKU that makes up all 100 percent of the seller's Pavilion Power 15 stock in this ranking. From a gaming perspective, we're relieved to see that the AMD version has been extremely unpopular as the RX 550 has proven to be inferior to the GTX 1050 in terms of raw performance, power consumption, and software support. Still, we recommend skipping the 4K UHD option altogether since the GTX 1050 is nowhere near powerful enough to play most modern titles at such high native resolutions.

See our take on the Pavilion Power 15 GTX 1050 here and the Pavilion Power 15 RX 550 here.

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The 10th bestselling notebook is yet another 15.6-inch convertible from HP. THis time, however, it is the mainstream and less expensive Envy x360 15 instead of the flagship Spectre x360 15 from above. The latest redesign incorporates the attractive narrow bezels found on the Spectre series and most other flagship Ultrabooks from competing manufacturers to make the cheaper Envy model more enticing to those on a budget. CUKUSA says its sell-through of the new Envy x360 15 would have been even greater and higher up on this list if it weren't for the restricted supply. It's important to note that the Envy x360 15 carries many of the same CPU (i5-8250U or i7-8550U) and GPU (GeForce MX150) options as the pricier Spectre x360 15 for essentially the same performance at a lower price of entry.

See our full take on the AMD version of the new Envy X360 15 here.

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