PC laptop buying guide - back to school edition

PC shopping can be a miserable experience. The same variety that makes it possible for you to find a laptop specifically designed to manage both your neon geranium business and your online polka-streaming startup also means that the market is flooded with laptops that aren't tailored to your particular needs. It's much more work than it's worth to educate yourself on every tiny difference between laptop A from manufacturer X and laptop B from manufacturer Y.

We're here to help. To give you some guidance in this back-to-school season, we've set up three basic laptop categories. Basic laptops emphasize price over performance or size; gaming laptops emphasize performance over price or size; and lightweight laptops emphasize size over price or performance. Each is further subdivided into price ranges.

Every category features picks that, in our view, represent some of the best machines available now. In most cases, we've also included a few alternatives in case something about our main pick was a dealbreaker for you. With a little luck, you'll be able to find something tailored to your needs and budget.