Updated
Get the best of both worlds.
By Sam Singleton and Ashley Biancuzzo
Apr 27, 2023 6:00 am PDT
Image: IDG / Matthew Smith
2-in-1 laptops are awesome devices for business or creative professionals because they’re portable and versatile. These devices either have detachable keyboards or a 360-degree hinge, allowing you to swing the screen all the way around, to use in tablet or tent mode. Some of them even feature touchscreens, which is perfect for doodling or marking up documents. If you’re not sure where to begin your search, don’t worry about it. We’re here to help. The team at PCWorld assembled a list of the best 2-in-1 laptops available today. Not only are these picks great for professionals and students, but we also have hands-on experience with each one. Read on to learn more.
To get even more laptop recommendations see our roundup of the best laptops, which includes all sizes and form factors.
Updated 04/21/2023: To include the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 as our new pick for best overall 2-in-1. Read more about this excellent laptop in our summary below.
Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 – Best 2-in-1 overall
Pros
- Attractive, thin design
- Excellent OLED display
- All USB-C ports support display, power
- Touchscreen with bundled active pen
Cons
- Underwhelming graphics performance
- Only one USB-A port
- More expensive than 2022 model
Lenovo’s flagship Yoga laptops have always impressed, but the latest Gen 8 version is truly outstanding. With an updated 13th-gen Intel processor and a brilliant OLED display Lenovo’s new Yoga 9i not only remains a top-tier 2-in-1, but also surpasses the high bar set by previous versions. It comes with some great performance under the hood, too, with the aforementioned Core i7 processor, Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 512GB SSD. All of this is somehow fit into a sleekly designed svelte laptop that is just over half an inch thick and weighs about 3 pounds. In addition, it packs a 1080p webcam and a 2880x1880p OLED touchscreen display that makes us chef’s kiss every time we turn it on.
It may be a bit more expensive than its predecessor, but the performance and features it brings to the table make it good value for the money. Anyone who is looking to invest in a 2-in-1 at this time should put the Yoga 9i at the top of their list.
Read our full Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 review
Acer Chromebook Spin 713 – Best budget option
Pros
- Strong performance
- Good build quality
- Nice selection of ports
- Beautiful display
- Solid battery life
Cons
- No privacy shutter on the webcam
- Boring design
- Fan noise is a bit loud
Price When Reviewed:From £479.99 | Model reviewed £599.99
Best Prices Today:£349 at eBay UK£593.90 at Amazon£699.99 at Acer
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is a good option for the budget-conscious. This machine impressed us with its reasonable price point, vivid display, all-day battery life, and wide array of ports. It’s rocking an Intel Core i5-1135G7 CPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of PCIe SSD storage. It’s fast enough for general use tasks like checking e-email, browsing the web, watching Netflix, and so on. The build is also fairly robust, as the tester didn’t notice much flex in the keyboard tray. While the design is a little boring and fan noise can be a bit loud, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. It’s a solid convertible laptop that’s affordable and performs well. You can’t ask for much more than that.
Dell Inspiron 16 – Best battery life
Pros
- Roomy 16-inch 16:10 display
- Long battery life
- Competitive application performance
- Comfortable keyboard and huge touchpad
- Quad speakers pump up the jams
Cons
- Lone GPU upgrade is lackluster
- Can’t go bigger than 512GB SSD
- Large screen can feel awkward in tablet mode
Need a 2-in-1 laptop that’ll keep on going and going? Look no further than the Dell Inspiron 16. When we ran our battery benchmark, which cycles through a series of tasks and videos until the laptop dies, the Inspiron 16 lasted a marathon 16.5 hours on a single charge. That’s almost two full work days—or one really long day if you burn the midnight oil. That large battery does make it weigh a hefty 4.7 pounds, which is a bit more than other similar laptops. Under the hood, you’ll find an Intel Core i7-1260P CPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. That’s powerful enough for multitasking, media editing, and so on. The 16-inch display has a resolution of 1920×1080 and it also comes with a surprisingly robust quad speaker system. For ports, you’re getting two USB Type-C, one USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1 HDMI, one SD card reader, and one 3.5mm audio jack.
Read our full Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 review
Surface Pro 8 – Best detachable
Pros
- Superior screen: larger, higher-res, higher refresh rate
- Inking is a pleasure
- Good audio, with louder speakers
- New optional Type Cover integrates pen well
Cons
- Webcam might need some tweaking
- Pen and keyboard still cost extra
- Still pricey
Price When Reviewed:£999
Best Prices Today:£799.99 at Amazon£999 at Microsoft
Microsoft’s Surface 8 is an excellent pick for students or business professionals. This device is truly featherlight, as it weighs a little under two pounds. It’s a detachable 2-in-1, which means you can remove the keyboard from the tablet. Fortunately, Microsoft’s Signature Keyboard “provides a lightweight, comfortable typing experience.” That’s not always the case with detachable 2-in-1’s. That said, the keyboard and pen are additional purchases. The extra cost is a buzzkill, that’s for sure. However, it’s not all that surprising. Let’s take a quick peek under the hood, shall we?
The Surface 8 features an Intel Corei7-1185G7 CPU, Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of removable SSD storage. That’s powerful enough to handle productivity and general use tasks. For ports, it has two USB-C, one Surface Connect port, one Surface Type Cover port, and one 3.5mm jack. The 13-inch PixelSense Flow display is rather spacious when compared to previous iterations and has a resolution of 2880×1920, making for a rather bright and vivid picture.
This is an awesome value, especially given the gorgeous screen and competitive price.
Read our full Surface Pro 8 review
How we tested
The PCWorld team puts each and every Windows laptop through a series of benchmarks that test processing and graphics performance, battery life, and so on. Basically, here at PCWorld we push the laptop to its limits and then compare it against similar machines we’ve tested. Chromebooks, on the other hand, go through a series of web-based tests due to the fact that they’re Chrome OS-based machines. Below, you’ll find a straightforward breakdown of each test and the reasons why we run them.
Windows laptops
- PCMark 10: PCMark 10 is how we determine how well the laptop handles lighter tasks like web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, and so on.
- HandBrake: HandBrake is more intensive than PCMark 10. It basically measures how long a laptop’s CPU takes to encode a beefy 30GB file.
- Cinebench: Cinebench is a brief stress test of the CPU cores. It does this by rendering a 2D scene over a short period of time.
- 3DMark: 3DMark checks if 3D performance remains consistent over time by running graphic-intensive clips.
- Video rundown test: To gauge battery life, we loop a 4K video using Windows 10’s Movies & TV app until the laptop dies.
Chromebooks
- CrXPRT 2: The CrXPRT 2 benchmark tests a Chromebook’s battery life.
- Speedometer 2.0: This test determines a Chromebook’s web browser performance. It simulates this by adding, completing, and removing a to-do list.
- Basemark Web 3.0: This benchmark gauges how well a Chromebook can handle web-based applications.
- Kraken 1.1: Kraken 1.1 is a JavaScript performance benchmark.
- Jetstream 2: Jetstream 2 is a combination of WebAssembly and JavaScript benchmarks. This is a way to gauge how well a Chromebook runs advanced workloads.
2-in-1 laptops Q&A
2-in-1 laptops are great devices for remote workers, creative professionals, and students. It combines the portability of a tablet with the functionality of a traditional clamshell. You can flip it around and use it like a tablet or prop it up like a painter’s easel for sharing information. If you’re not sure if a 2-in-1 is right for you, don’t sweat it. In the section below, we’ll go over a couple of key points like specifications and battery life.
Why should I chose a 2-in-1 over a traditional clamshell?
If portability is at the top of your priority list, then you may want to consider a 2-in-1 laptop, as they’re generally compact and lightweight. They also tend to have excellent battery life due to the power-efficient components inside. 2-in-1 laptops often have 360-degree hinges, which allows you to swing the screen all the way around. This hinge allows you to prop it up like a tent for watching movies. Other 2-in-1’s have detachable keyboards. This lets you ditch the keyboard and use the laptop like a handheld tablet.
How much power do I need?
We’d recommend a 12th-Gen Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. That’s enough power for working on spreadsheets, media editing, and so on. Need more oomph? we’d suggest springing for an 12-Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. Most of the laptops on the list above have integrated graphics, which is fine for some casual gaming but not for anything hardcore. A laptop with a discrete graphics card is better for gaming, but it will be heavier and more bulky as a result.
What about battery life?
If you travel a lot for work, a laptop with good battery life is absolutely vital. A laptop that lasts anywhere from 10 to 12 hours on a single charge is a good baseline. Fortunately, 2-in-1’s are known for having phenomenal battery life, as they’re comprised of power-efficient parts.
