For even more buying recommendations, check out our best laptop roundup, which covers the full range of laptop sizes, prices, and purposes.
Dell XPS 13 Plus – Best Overall Ultraportable
pros
- fast CPU
- Gorgeous 3.5K OLED
- great audio
cons
- Only two USB-C ports
- Average battery performance
- No headphone jack
Between cutting-edge performance and an impressive OLED panel, the Dell XPS 13 Plus is the cream of the crop among ultraportables. The Intel Core i7-1280P CPU has an impressive 14 cores, which means you can expect fast processing performance. It is more than capable of performing photo editing work as well as general-purpose tasks. This device also comes equipped with Intel Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. Aside from the impressive internals, we really liked the 13.4-inch OLED touchscreen. It has a resolution of 3456×2160, so you can expect a crisp and vibrant image. That said, connectivity is limited and battery life is mediocre. If you can forgive these limitations, the Dell XPS 13 Plus is a good choice for most people.
HP Pavilion Plus 14 – Best budget option
pros
- The OLED screen is beautiful
- Elegant, all-metal chassis
- Strong multimedia performance
cons
- Disappointing battery life
- The onboard memory cannot be expanded after the purchase
- Low contrast between keys and key symbols
The HP Pavilion Plus 14 is the cheapest option on this list. The OLED screen is impressive and the all-metal chassis is durable and stylish. Under the hood, you’ll find an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage. That’s enough power for productivity work, not to mention general-purpose tasks. The 14-inch OLED screen has a resolution of 2880×1800, an aspect ratio of 16:10 and a refresh rate of 90Hz. According to our tester, the display produces “amazing contrast and deep blacks” as well as a “clear picture” overall. That said, the battery life is less than stellar. But if you want to save some money on an ultraportable with decent specs, the HP Pavilion Plus 14 is worth considering.
Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 – Best battery life
pros
- Large, high-contrast OLED screen
- Fantastic battery life
- Top-notch 12th-gen core performance
cons
- medium keyboard
- The webcam does not perform as expected
- The fingerprint reader needed re-authentication
- Tons of additional apps
If you’re looking for an ultraportable with excellent battery life, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 might be your best bet. When we ran our battery benchmark, which cycles through several different tasks and videos, the Pro 360 lasted 14 hours on a single charge. And despite the beefy 67-watt-hour battery inside, the device itself still manages to weigh just over three pounds. As for the internals, it has an Intel Core i7-1260P CPU, Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. That’s a lot of power for multitasking, media editing, spreadsheet work, and so on. The 15.6-inch AMOLED screen has a resolution of 1920×1080, which is perfectly suited for most tasks. For the ports, you get three USB Type-C, a microSD, and a 3.5mm audio jack. If you are a frequent traveller and need a laptop that will last longer than a full working day, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 is a great choice.
Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X – Best for gaming
pros
- Attractive and robust design
- Slim profile, low weight
- Nice keyboard and touchpad
- Excellent processor performance
cons
- No Thunderbolt 4, Ethernet or dedicated video out
- The screen is sharp but lags behind OLED alternatives
- Battery life is a little behind the pack
MSRP:
$1,399 (baseline) | $1,765 (as reviewed)
The Lenovo Slim 7 Pro is something of a gem among the sand dunes as it is an ultraportable capable of running games. It has a discrete graphics card, which usually takes up a lot of space inside a laptop. However, the 7 Pro still manages to stay relatively light at just over three pounds. It also has a spacious keyboard with full-sized keys. According to our tester, the “key feel is excellent despite the modest key travel, with a short but precise stroke that ends in a springy, tactile action”. While we like the keyboard and the chunky design, let’s take a quick look at the most important part: the guts. It comes with an AMD Ryzen 6900HS CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 with 55 watts TDP, 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. This laptop has a good amount of power and should be able to handle some gaming and productivity tasks.
how we test
The PCWorld team puts each Windows laptop through various benchmarks that test graphics and processing performance, battery life, and so on. The idea is to push the laptop to its limit and then compare it to others we’ve tested. Below you’ll find a breakdown of each test and the reasons we run them.
Windows notebooks
- PC Mark 10: PC Mark 10 is how we determine how well the laptop handles general-purpose tasks like web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets and so on. It’s how we simulate daily usage over a specific time period.
- handbrake: HandBrake is more intensive than PCMark 10. It measures how long a laptop’s CPU takes to encode a hefty 30GB file. This is more like a stress test.
- Cinebench: Cinebench is a short stress test of CPU cores. It does this by rendering a 2D scene in a short period of time. This benchmark shows us how well the CPU divides the workload.
- 3D brand: 3DMark verifies that 3D performance remains consistent over time by running graphics-intensive clips. These benchmarks are used on gaming laptops.
- video summary test: To measure battery life, we loop a 4K video using the Windows 10 Movies & TV app until the laptop runs out. If you’re a regular traveller, you’ll want a battery that can last longer than a full working day.
[Looking for something different? Check out our roundup on the best 2-in-1 laptops]
Ultraportables are known for being travel-friendly machines due to their slender profiles. However, there’s more to them than their tiny size. If you’re thinking about buying an ultraportable but don’t know where to start, we’ve put together an easy-to-follow FAQ section. We’ll cover everything from battery life to specs.
Common questions
What is an ultraportable?
Simply put, an ultraportable is a compact, lightweight laptop. They usually weigh around three pounds and the screen size is 14 inches or smaller. They are designed for people who take their laptops with them wherever they go. However, as a way to reduce the size of these machines, laptop manufacturers often eliminate USB ports and connectors.
How much energy do I need?
For everyday use, we recommend a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage. This is fast enough for working with spreadsheets, checking emails, and so on. If you consider yourself a power user, we suggest a 12th Gen Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. There aren’t many ultraportables out there with discrete graphics, as that would add significant weight to a scaled-down machine.
And the battery life?
When it comes to ultraportables, battery life is one of the most important aspects to consider. Whether you’re travelling for work or for personal reasons, you don’t want to be stuck with a dead laptop. We recommend a laptop that can last 12-14 hours on a single charge. That’s more than a full day’s work.
