We just overhauled our best 2-in-1 laptops list, complete with a lot of new entries as well as a new number one: the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8, an impressively capable laptop with a stunning design and an equally stunning OLED display.
Whether you want a budget option or a luxurious one, one of our best 2-in-1 picks below should satisfy all your device needs.
Michelle Rae Uy, Reviews and Buying Guides Editor, Computing
The best 2-in-1 laptops can be absolutely vital tools for work, school, or entertainment. Whether you're using them to surf the web, take notes in class, video-chat with your grandma, or watch your favorite Twitch streamer, these hybrid devices can handle it all. If you're on the lookout for a new laptop, any one of the models listed below could become your new tech companion.
Every 2-in-1 laptop on this list has been personally reviewed by our expert team, and we can say with confidence that they're so much better than the convertible laptops of yore. Even just looking back three or four years, the shifts in power, portability, and design quality are hugely noticeable – largely due to the new processors and more efficient batteries that have made these machines some of the best laptops around.
It's not just the best Windows laptops that benefit either, since many of the best Chromebooks available right now are 2-in-1 models that utilize either a 360-degree hinge or a detachable keyboard to deliver top-notch user experiences in both laptop and tablet modes (If you're not sure which to get, check out our Chromebooks vs laptops guide where we break down the pros and cons of each).
With so many great options out there though, how do you go about finding the right one? Well, fortunately, we've tested loads of the best 2-in-1 laptops on the market over the years, so whether you're looking for something cheap and cheerful or the best Ultrabooks, we've seen just about all of them. Scroll on down, and you can see our top 10 picks of all the 2-in-1 laptops we've reviewed.
The best 2-in-1 laptops 2023
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The Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 (2023) is a testament to Lenovo’s brilliance, offering speedy performance and great features in an elevated design and for less than the price of its more popular rivals. This is an absolute stunner, with an OLED display with amazing picture quality, and a 360-degree-rotating soundbar for a more immersive streaming experience.
Performance-wise, it crushed other touchscreen laptops such as a similarly-specced and similarly-priced Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 in our benchmarks. And surprisingly, it holds its own when tackling creative workloads, taking less time than we expected to process and export 50 high-res 7952 x 4472 images from RAW to JPEG in Lightroom. It delivers on battery life as well, giving us a little over 10 hours on a full charge in our web surfing battery test.
The OLED display is not as bright as we'd hoped, averaging around 350 nits in our readings. But it’s vibrant nonetheless, not to mention responsive and intuitive to your touch commands.
Read our full Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 review
It’s actually astounding how something like the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook can exist in this market, being as cheap yet as impressive as it is. It delivers plenty of power to those who rely heavily on Google Chrome workloads and use it for the more casual workloads.
Our time with this incredibly portable Chromebook was spent sending emails, writing our articles, and naturally, streaming our favorite shows. While all that doesn’t sound taxing to the system at all, having 20 or more browsers open actually is, especially if some are streaming content. And, this Chromebook breezed through that without a sweat while lasting about 16 hours and 20 minutes during testing.
We also appreciate that it’s incredibly portable, making it easier to take with us if we want to squeeze in a little bit of work whilst traveling. This being a 2-in-1, there’s also the touch display aspect, which got upgraded to an OLED one. Its touch capability has always been nice and responsive, but now you've also got the vivid colors that only an OLED panel can offer.
Read our full Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook review
HP might have stumbled with the overpriced, underperforming HP Elite Dragonfly G3, but fortunately its predecessor hasn't gone anywhere. It's still amazing: an impressive business laptop with a smart design, great battery life, and 2-in-1 capabilities.
The HP Elite Dragonfly was among the best HP laptops, and the second-generation model followed in its footsteps. Of course, being a follow-up, it’s more powerful than its predecessor. Day-to-day tasks were handled very well during testing, and the 256GB SSD in our model was fast and speedy. It might not be 12th-gen Intel, but that's actually a good thing here; the G-series 11th-gen chip inside provides great stability and performance – and not too shabby a battery life.
It might just be as close to being the perfect business laptop as any manufacturer can get, but it’s also stylish enough to appeal to more casual users. That is, if they can afford it – as this laptop is as expensive as it’s always been. However, as it is meant for professionals, it’s definitely worth the investment. Plus, that 2-in-1 form factor, touchscreen functionality and included stylus makes it a better value than its rivals.
Read our full HP Elite Dragonfly G2 review
The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 is a fantastic touchscreen laptop to immerse yourself in. Though you’ll still need to do most of your work on the Chrome browser, you are getting an even more powerful device here without paying a premium.
Keeping up with much pricier Chromebooks during testing, it breezes through mostly browser-based workloads without a hitch, handling about 20 tabs of websites of varying graphical and processing demands while keeping things relatively cool and quiet. Sure, the battery isn’t as long as many budget Chromebooks, giving us eight hours and 20 minutes run in our battery test, but that’s still a full workday if you think about it.
The 14-inch 1080p Corning Gorilla Glass display is a stunner as well, ideal if you want to just use it for streaming Netflix all day and even play a mobile game. It also supports the USI Stylus, despite not having it included in the box. But you don’t need to buy one as the touch capability here is incredibly intuitive.
Read our full Acer Chromebook Spin 514 (2022) review
The Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED is pretty darn difficult to find – with virtually no availability outside the US. However, it's nonetheless one of the best professional laptops we've ever reviewed.
When we tested it, we found that it demonstrated superb, versatile performance packaged in a sleek but durable frame. A comfortable keyboard and trackpad plus a good selection of physical ports make using this Zenbook in laptop mode a cinch, and the glorious 2.8K OLED touchscreen is fantastic for tablet-mode shenanigans.
Stock struggles aside (it's not even that easy to find in the US), our only real criticism was that the webcam's low-light performance was lackluster – something that felt slightly like us clutching at straws for a single negative point. As long as you've got a brightly-lit room for your video calls, you should be fine.
Read our full Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED review
Most 2-in-1 laptops opt for a small form factor – typically with a 13-inch or 14-inch display – in order to better align themselves with their tablet brethren. Not so the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1, which rocks a big, bright 16-inch screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio that allows you to fit more on your screen when scrolling through web pages or documents.
Performance-wise, it balances streaming, multiple documents, video/voice calls, and more all without slowdown. We found that it’s also capable of running low and mid-range games like Sid Meyer’s Civilization VI on the higher settings, achieving at least 50fps, so we definitely recommend this for work and play.
It's a bit more expensive than many 2-in-1 laptops with comparable specs, but this is still a dependable workhorse for everyday tasks. It's a little on the heavy side, but that's down to it having an exceptionally sturdy chassis and a robust touchscreen. A wide range of models are available, including one with a dedicated Nvidia MX550 GPU, in case you'd like to do a little creative work, or gaming.
Read our full Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 (2022) review
Microsoft's latest Surface Pro 2-in-1 is equally adept at being a laptop and a tablet, with one specific ace up its sleeve that earns it a place on this list: the Microsoft SQ3 chip at its core, designed in collaboration with Qualcomm.
The SQ3 chip is the latest of Microsoft's efforts to bring proprietary processors to its Surface line, and it comes with two big advantages: great energy efficiency for longer battery life, and support for 5G LTE connectivity - so you can connect to the internet no matter where you are, a boon for fast-moving professionals. Unfortunately, the SQ3 chip runs an ARM-based version of Windows 11, which we found introduces compatibility issues with some third-party programs, causing them not to work.
Despite this flaw, the Surface Pro 9 5G is a lovely little tablet with a beautiful screen and a stylish but sturdy design. Bear in mind that the Signature Keyboard Cover and Microsoft Slim Pen 2, however, aren't included, so you'll need to pay extra for those if you want the full 2-in-1 experience - and you will, because they're great companions to this Surface Pro.
Read our full Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G review
HP's premium Spectre x360 line of 2-in-1 laptops has always been one of our favorites, and the 2022 model is no exception. Sure, like its predecessors it's very expensive, but you get what you pay for: this time, a 12th-gen Intel processor, a subtly redesigned chassis, and a truly beautiful OLED display.
This screen is made even better by its 3K2K resolution and almost non-existent screen bezels, and HP has managed to squeeze in a very comfortable keyboard into the 2022 Spectre x360's compact frame. Testing it in daily use, we found its performance to be incredibly consistent while running anything from voice calls to watching live streams to movie streaming.
The touchpad has severe performance issues, but attach a mouse to the laptop, and it becomes a non-issue. It also keeps all the best aspects of older Spectre models, like the corner-angled ports that provide more connectivity while making excellent use of the laptop's real estate.
Read our full HP Spectre x360 (2022) review
If you’re seeking a thin and easy-to-carry productivity machine with an OLED screen and great battery life, the HP Envy 13 x360 may be the most ideal affordable option for you. Much more accessible than the Spectre line, price-wise, it’s a fantastic 2-in-1 option, especially for budget-minded folks and matriculating users.
The fact that it can compete with 16-inch 2-in-1 laptops in terms of performance is even more impressive. We’ve been able to run spreadsheets, word processors, conference calls, and multiple browser tabs playing videos at the same time without issue. And the battery life is quite excellent as well, giving up a little over nine hours in our movie battery test.
It’s not exactly a budget buy, but considering the OLED technology you’re getting that delivers vivid colors, it’s pretty reasonably-priced. On top of that, the keyboard is solid and its port selection is varied.
Read our full HP Envy 13 x360 (2022) review
How to choose the best 2-in-1 laptop for you
With so many great options available, picking out the best 2-in-1 laptop for your own personal needs can be tricky. If you're not particularly clued in on what the internal components mean, don't worry: we're here to help.
Ultimately, you need to consider exactly what you're planning on using your new 2-in-1 laptop for. If it's just going to be for simple office work (say, spreadsheets and word processing) or it's a simple entertainment laptop for a child, you don't need a top-tier processor or tonnes of RAM.
Most of these 2-in-1 laptops feature at least 8GB of RAM, which is plenty for the average user. If you're going to be performing more intensive tasks, like video editing, digital art, or running complex mathematical programs, you might want 16GB or even more than that. When it comes to confusingly-named CPUs, bigger numbers in the name generally mean a more powerful chip that will make the laptop run faster - though these will cost more.
If you want to use your laptop for maximum productivity, consider one with a 16:10 or 3:2 screen aspect ratio. This means that the screen is taller than 'widescreen' aspect ratios like 16:9, so you can fit more of a long text document on the screen without needing to scroll!
Lastly, pay close attention to the amount of storage a laptop has. If you're planning on mostly working off the cloud (like using Google Drive), you won't need as much storage. But if you want to install lots of programs to your device or store a tonne of photo or video files, you're probably going to need more than the 256GB drives found in many of the best 2-in-1 laptops.
How we test 2-in-1 laptops
Testing 2-in-1 laptops looks a lot like testing traditional clamshell laptops, only with a few extra steps. After all, we also need to test these hybrids’ 2-in-1 form factor as well as touchscreen functionalities, ensuring that everything works swimmingly and the touchscreen is as responsive as it should be.
We take a look at a 2-in-1 laptop’s design, first of all, checking to see how robust its build is, just how portable it is, how comfortable its keyboard and trackpad are to use, how good the display is, etc. We check the availability of ports and biometrics sign-in technologies. We check out the webcam, speakers, and mic as well, since video conferencing has become such an integral part of our daily lives. Naturally, because its 2-in-1 form factor is a major selling point, we inspect the hinges, the different modes, the touchscreen functionality, and the stylus, if included, to make sure that it’s delivering a seamless experience.
Of course, we test its performance as well. Since most 2-in-1 notebooks are designed for productivity, school, or everyday use, we utilize the laptop in our daily workloads as well as for entertainment and casual use. We use the most commonly used Windows 10 (or Chrome OS on Chromebooks) apps to see how fast they load and run. We perform synthetic benchmarks as well, including PCMark 10 (Home Test) and GeekBench 5 so we can get you those exact numbers to compare to its rivals.
Battery life – or rather, great battery life – is an integral part of laptops, especially premium ones. So, we also test its longevity, using it at full charge to see just how long the battery lasts when doing everyday workloads, as well as running both our looped 1080p movie test and the PC Mark 10 battery life benchmark.
Finally, we gather all that information we collected about the laptop and compare it to its price tag to gauge whether it’s a great value to consumers - or at the very least, worth the money.
For a more in-depth guide on our testing process, see how we test.
Why are 2-in-1 laptops great for students?
Some of the best 2-in-1-laptops are also excellent choices for students because of their versatility. No matter what you study, 2-in-1 laptops are more than likely capable of handling all the software demands your studies require. Tablet mode is great for any long reading assignments you may have, and tent mode makes it easy to go over group presentations with your classmates.
2-in-1 laptops also tend to be lightweight, making them easy to transport across campus and anywhere else you like to study. The best 2-in-1 laptop will also have a sleek, intuitive design that makes working for hours much easier - some perks include comfortable keyboard designs and top-notch screen displays.
If you’re a student looking for a laptop compatible with the demands of university, there are plenty of options in something in your price range that will help you through all aspects of your schooling.
