The best Ultrabooks are designed for those people who prioritize portability and battery life over performance but want something more powerful than a Chromebook. Given the small footprint inherent in the design, there’s bound to be sacrifices made to minimize size and weight, so don't expect to play PC games on the same level as a gaming laptop.
Rather, these lightweight laptops are designed to get you through a full workday and then some. The good news is you still get a lot of perks from Ultrabooks like 4K displays and tactile keyboards along with the thin and light frame. Based on a combination of my personal testing experience, price, battery life, specs, and aesthetics, these are the best Ultrabooks on the market – and click here to see them in the UK.
TL;DR – These are the Best Ultrabook:
- Dell XPS 13
- Asus ZenBook
- Razer Blade 14
- Apple MacBook Air
- Lenovo Yoga 7i
- HP Spectre x360
- Surface Laptop 4
- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano
- Surface Laptop Studio
1. Dell XPS 13
Best Ultrabook
Dell has long maintained its dominance in the category of ultrabooks, and that hasn't changed with the introduction of the latest Dell XPS 13 model. This new ultrabook gets a little bit thinner than its predecessor without dumping features like the microSD slot or headphone jack, and it actually manages to offer a larger display. The new display offers an extended 1,920 x 1,200 resolution with a 16:10 aspect ratio for more vertical screen real estate. It's also a bright display with an anti-glare finish, a combination that makes for easy readability.
The Dell XPS 13 model we've picked out comes running on an Intel Core i7-1165G7 for a blend of performance and efficiency. Though you're getting integrated graphics on this ultrabook, it's the new Intel Iris Xe graphics, which can actually muster playable frame rates in some esports games. So, you'll have a laptop that can compile spreadsheets during the day and crush competition after work all in a diminutive, 2.64-pound package.
2. Asus ZenBook
Best Budget Ultrabook
If you’re on the hunt for a wildly capable yet affordable machine, look no further than the Asus ZenBook. At just $800, it's chock full of quality hardware in a thin-and-light chassis that looks like it cost way more. With this particular model, you get a 14-inch display offering a Full HD resolution and anti-glare finish to make for easy viewing in bright areas. Asus has done a solid job trimming down the bezels around the display to let the laptop maintain its compact dimensions. It’s only 0.66-inches thick and weighs just 2.91 pounds.
Under the hood, the Asus ZenBook is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 5500U six-core processor and an Nvidia GeForce MX450 GPU. This mobile processor makes it easy to zoom through all your work tasks. But, what really surprised us is the dedicated graphics card onboard, so you can even do a bit of gaming or video editing on the device. The 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD provides a good amount of storage. The one notable drawback here is the system only features 8GB of RAM that can’t be upgraded.
3. Razer Blade 14
Best Ultraportable Gaming Laptop
PC gaming and portability don’t usually go hand in hand. Oftentimes compromises need to be made, but with the Razer Blade 14, those are few and far between. Razer has managed to squeeze some insane hardware into a laptop under four pounds and well below an inch thick. A 14-inch QHD display offers an impressive 165Hz refresh rate and FreeSync support, so you’re in for a great tear-free gaming experience. But it’s what’s on the inside that really blows us away.
That solid display is powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processor with an equally impressive Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics card. This machine is ready for whatever game you throw at it, and it’ll also handle video editing like a champ. Heck, you can even do some overclocking. Toting a 16GB DDR5 RAM and 1TB of SSD storage ensures it’ll speedily chug along. And, Wi-Fi 6E support lets you enjoy fast connectivity for your on-the-go battle station, or you can park this at your desk to play and connect directly to a monitor with the laptop's full-size HDMI port.
4. Apple MacBook Air
Best Ultralight Apple Laptop
If you take a quick look at the newest MacBook Air, you might think it looks like almost nothing has changed. Outwardly, you'd be right. It's the exact same shape and size, even weighing just as much as its predecessor. But, Apple has made some dramatic changes under the hood. Namely, Apple switched away from Intel's processors and introduced its own Apple M1 system-on-a-chip. This puts its CPU, GPU, memory and more all onto the same chip, and it's some chip.
The Apple M1 features four high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores, letting it speed through some tasks while sipping energy when doing more basic work. These new processing cores also give the new MacBook Air a big boost in battery life. What's truly impressive is that Apple has made this switch to a new chip that operates very differently from Intel's chips yet the operating system and apps are running just fine despite needing a translation layer for many apps to function. The new architecture is also closer to what you'd find in Apple's phones, so iOS apps on macOS should run with ease. Apple's new MacBook Air takes a big step in a new direction, and it looks like Apple's got its footing right.
5. Lenovo Yoga 7i
Best Convertible Ultrabook
Lenovo provides a ton of flexibility in a light package with the Lenovo Yoga 7i. This laptop goes beyond the old Ultrabook classification and into the new Intel Evo platform. It comes powered by an Intel Core i5-1135G7 for solid performance in a wide variety of workloads, and it has Intel Iris Xe Graphics onboard to handle even some light gaming. Another part of that Intel Evo specification is a long battery life and fast boot up times, so the Lenovo Yoga 7i offers a 13-hour runtime and uses a 512GB PCIe SSD to start up quickly and launch programs just as fast. You’ll also enjoy high-speed connectivity with Wi-Fi 6 and Thunderbolt 4.
The Yoga 7i’s flexibility comes by way of a 360-degree hinge, letting you use it as a laptop, as a tablet, or as a stand-up display in the tent mode. The 1080p display gets plenty bright at 300 nits, and it has a touchscreen interface for convenient tablet use. If you don’t like using your fingers, the Yoga 7i also supports the Lenovo Active Pen for precise stylus input.
6. HP Spectre x360
Another Lightweight Convertible Laptop
If you like the sound of a convertible laptop but just want something a little bit smaller and sleeker, check out the HP Spectre x360. HP has been at the convertible laptop game for almost as long as Lenovo and this is one fine looking machine both inside and out. The all-metal housing barely adds any weight, yet serves as an added layer of protection from an accidental drop.
There are several different configurations available, but the one linked here boasts an Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB NVMe SSD, and a 13.3-inch (1,920 x 1,080) FHD display. More than enough to get through most workloads and not break a sweat. At 2.88-pounds and measuring 12 x 7.7 0.7 inches, it’s small enough to fit into even the thinnest of laptop bags.
7. Surface Laptop 4
Most Stylish Ultrabook
The Surface Laptop 4 continues to deliver an exceptional ultrabook experience with a well-polished design, modest but dependable internals, and a simply great display. This latest model offers up the same 13.5-inch PixelSense Touch as its predecessor, offering a taller 3:2 aspect ratio and a sharp 2,256 x 1,504 resolution.
Inside, the Surface Laptop 4 is powered by a capable Ryzen 5 Surface Edition 4680U processor offering six speedy cores and multi-threading. The system runs on 8GB of LPDDR4x memory, though it can be upgraded to 16GB for improved multitasking. While the base model still costs $1,000, this time around it comes packing 256GB of storage, doubling what the base Surface Laptop 3 offered. This new model also offers Wi-Fi 6 connectivity for improved wireless networking to take advantage of everything from your typical Netflix streaming to Microsoft’s Xbox game streaming. With all its packing, the Surface Laptop 4 still manages to weigh just 2.79 pounds and measure close to a half-inch thick.
8. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano
The Thinnest and Lightest Ultrabook
When it comes to a thin and light Ultrabook that still packs a powerful punch, not much compares to the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano. The small form factor still manages to pack in an Intel Core i7-1160G7 processor and impressive 16GB RAM. The combination of those parts makes this machine a multitasking maven. The only downside is the integrated Iris XE GPU, but you can still enjoy a bit of gaming even with the limited image rendering.
The internals are solid, but the display on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano will really have you falling for it. You get a 13-inch screen offering a 2160 x 1350 resolution. On top of that, the IPS display comes with an anti-glare coating and 450 nit brightness, so you’ll have a great viewing experience from any location. This should come in handy as this laptop is super portable and comes toting a great battery life to make working on the go as simple as possible.
9. Surface Laptop Studio
Best Ultrabook for Creatives
Creating on a laptop takes a bit more than just processor muscle and a pretty display. Microsoft has figured that out and introduced the Surface Laptop Studio. This laptop certainly hits the performance levels you’ll want with an Intel Core i5-11300H and 16GB of LPDDR4x memory just to start, though there are configuration options to bump this up and even add dedicated graphics if your workload requires it.
Microsoft’s screen and flexible design are the real creative tools you’ll want. The 14.4-inch display has a sharp resolution at 2,400 x 1,600, and it has a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. The clarity and motion precision will be extra helpful when using the advanced stylus the computer supports. Microsoft has made it all the easier to quickly switch from typing and using the Surface Laptop Studio like a traditional laptop to using it with a stylus. The display portion can shift forward and tilt back, letting you get it closer and write or draw on it at a more natural angle — no slowing down that creativity.
What to look for in an Ultrabook
Shopping for an Ultrabook comes down to picking an ultraportable laptop and shaving many millimeters from its profile, without sacrificing performance too greatly. For the most part, the best Ultrabooks nowadays are pretty peppy machines that can handle all-day office work as well as some light video and image editing tasks too.
These modern machines mostly come with either Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, a minimum of 8GB of memory, and at least 128GB SSD for storage. There are, of course, always exceptions to this rule. For example, the Acer Swift 7 uses an Intel Core Y-series processor, which is its low-wattage CPU.
Prices for a capable Ultrabooks laptop usually hover above $1,000 and can easily increase to over $2,000, depending on specs and manufacturer. Don’t get overwhelmed when looking at specs and prices, because unless you are going to edit a lot of videos or use resource-intensive programs, most mid-range ultraportables will be just fine.
