The best two-in-one devices tend to be convertible laptops with 360-degree hinges where the keyboard and trackpad rotate around to the back of the display. There are also excellent two-in-ones with a detachable keyboard that are essentially Windows 11 or ChromeOS tablets, but these models tend to work best as tablets. We’ve put multiple devices to the test, and we can reveal that these are the best two-in-one laptops available right now. These best-of-both-worlds machines are highly versatile and allow you to do far more than a traditional laptop without a significant increase in price, size or weight.
What’s the best two-in-one laptop overall?
Our favorite two-in-one laptop for most people is the midrange Lenovo Yoga 7 14 Gen 9. It’s not only our recommendation for the best overall two-in-one, but it’s also our choice for the best budget two-in-one for students. Based on AMD’s Ryzen 8000-series processors, it’s a well-rounded performer and boasts a solid, all-aluminum design. It’s a great value at less than $1,000.
The best two-in-one with a detachable design is a Copilot Plus PC from Microsoft. Based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X processors, the Surface Pro 11 delivers surprisingly competitive performance, long battery life and far fewer compatibility issues for mainstream use than previous Windows-on-Arm devices.
You’ll find our two-in-one recommendations here, but we also have top picks if you are shopping for a traditional clamshell laptop, starting with the best overall laptop and the best gaming laptop. On a tight budget? Check out the best cheap laptop and best cheap gaming laptop. In addition to the best Windows laptop, we have recommendations for the best MacBook and best Chromebook.
Read more: Best Laptop
- CPU delivers good performance and future-proofing
- Intel Arc GPU offers performance bump
- Beautiful, all-metal chassis
- Strong AV output with OLED display, quad speakers
- Super-sharp 9-megapixel webcam
- Always-on LED on power button gets annoying
- GPU upgrades not offered
- Limited port selection
We don’t make it a practice to recommend laptops that cost nearly $2,000 that rely on integrated graphics. At this price, it’s reasonable to expect a dedicated GPU for gaming or content creation. The Spectre x360 14, however, is the rare exception. This two-in-one is one of the first laptops to feature Intel’s new Core Ultra CPU that delivers solid performance today and is equipped for the AI workloads of the future. Plus, those graphics integrated to the Core Ultra processor are an improvement on Intel’s previous-generation iGPU. The all-metal, matte-black chassis is as stunning as the high-res OLED display. And the 9-megapixel webcam is awesome, especially when combined with the AI-assisted Windows Studio Effects and noise reduction features.
With its Intel Core Ultra CPU, gorgeous OLED display and premium build quality, the Spectre x360 14 is primed for a long and useful life and delivers value, even at its elevated price. Our test system featured numerous upgrades that pushed the price to nearly $2,000, but the series starts at $1,450 and is frequently discounted for less.
- Excellent OLED display
- Very good battery life
- Class-leading NPU performance, for now
- Finally, mainstream-Intel-comparable performance
- Nice kickstand
- Mixed graphics performance
- Optional Pen and keyboard can get expensive
- Can get hot while plugged in or with intense usage
- 16GB is not enough
Two items help make the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 our favorite 2-in-1 detachable laptop: Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Elite X processor and an excellent OLED display. The Arm-based CPU delivers competitive performance and far fewer compatibility issues for mainstream use than previous Windows-on-Arm efforts. It helps the Surface Pro 11 deliver a long runtime. The 13-inch OLED display supplies a crisp, 2.8K resolution along with P3 calibration and real HDR capability. It’s the best Surface Pro we’ve seen in a while, but you still have to pay extra for a keyboard and stylus.
- Beautiful design
- Lots of features for home and office work
- Great webcam
- Active pen and laptop sleeve included
- Top-end configuration (of our older test system) performance underwhelmed
The HP Spectre x360 16 doesn’t have «pro» in its name, but it deserves to. It’s not a business laptop, so you won’t find an Intel vPro processor or IT management features. Its premium features, beautiful OLED display, good looks and speedy performance are just about perfect for anyone looking for a versatile laptop with an awesome work-play-and-create design.
The 2.8K OLED display is spectacular, and the speakers and webcam are also excellent. You’ll love using the large haptic touchpad. Like the 14-inch version, the Spectre x360 16 now offers Intel Core Ultra processors along with the latest Nvidia GPUs. We wish the RTX 4050 GPU had more oomph, but its performance will likely suffice for most creators and media editors.
Factors to consider
There are a ton of two-in-one laptops on the market at any given moment, and almost all of those models are available in multiple configurations to match your performance and budget needs. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed with options when looking for a new two-in-one, it’s understandable. To help simplify things for you, here are the main things you should consider when you start looking.
Price
The search for a new two-in-one for most people starts with price. If the statistics chipmaker Intel and PC manufacturers hurl at us are correct, you’ll be holding onto your next laptop for at least three years. If you can afford to stretch your budget a little to get better specs, do it. That stands whether you’re spending $500 or more than $1,000. In the past, you could get away with spending less upfront with an eye toward upgrading memory and storage in the future. Laptop makers are increasingly moving away from making components easily upgradable, so again, it’s best to get as much two-in-one laptop as you can afford from the start.
Generally speaking, the more you spend, the better the two-in-one. That could mean better components for faster performance, a nicer display, sturdier build quality, a smaller or lighter design from higher-end materials or even a more comfortable keyboard. All of these things add to the cost of a laptop. Right now, the sweet spot for a reliable two-in-one that can handle average work, home office or school tasks is between $700 and $800 and a reasonable model for creative work or gaming upwards of about $1,000. The key is to look for discounts on models in all price ranges so you can get more of what you want for less.
Operating system
Choosing an operating system is part personal preference and part budget. For a two-in-one, you have a choice between Microsoft Windows and Google’s ChromeOS. (Apple has yet to merge its MacBook laptops and iPad tablets into a convertible device.)
The majority of two-in-ones feature Windows, but if you are on a tight budget, consider a Chromebook. ChromeOS is a different experience than Windows; make sure the applications you need have a Chrome, Android or Linux app before making the leap. If you spend most of your time roaming the web, writing, streaming video or using cloud-gaming services, they’re a good fit.
Size
With a two-in-one, you have to find the balance between being big enough to be useful in laptop mode and compact enough to be manageable in tablet mode. A 16-inch model that might be attractive as a laptop could feel unwieldy to you as a tablet. On the flip side, an 11-inch tablet might be the perfect entertainment device but will likely feel cramped in laptop mode for getting work done.
Size is primarily determined by the screen — hello, laws of physics — which in turn factors into battery size, laptop thickness, weight and price. Keep in mind other physics-related characteristics, such as an ultrathin laptop isn’t necessarily lighter than a thick one, you can’t expect a wide array of connections on a small or ultrathin model and so on.
Screen
When it comes to deciding on a screen, there are several considerations: how much you need to display (which is surprisingly more about resolution than screen size), what types of content you’ll be looking at and whether or not you’ll be using it for gaming or creative work.
You really want to optimize pixel density; that is, the number of pixels per inch the screen can display. Although other factors contribute to sharpness, a higher pixel density usually means sharper rendering of text and interface elements. (You can easily calculate the pixel density of any screen at DPI Calculator if you don’t feel like doing the math, and you can also find out what math you need to do there.) We recommend a dot pitch of at least 100 pixels per inch as a rule of thumb.
Because of the way Windows and ChromeOS scale for the display, you’re frequently better off with a higher resolution than you’d think. You can always make things bigger on a high-resolution screen, but you can never make them smaller — to fit more content in the view — on a low-resolution screen. This is why a 4K, 14-inch screen may sound like unnecessary overkill, but may not be if you need to, say, view a wide spreadsheet.
If you need a laptop with relatively accurate color, that displays the most colors possible or that supports HDR, you can’t simply trust the specs. It’s not because manufacturers lie, but because they usually fail to provide the necessary context to understand what the specs they quote mean. You can find a ton of detail about considerations for different types of screen uses in our monitor buying guides for general purpose monitors, creators, gamers and HDR viewing.
Processor
The processor, aka the CPU, is the brains of a laptop. Intel and AMD are the main CPU makers for Windows laptops, with Qualcomm as a new third option with its Arm-based Snapdragon X processors. Both Intel and AMD offer a staggering selection of mobile processors. Making things trickier, both manufacturers have chips designed for different laptop styles, like power-saving chips for ultraportables or faster processors for gaming laptops. Their naming conventions will let you know what type is used. You can head to Intel’s or AMD’s sites for explanations so you get the performance you want. Generally speaking, the faster the processor speed and the more cores it has, the better the performance will be.
Apple makes its own chips for MacBooks, which makes things slightly more straightforward. Like Intel and AMD, you’ll still want to pay attention to the naming conventions to know what kind of performance to expect. Apple uses its M-series chipsets in Macs. The entry-level MacBook Air uses an M1 chip with an eight-core CPU and seven-core GPU. The current models have M2-series silicon that starts with an eight-core CPU and 10-core GPU and goes up to the M2 Max with a 12-core CPU and a 38-core GPU. Again, generally speaking, the more cores it has, the better the performance.
Battery life has less to do with the number of cores and more to do with CPU architecture, Arm versus x86. Apple’s Arm-based MacBooks and the first Arm-based Copilot Plus PCs we’ve tested offer better battery life than laptops based on x86 processors from Intel and AMD.
Graphics
The graphics processor handles all the work of driving the screen and generating what gets displayed, as well as speeding up a lot of graphics-related (and increasingly, AI-related) operations. For Windows two-in-one laptops, there are two types of GPUs: integrated (iGPU) or discrete (dGPU). As the names imply, an iGPU is part of the CPU package, while a dGPU is a separate chip with dedicated memory (VRAM) that it communicates with directly, making it faster than sharing memory with the CPU.
Because the iGPU splits space, memory and power with the CPU, it’s constrained by the limits of those. It allows for smaller, lighter designs but doesn’t perform nearly as well as a dGPU. There are some games and creative software that won’t run unless they detect a dGPU or sufficient VRAM. Most productivity software, video streaming, web browsing and other non-specialized apps will run fine on an iGPU, though.
For more power-hungry graphics needs, like video editing, gaming and streaming, design and so on, you’ll need a dGPU; there are only two real companies that make them, Nvidia and AMD, with Intel offering some based on the Xe-branded (or the older UHD Graphics branding) iGPU technology in its CPUs.
Memory
For memory, we highly recommend 16GB of RAM (8GB absolute minimum). RAM is where the operating system stores all the data for currently running applications, and it can fill up fast. After that, it starts swapping between RAM and SSD, which is slower. A lot of sub-$500 laptops have 4GB or 8GB, which in conjunction with a slower disk can make for a frustratingly slow Windows laptop experience. Also, many two-in-ones now have the memory soldered onto the motherboard. Most manufacturers disclose this, but if the RAM type is LPDDR, assume it’s soldered and can’t be upgraded.
Some PC makers will solder memory on and also leave an empty internal slot for adding a stick of RAM. You may need to contact the laptop manufacturer or find the laptop’s full specs online to confirm. Check the web for user experiences, because the slot may still be hard to get to, it may require nonstandard or hard-to-get memory or other pitfalls.
Storage
You’ll still find cheaper hard drives in budget models, but faster solid-state drives have all but replaced traditional hard drives in two-in-one laptops. They can make a big difference in performance. Not all SSDs are equally speedy, and cheaper laptops typically have slower drives; if the laptop only has 4GB or 8GB of RAM, it may end up swapping to that drive and the system may slow down quickly while you’re working.
Get what you can afford, and if you need to go with a smaller drive, you can always add an external drive or two down the road or use cloud storage to bolster a small internal drive.
How we test laptops
The review process for laptops consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our reviewers. This includes evaluating a device’s aesthetics, ergonomics and features with respect to price. A final review verdict is a combination of both objective and subjective judgments.
We test all laptops with a core set of benchmarks, including Primate Labs Geekbench 5 and 6, Cinebench R23, PCMark 10, a variety of 3DMark benchmarks (whichever can run on the laptop), UL Procyon Photo and Video (where supported) and our own battery life test. If a laptop is intended for gaming, we’ll also run benchmarks from Guardians of the Galaxy, The Rift Breaker (CPU and GPU) and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
For the hands-on, the reviewer uses it for their work during the review period, evaluating how well the design, features (such as the screen, camera and speakers) and manufacturer-supplied software operate as a cohesive whole. We also place importance on how well they work given their cost and where the manufacturer has potentially made upgrades or tradeoffs for its price.
The list of benchmarking software and comparison criteria we use changes over time as the devices we test evolve. You can find a more detailed description of our test methodology on our How We Test Computers page.
Are 2-in-1 laptops better than regular laptops?
A two-in-one laptop isn’t necessarily better than a regular laptop, but it’s certainly more versatile. In addition to laptop mode, a two-in-one can be operated as a tablet. A convertible two-in-one laptop has a 360-degree that allows you to rotate the screen all the way around to use in tablet mode. A detachable two-in-one laptop simply lets you separate the display from the keyboard and use it as a tablet.
A convertible design is the better choice if you plan to use the machine more in laptop mode. It can be a bit heavy with the display and keyboard lying back to back in tablet mode. A detachable tablet feels more natural in tablet mode because you are holding just the display, but the lack of a hinge in laptop mode usually means you need to use a kickstand to support the display, which is more cumbersome.
Other laptops we’ve tested
M4 MacBook Air (15-Inch, 2025): The smaller Air is the perfect student laptop, but once you’re out of school, you should graduate to the larger but still highly portable 15-inch model.
M4 MacBook Air (13-Inch, 2025): Whether you pick the little 13-inch model or the more comfortable yet compact 15-inch Air, you’ll be getting an undeniably versatile MacBook.
Acer Swift 16 AI: It’s thin. It’s light. It’s long-running. And it boasts a big, bright 16-inch OLED display. So what’s holding this Copilot Plus PC back from being more than just a big-screen productivity machine?
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i 16 Gen 9: For a 16-inch laptop, it’s thin and light and long-running too. But it’s hard to look past the budget display.
HP Pavilion Aero 13: When it comes to runtime, Snapdragon X laptops and the MacBook Air run laps around it.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i: It’s thin and light for its size, but a short runtime and a few design miscues make this a low-cost laptop to skip.
Acer Swift Go 14 AI: This Snapdragon X-powered laptop can run all day, but its overall look might put you to sleep.
Acer Swift 14 AI: It’s a long-lasting if basic Copilot Plus PC, but do we really need an AI indicator light on the touchpad?
Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4: I wish you could upgrade the display, but this low-cost two-in-one business laptop lets you add more RAM and a second SSD after purchase to extend your investment.
Lenovo Yoga 7 16 Gen 9: Lenovo’s 16-inch convertible is a good budget buy, but it’s better as a secondary machine than your daily driver.
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Gen 9: Lenovo’s flagship two-in-one has AV advantages over its midrange sibling, but you’ll pay a premium price for the OLED display and quad speakers.
Asus Zenbook S 14: Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 processors show improvement from the first generation, but Apple’s and Qualcomm’s ARM-based chips still lead the way.
HP OmniBook X 14: The latest Copilot Plus PC runs for more hours than there are hours in a day.
Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441: This Copilot Plus PC offers an unprecedented runtime inside all-metal design at an affordable price.
Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9I: It’s super cheap, with a dedicated Intel Arc GPU that lends it a wee bit of 3D muscle for casual 1080p play.
HP Envy x360 16: This midrange convertible impresses with a premium OLED display. Its AMD Ryzen 8040 series CPU makes it pretty fast.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: It’s a top gaming laptop for creators too.
Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 7445: A dim display dulls Dell’s otherwise well-rounded, AI-equipped and affordable 14-inch convertible laptop.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7: Powered by Qualcomm’s Arm-based Snapdragon X processor, the Windows-based laptop is exceptionally well-made and long-running.
Acer Swift X 14 (2024): The design won’t wow you, but the 14.5-inch OLED display powered by RTX 4070 graphics is a great combo for on-the-go content creation.
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7640: Content creators may bemoan the display choices, but this midtier, 16-inch laptop offers well-rounded performance from its Core Ultra chip and RTX graphics.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16: Lenovo makes strides with its second foldable-display laptop, but further refinements are still needed before it’s ready for the masses.
Acer Aspire Go 14: You could do worse for $300.
Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Q425: It’s a boon to get an OLED display in such a portable package with great battery life for roughly $1,000, but the fit and finish feel decidedly midrange.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12: The latest X1 Carbon has many charms, but they will remain out of reach for many business buyers constrained by budgets.
Dell XPS 16 9640: Dell’s new 16-inch XPS model offers a unique design backed by strong performance and surprisingly long battery life. Just be prepared to pay for its many configurable charms.
Alienware M18 R2 Gaming Laptop: When you’re this big, the sky’s the limit.
Laptop FAQs
How much do good laptops cost?
Setting a budget is a good place to start when shopping for the best laptop for yourself. The good news is you can get a nice-looking, lightweight laptop with excellent battery life at prices under $500. If you’re shopping for a laptop around $500 or less, check out our top picks here, as well as more specific buying advice for that price range.
Higher-end components like Intel Core i-series and AMD Ryzen processors and premium design touches like thin-display bezels and aluminum or magnesium bodies have made their way to laptops priced between $500 and $1,000. You can also find touchscreens and two-in-one designs that can be used as a tablet or a laptop — and a couple of other positions in between. In this price range, you’ll also find faster memory and ssd storage — and more of it — to improve performance.
Above $1,000 is where you’ll find premium laptops and two-in-ones. If you’re looking for the fastest performance, the best battery life, the slimmest, lightest designs and top-notch display quality with an adequate screen size, expect to spend at least $1,000.
Which is better: MacOS or Windows?
Deciding between MacOS and Windows laptop for many people will come down to personal preference and budget. Apple’s base model laptop, the M1 MacBook Air, starts at $999. You can sometimes find it discounted or you can get educational pricing from Apple and other retailers. In general, it’ll be at least $1,000 for a new MacBook, and the prices just go up from there.
For the money, though, you’re getting great hardware top to bottom, inside and out. Apple recently moved to using its own processors, which resulted in across-the-board performance improvements compared to older Intel-based models. The company’s most powerful laptop, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, still hasn’t been updated to Apple silicon.
Again, that great hardware comes at a price. Also, you’re limited to just Apple laptops. With Windows and Chromebooks (more on these below), you get an amazing variety of devices at a wide range of prices.
Software between the two is plentiful, so unless you need to run something that’s only available on one platform or the other, you should be fine to go with either. Gaming is definitely an advantage for a Windows laptop.
MacOS is also considered to be easier and safer to use than Windows, especially for people who want their computers to get out of the way so they can get things done. Over the years, Microsoft has done its best to follow suit and, with Windows 11 here, it’s trying to remove any barriers. Also, while Macs might have a reputation for being safer, with the popularity of the iPhone and iPad helping to drive Mac sales, they’ve become bigger targets for malware.
Are Chromebook convertibles worth it?
Yes, they are, but they’re not for everyone. Google’s Chrome OS has come a long way in the 10-plus years since they arrived and Chromebooks — laptops that run on Chrome OS — are great for people who do most of their work in a web browser or using mobile apps. They are secure, simple and more often than not, a bargain. What they can’t do is natively run Windows or Mac software.
What’s the best laptop for home, travel or both?
The pandemic changed how and where a lot of people work. The small, ultraportable laptops valued by people who regularly traveled may have suddenly become woefully inadequate for working from home. Or maybe instead of needing long battery life, you’d rather have a bigger display with more graphics power for gaming.
If you’re going to be working on a laptop and don’t need more mobility than moving it from room to room, consider a 15.6-inch laptop or larger. In general, a bigger screen makes life easier for work and is more enjoyable for entertainment, and it also is better if you’re using it as an extended display with an external monitor. It typically means you’re getting more ports, too, so connecting an external display or storage or a keyboard and mouse is easier without requiring a hub or dock.
For travel, stay with 13- or 14-inch laptops or two-in-ones. They’ll be the lightest and smallest while still delivering excellent battery life. What’s nice is that PC-makers are moving away from 16:9 widescreens toward 16:10- or 3:2-ratio displays, which gives you more vertical screen space for work without significantly increasing the footprint. These models usually don’t have discrete graphics or powerful processors, though that’s not always the case.
Which laptop is best for gaming or creating?
You can play games and create content on any laptop. That said, what games you play and what content you create — and the speed at which you do them — varies greatly depending on the components inside the laptop.
For casual browser-based games or using streaming game services like Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming, you don’t need a powerful gaming laptop. Similarly, if you’re trimming video clips, cropping photos or live-streaming video from your webcam, you can get by with a modestly priced laptop or Chromebook with integrated graphics.
For anything more demanding, you’ll need to invest more money in discrete graphics like Nvidia’s RTX 30- or 40-series GPUs. Increased system memory of 16GB or more, having a speedy SSD of at least 512GB for storage and a faster processor such as an Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 will all help you get things moving faster too.
The other piece you’ll want to consider is the display. For gaming, look for screens with a high refresh rate of 120Hz or faster so games look smoother while playing. For content creation, look for displays that cover at least 100% sRGB color space or, better yet, 100% DCI-P3.
Recent Articles
