We put 2-in-1 laptops through extensive benchmark testing — both synthetic and real-world — before they end up in the hands of our reviewers. We evaluate each aspect of the laptop, including its performance, battery life, display, speakers and heat management. You can spend a lot of time delving into specs, but here are the key components to think about. If you just want really good mainstream performance, go for a Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 1080p screen. How we test the best 13-inch laptops

Terms Apply. Promotion ends 3 December 2023. Items are subject to availability. Max 5 units per customer. If you cancel you must return the goods to us at your own expense. You are responsible for the risk of loss or damage when you return the goods, so you should take out adequate postal insurance to cover their value. Asus has done it again. They’ve changed the definition of what the best gaming laptop is. By itself, the Asus ROG Flow X13 is a compelling laptop. It’s very rare to see a 13-inch gaming laptop and even rarer for it to be a 2-in-1. But Asus didn’t stop there, they threw a high-powered AMD Ryzen 9 processor into the mix and even outfitted the notebook with its own discrete Nvidia GPU. If you want something more portable or just need a nice display for content viewing, consider buying a tablet that converts into a tablet via a detachable keyboard. In this category are the Microsoft Surface devices and Apple's iPad Pro. Tablets are also great for artists or designers because they typically support a stylus input and aren't as unwieldy as convertible laptops.

Components and Configurations

For many laptop shoppers, portability is king, and there's nothing more portable than a tablet. With touch screens and support for a pen or stylus, the most popular laptops today often do double duty as tablets. There are two ways to achieve this: Convertible 2-in-1 designs that rotate between notebook and slate modes with 360-degree hinges, or detachable models that let you remove the keyboard entirely to become a standalone tablet. You have a keyboard and touchpad when you need it, or can go all touch screen when that's more convenient. Compatibility Information: Works with Windows laptops or non-M1 MacBooks equipped with a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 port. Not compatible with M1 MacBooks or Linux or Chrome OS laptops. These aren't beefed-up Android tablets—you're still buying a PC with a full operating system, whether that's ChromeOS or Windows. Apple, with its MacBooks,isn't a player in this category of laptop; Apple has doggedly pointed folks who need a touch screen and tablet/laptop convertibility toward its iOS-equipped iPad and iPad Pro lines, paired with an optional keyboard. If the ROG Flow sounds intriguing but a detachable form factor is more your speed, the new Asus ROG Flow Z13 could be the answer. How to choose the best 13-inch laptop

Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it. On its own, the XPS 13 2-in-1 presents capable results for general productivity as far as everyday home and office tasks. There’s no noticeable slowdown in general use, and you’ll be able to run a few applications and multiple tabs simultaneously. For the type of product this is, that’s really all you need.The digital age has highlighted our insatiable demand to create and consume content. In my humble view, the only things that rivals this is the ravenous appetite of teenagers and our need for more ports on our computers. Oh and the tax office. Meanwhile, the display's color coverage falls in line with the others, and the brightness measurements are strong. The maximum brightness rating confirms the eye test: This is a colorful, bright, and sharp panel. We just wish the tablet lasted longer on a charge.

Make sure all items returned are complete; any incomplete items will not be credited and will be classed as unauthorised. We primarily test PCs using UL's PCMark 10, which simulates a variety of real-world productivity and content-creation workflows to measure overall performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet work, web browsing, and videoconferencing. We also run PCMark 10's Full System Drive test to assess the load time and throughput of a laptop's boot drive. The benefit of the keyboard case is that it is thinner and lighter overall than the usual lower half of a laptop or convertible. Detachable-hybrid tablets, however, tend to be top-heavy, because all of the system's components and batteries, and hence their weight, are necessarily localized in the screen. You'll want to examine your usage patterns to determine whether holding the PC in your hands and interacting with the touch screen is really right for you. That means with this year's XPS 13 2-in-1, the processor, storage, and all other components are contained behind the tablet screen, unlike convertibles and standard laptops, which house those parts primarily beneath the keyboard. This results in a much smaller, lighter device, but also lighter performance due to the thermal constraints of the smaller, thinner frame. Because of the motion that a convertible laptop's hinge enables, you can usually use these systems in a variety of modes. If you want to be able to share the display with everyone in a meeting, you can place the keyboard portion face down on the desk (called "stand" or "display" mode) and have the screen showing up front, kiosk-style. Or, you can prop it up on its leading edges (in so-called "tent" or "A-frame" mode), which takes up less space than the other modes. For flexibility, it's difficult to beat this kind of 2-in-1.We put each laptop through extensive benchmark testing — both synthetic and real-world — before they end up in the hands of our reviewers. We evaluate each aspect of the laptop, including its performance, battery life, display, speakers and heat management. Detaching the tablet and leaving the heft of the keyboard behind is optimal when, say, you're actively presenting a slideshow on a big screen and using the tablet to draw notes on the slides in real time. Reattaching the keyboard takes mere seconds, so you will be able to easily (and comfortably) change the slideshow's content during your lunch hour if you need to change your talk's focus for your afternoon session. In our benchmark testing, we use a Klein K10 colorimeter to detect the brightness and sRGB color gamut of the laptop's display. For performance testing, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 4.3 and 5.0 and 3DMark professional graphics tests.