The Best 2-in-1 Laptops of 2023

What to Look For in a 2-in-1 Laptop in 2023

2-in-1 laptops are often thin, light devices with a touchscreen and a hinge mechanism that lets them work in both a “laptop” and “tablet” mode. They may also come with a stylus or a detachable keyboard, but these are not always guaranteed. It’s also important to note that due to the unique build of 2-in-1 laptops, they have a bit of a premium attached compared to normal laptops with similar specs.

But like any other laptop, you’ll want to keep an eye on important hardware to make sure your 2-in-1 works the way you need it to. While processors and graphics cards are important, the laptop’s touch screen is the most critical aspect, as you’ll be using the screen more often than the keyboard or trackpad. You’ll need to ensure you have at least a Full HD resolution screen with decent color saturation and brightness—anything below this will make it difficult to use the 2-in-1 in tablet mode.

You can also generally can pick between a Windows computer and a Chromebook for a 2-in-1. If you’re looking for a Windows device, aim for an Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 CPU, at least 8GB of RAM, and at least 512GB of SSD storage so the OS can run smoothly.

You can get away with slightly lower specs for a Chromebook, as ChromeOS is less power-intensive than Windows. But, you may have trouble finding models with a lot of internal storage. You’ll need to buy an external hard drive or rely on cloud storage for many Chromebooks.

If you’re looking for a 2-in-1 laptop for creative work, you’ll need to ensure certain specs are good enough to handle what you do. For example, if you’re looking to draw on your 2-in-1, the touch screen and stylus functionality are very important; for photo editing, the screen’s color accuracy is a key factor.

For a gaming 2-in-1 laptop, you must ensure the graphics card (GPU) is good enough for your games. Since these are thin laptops, top-of-the-line GPU options are rare. However, make sure you check the GPU’s wattage before making a choice, especially if it’s an NVIDIA GPU. The wattage for the same GPU model differs across laptops, as does performance.

Finally, most 2-in-1 laptops rely on a hinge mechanism for its laptop-to-tablet convertible action. Regarding reliability, the hinge on a 2-in-1 is one of the essential components, given how much you will fold the laptop over itself. As such, you should ensure the hinge mechanism is strong and sturdy—even the most powerful 2-in-1 laptop is useless if the hinge breaks easily.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a 2-in-1 laptop mean?
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A 2-in-1 laptop is a touchscreen laptop with a hinge that lets you fold the screen all the way back and use it as a tablet. They’re also called convertible laptops or 360-degree laptops.

How do I protect the keyboard on a 2-in-1 laptop?
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2-in-1 laptop keyboards automatically disable when folded into tablet mode, along with the trackpad. However, if you want to get some extra protection for your keyboard, you can use a keyboard cover.

Are 2-in-1 laptops good for drawing?
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Not all 2-in-1 laptops have screens (or stylus experience) that are great for drawing. However, there are 2-in-1 laptops that are great for drawing, but they’re generally the higher-priced models.

How do I clean my laptop screen?
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The best way to clean a laptop screen is to dust it and then use a mildly damp microfiber cloth to wipe it clean. Glass cleaners and rubbing alcohol can cause damage to your screen, so it’s best to use a bit of water to dampen the cloth instead.

How do I factory reset my laptop?
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You can factory reset your laptop using the Reset this PC option in the Settings app on Windows. On a Chromebook, you can do it using the Powerwash option.

Best 2-in-1 Laptop Overall: Lenovo Yoga 9i

Pros

✓ Great 16:10 OLED screen
✓ Stylus included
✓ Stellar performance and battery life

Cons

✗ A bit too pricey

Lenovo is well-known as a high-quality laptop brand, and the Lenovo Yoga 9i is the best 2-in-1 laptop you can buy. The 2022 Lenovo Yoga 9i has a 12th Generation Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, and options between either 512GB or 1TB of NVMe SSD storage.

The Yoga 9i has two 14-inch 16:10 aspect ratio OLED touchscreen options. You can pick between a 2.8K resolution screen running at a 90Hz refresh rate or a 4K resolution screen with a 60Hz refresh rate. Both options are fantastic in terms of color accuracy, with 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. The screens also get bright, reaching up to 400 nits.

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is more of a productivity machine than a gaming laptop, and as such, you don’t get a dedicated GPU—just Intel’s Iris Xe integrated graphics card. While it won’t be able to run the latest AAA titles, you can play some older and less graphically intensive titles.

Battery life on this Lenovo laptop is also very good and should get most folks a day’s use out of it. It also gets quick charging technology called Rapid Charge Boost, which gives two hours of battery life with 15 minutes of charge.

As our sister site Review Geek’s Lenovo Yoga 9i review notes, this 2-in-1 laptop, while pricey, is worth it. It offers stellar performance and has an aluminum chassis that controls the thermals, which means it is very comfortable to use in tablet mode.

Best 2-in-1 Laptop Overall

Lenovo Yoga 9i

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is the best 2-in-1 laptop you can buy, with a stellar design, great performance and battery life, and a show-stealing OLED screen.

Best Budget 2-in-1 Laptop: ASUS Vivobook Flip 14

ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 on pink background

Pros

✓ Great battery life
✓ Sturdy hinge
✓ Good looks

Cons

✗ Cheaper variants have only 4GB RAM
✗ Sharp edges and deck flex

With budget laptops, there are always compromises, but the ASUS Vivobook Flip 14 has the perfect balance of compromises and affordability. The ASUS Vivobook Flip 14 has several versions, differentiated mainly by CPU options. We recommend the model powered by the 11th Gen Intel Core i3 CPU.

The i3 CPU version is available for under $500, with sales bringing the laptop below $400, making it a stellar value. You’ll only get 4GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage at that price but some compromises need to be made at this price point. You get a lightweight chassis and a reliable hinge, as expected from ASUS. The weight distribution is stellar, and you get a solid feel in laptop or tablet mode.

There are a few design issues, like sharp corners and deck flex, but these won’t hinder your user experience. When I tested the ASUS Vivobook Flip 14, I tried the more expensive Ryzen 5000 version, which didn’t impress at the $600 price point. However, the i3 version is a better value than its direct competitors, including the Surface Go 3.

The ASUS Vivobook Flip 14 has stellar battery life, too. ASUS promise a battery that lasts all day, and unless you’re doing CPU-heavy tasks, it should hold up to that figure. The screen isn’t the brightest or most color-accurate, but it will get the job done.

Best Budget 2-in-1 Laptop

ASUS VivoBook Flip 14

ASUS’ Vivobook Flip 14 has great battery life, good looks, and a study hinge that makes for a great 2-in-1 laptop experience.

Best 2-in-1 Laptop for Students: Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14-Inch

Pros

✓ Plenty of configurations
✓ Great design
✓ Stellar battery life

Cons

✗ Screen isn’t the best you can get

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i costs a bit more than our budget pick, but it comes with better hardware, sufficient to handle most student workloads. Lenovo’s Flex laptops are incredible 2-in-1s, and this one is fantastic for a typical student’s workload, especially with the options you can choose from.

For CPUs, you can choose between the i3, i5, and i7 12th Gen Intel Core models. The base i3 version is under $600 and is enough to get the job done, but the i5 version is the sweet spot regarding the price-to-performance ratio. You also get 8GB RAM, although it’s DDR4 and not from the newer DDR5 family, and 512GB NVMe SSD storage, although that is the faster Gen 4 model.

The screen on this laptop isn’t the best you can get, but it suffices. It’s great at touch response, and the brightness is decent, but the color coverage is average. While the screen will be good enough for most use cases, if you are doing photo or video editing, you may want to look at our best overall recommendation, which comes with a more color-accurate screen.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i has a great design, and the build quality is top-notch. The 2022 model was redesigned and fixed a few issues, including new hinges that make this easy to use in both laptop and tablet modes. You also get stellar battery life, and Lenovo’s Rapid Charge helps do a quick top-up when needed.

Best 2-in-1 Laptop for Students

Lenovo IdeaPad 5i

Lenovo offers the best 2-in-1 laptop for students, offering excellent specifications with plenty of choices, great battery life, and a new design that impresses.

Best 2-in-1 Laptop for Gaming: ASUS ROG Flow X16

ASUS ROG Flow X16 on pink and yellow background

Pros

✓ Brilliant Mini-LED screen
✓ Great hardware
✓ Large trackpad

Cons

✗ A bit pricey

The 2-in-1 form factor is tricky since these are essentially thin-and-light laptops, so most don’t have the space to put in gaming hardware. As such, there are very few 2-in-1 gaming laptops, but the ASUS ROG Flow X16 is the best one available.

The ASUS ROG Flow X16 comes packed with some great hardware. You will get a powerful Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU, and for a graphics card, you can pick between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, 3060, or 3070 Ti. This is backed by up to 64GB DDR5 RAM and up to 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage. You can also add an external RTX 3080 GPU using ASUS’ proprietary XG Mobile external GPU box.

Given the specifications and ASUS’s history, there is no doubt that this is an impressive gaming laptop. That being said, it’s a great 2-in-1 laptop as well, and the display is primarily responsible for that.

The ASUS ROG Flow X16 has a brilliant Mini-LED display, running at QHD+ resolution and a refresh rate of 165Hz. You get 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and 1,100 nits of brightness. That means a fantastic gaming viewing experience when folded into a tablet.

Despite this laptop’s hardware, it still weighs in at 4.59 pounds, which is light for a gaming laptop, especially considering the 16-inch size. The build quality is top-notch, but the battery life is not the best, though adequate for a gaming laptop.

Best 2-in-1 Laptop for Gaming

ASUS ROG Flow X16

The ASUS ROG Flow X16 offers great hardware and one of the best displays you can get on any laptop, let alone a 2-in-1.

Best 2-in-1 Chromebook: Acer Chromebook Spin 713

Chromebook Spin 713 on green and blue background

Pros

✓ Brilliant display
✓ Solid performance
✓ Thunderbolt 4

Cons

✗ Limited internal storage

Acer makes some of the best value-for-money laptops, and the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is one of their best. This 2-in-1 has consistently been one of the best Chromebooks you can buy ever since it first launched.

With Chromebooks, you don’t get the latest and greatest hardware, but the Spin 713 checks all the right boxes. You get an 11th Gen Intel Core CPU, with options between i3, i5, and i7 chips. You get either 8GB or 16GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB SSD storage. It may not seem like much, but it will handle ChromeOS like a champ. You also have Thunderbolt 4 to make up for the limited internal storage.

The star of the show is the 3:2 aspect ratio display, which runs at a resolution of 2,256×1,504 pixels. It’s not just one of the best displays you can get on a Chromebook—it’s also fantastic for Windows laptops at a similar price point. It has excellent colors and ample brightness, and the 3:2 ratio is a solid choice for this device, making for a superb experience, especially in tablet mode.

You get solid build quality, making this one feel like a premium machine The battery life is pretty decent as well and can last you a day. This is impressive because it drives a high-resolution screen and an x86 Intel chip, which would eat up some of the Chromebook’s battery life.

Best 2-in-1 Chromebook

Acer Chromebook Spin 713

One of the best Chromebooks you can buy, the Chromebook Spin 713 has decent hardware and one of the best screens you can get at the price.

Best 2-in-1 Laptop for Drawing: Microsoft Surface Pro 8

Microsoft Surface Pro 8 on grey background

Pros

✓ Great display and pen experience
✓ Solid build and quality hardware
✓ Decent battery life

Cons

✗ Keyboard and pen sold separately

Rounding out the list is Microsoft’s Surface Pro 8, one of Microsoft’s best computers. It’s the best 2-in-1 laptop for drawing you can get, mostly because this is a tablet first, with a kickstand and keyboard sold separately.

On the hardware side, you get 11th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 CPU, RAM options from 8GB to 32GB LPDDR4x, and SSD storage options of 128GB to 1TB. There’s no dedicated GPU on offer, but there is no need for one with this device.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 8 has a great 13-inch 3:2 PixelSense Flow display with a 2,880×1,920 pixels resolution. You get a 120Hz refresh rate and 10-point multi-touch support.

But the screen is only half the equation, and what makes this our top pick for drawing is the Slim Pen 2. The Pen has haptic feedback, which aims to mimic the feel of writing on paper and is a nice addition to the overall drawing experience.

Battery life is not quite close to the promised 16 hours, but you can get a full workday of juice out of the Surface Pro 8. Build quality and design are both great, as is the Windows experience on this first-party device.

Best 2-in-1 Laptop for Drawing

Microsoft Surface Pro 8

The best pen experience on a Windows system, and also a solid computer overall. Technically a tablet, but Microsoft’s keyboard and pen make for a well-rounded experience.