Best 2-in-1 Laptop for 2024

There are a lot of two-in-one laptops on the market at any time, and almost all of these models are available in multiple configurations to meet your performance and budget needs. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the options when looking for a new two-in-one, that’s understandable. To simplify things for you, here are the most important things to consider as you start your search.

Price

For most people, the search for a new two-in-one starts with the price. If the statistics that chip maker Intel and PC manufacturers throw at us are correct, you will hold onto your next laptop for at least three years. If you can afford to stretch your budget a bit to get better specs, do so. That applies whether you spend $500 or more than $1,000. In the past, you could get away with spending less upfront with an eye to upgrading memory and storage in the future. Laptop manufacturers are moving away from assuming that components can be easily upgraded, so again, it’s best to buy as many two-in-one laptops as you can afford from the start.

In general, the more you spend, the better the two-in-one. That could mean better components for faster performance, a nicer screen, sturdier build quality, a smaller or lighter design made from more expensive materials, or even a more comfortable keyboard. All these things increase 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 starts at around $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 can choose between Microsoft Windows and Google’s ChromeOS. (Apple has yet to merge its MacBook laptops and iPad tablets into a convertible device.)

Most two-in-one devices come with Windows, but if you’re on a budget, consider a Chromebook. ChromeOS is a different experience than Windows; make sure the applications you need are a ChromeAndroid or Linux app before taking the plunge. If you spend most of your time surfing the web, writing, streaming video, or using cloud gaming services, they are suitable.

Mate

With a two-in-one you have to find the balance between being large enough to be usable in laptop mode and compact enough to be manageable in tablet mode. A 16-inch model that may be attractive as a laptop may feel awkward to you as a tablet. On the other hand, an 11-inch tablet can be the perfect entertainment device, but in laptop mode it will probably feel cramped to get work done.

The size is primarily determined by the screen (hello laws of physics), which in turn affects the size of the battery, the thickness of the laptop, its weight and price. Take other physics into account, such as an ultra-thin laptop not necessarily being lighter than a fat one, you can’t expect a wide range of ports on a small or ultra-thin model, and so on.

Screen

When it comes to choosing a screen, there are several considerations: how much to display (which is surprisingly more about resolution than screen size), what types of content you’ll be watching, and whether or not you’ll use it for gaming or creative work.

You really want to optimize the pixel density; that is, the number of pixels per inch the screen can display. While other factors contribute to sharpness, higher pixel density usually means sharper display 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 to do there.) As a rule of thumb, we recommend a dot spacing of at least 100 pixels per inch.

Because of the way Windows and ChromeOS scale the screen, you’re often better off with a higher resolution than you might think. You can always make things bigger on a high-resolution screen, but you can never make them smaller (to fit more content into the display) on a low-resolution screen. This is why a 4K, 14-inch screen may sound unnecessarily overkill, but it might not be when you need to view a wide spreadsheet, for example.

If you need a laptop with relatively accurate colors, that displays the most colors, or that supports HDR, you can’t just rely on the specs. It’s not because manufacturers lie, but because they usually fail to provide the necessary context to understand what the specifications they quote mean. You can find lots of details on considerations for different types of screen use in our monitor buying guides for general monitors, makers, gamers and HDR display.

Processor

The processor, also called the CPU, is the brain of a laptop. Intel and AMD are the main CPU makers for Windows laptops, with Qualcomm a new third option with its Arm-based Snapdragon X processors. Both Intel and AMD offer a dizzying selection of mobile processors. What makes things even trickier is that both manufacturers have chips designed for different laptop styles, such as power-saving chips for ultraportables or faster processors for gaming laptops. Their naming conventions let you know which type is used. You can go to Intels or AMDs sites for explanations so you get the performance you want. In general, the higher 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 a little simpler. Like Intel and AMD, you still have 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. Current models feature M2 series silicon, which starts with an eight-core CPU and a 10-core GPU and goes all the way up to the M2 Max with a 12-core CPU and a 38-core GPU. Again, in general, the more cores it has, the better the performance.

Battery life has less to do with core count and more to do with CPU architecture, Arm versus x86. Apple’s Arm-based MacBooks and the first Arm-based Copilot Plus PCs we tested offer better battery life than laptops based on x86 processors from Intel and AMD.

Graphic

The graphics processor does all the work of driving the screen and generating what’s displayed, as well as speeding up many graphics (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 shares space, memory, and power with the CPU, it is limited by its limits. 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 work unless they detect a dGPU or enough VRAM. However, most productivity software, video streaming, web browsing, and other non-specialized apps work fine on an iGPU.

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 iGPU technology (or the older UHD Graphics branding) in its CPUs.

Memory

For memory, we highly recommend 16 GB of RAM (absolute minimum 8 GB). RAM is where the operating system stores all the data for currently running applications, and it can fill up quickly. Then it starts switching between RAM and SSD, which is slower. Many laptops under $500 have 4GB or 8GB, which combined with a slower drive can make for a frustratingly slow Windows laptop experience. Additionally, many two-in-ones now have their memory soldered to the motherboard. Most manufacturers disclose this, but if the RAM type is LPDDR, assume it is soldered and not upgradeable.

Some PC manufacturers solder the memory on and also leave an empty internal slot for adding RAM. You may need to contact the laptop manufacturer or check the laptop’s full specifications online to confirm this. Check the Internet for user experiences, as the lock may still be difficult to access, may require non-standard or hard-to-obtain 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 fast, and cheaper laptops tend to have slower drives; If the laptop only has 4 GB or 8 GB of RAM, it may switch to that drive and the system will quickly slow down while you work.

Get what you can afford, and if you need a smaller drive, you can always add an external drive or two or use cloud storage to boost a small internal drive.