Notebookcheck's Top 10 Convertible Laptops

We really liked the HP EliteBook x360 1040 G5 in our review and the attractive 14-inch convertible can secure the top spot in our ranking. It is powered by an Intel Core i7-8650U in combination with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD storage.

The HP EliteBook x360 1040 G5 is not just a good choice for business users with frequent travels, but also for home users looking for a new Ultrabook. Even the least expensive SKU offers everything you come to expect from a convertible and you can save a few hundred Euros if the performance of the Core i5 is sufficient. The system cannot utilize the full potential of the i7 due to the limited cooling capabilities anyway.

The HP EliteBook x360 1040 G5 also manages very long battery runtimes, which makes it very versatile and it will easily last a full business day without recharging.

There is still some criticism, because you can hardly upgrade the device at all. The RAM is soldered and cannot be expanded. The fan noise is pretty high-pitched and a bit annoying under load. You will have to pay another 130 Euros for the HP Active Pen Stylus if you want to use an input pen.

The HP EliteBook x360 1040 G5 is a very good convertible for business users. If you want a device capable of gaming as well, you should consider alternatives with a dedicated graphics card.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2019 [see review here] is made of premium materials that not only feel but also look great. ThinkPads have always been very well made, however with the X1 we got the impression that Lenovo’s engineers tried to one-up themselves.

Intel’s Core i7-8565U was configured with a TDP of up to 51 W resulting in high turbo boost fluctuations during our sustained load test.

The new speakers were also vastly improved over what other ThinkPad laptops have to offer. Port selection as very good albeit we mourn the loss of the card reader. Keyboard, trackpoint, and touchpad remained top notch even though keyboard travel has been noticeably reduced and might require some getting used to if you are already familiar with other ThinkPad keyboards.

No improvements have been made in regards to overall performance. The cooler, however, has been upgraded noticeably and is now spinning less often. In return, surface temperatures were slightly higher.

An improved design, a brighter display, and better speakers are the main benefits of Lenovo’s 2019 ThinkPad X1 Yoga over its own predecessor.

The Lenovo Yoga C940 is the successor to the Yoga C930 and the design did not change. The build quality of the chassis is high and it is primarily made of aluminum. The good sound system was also carried over from the C930, but the new display is much brighter.

The Ice Lake CPU Core i7-1065G7 including the new iGPU is also new. The latter in particular is much faster than before, so even casual gamers should be happy. We also liked the good emissions during our review, including long battery runtimes and low temperatures.

The Lenovo Yoga C940 is a great device without any real serious drawbacks. The big highlight is the speaker system, which is implemented as a compact sound bar into the display hinge.

The box also includes an active pen, which can be stored inside the chassis, where it is also charged.

We liked the HP EliteBook x360 1030 G3 during our review, and it received a very good score. This ensures a good spot in our ranking for the compact 13-inch convertible. It is powered by an Intel Core i7-8550U in combination with 16 GB RAM as well as 512 GB SSD storage.

HP's EliteBook x360 1030 G3 is a good convertible if you want a machine for work. The touchscreen is also good and better than the glossy alternatives.

The HP EliteBook x360 1030 G3 is not only a good choice for business users with frequent travels, but home users also benefit from the performance if they want an Ultrabook. However, the system cannot fully utilize the potential of the processor. The EliteBook is also available with a Core i5 if you do not need the i7.

You will also benefit from long battery runtimes. The touchscreen is very bright, but the grainy picture impression affects the subjective quality quite a bit. Security features like SureView limit the viewing angles, but the picture quality is much worse when you activate this feature.

Another issue is the complicated maintenance with soldered memory, which cannot be expanded.

The HP EliteBook x360 830 G6 got a very good score in our review. Both the Intel Core i7-8565U and 32 GB memory transform this convertible into a serious work horse. But that's not all; you can even upgrade the RAM all the way up to 64 GB and our test unit was shipped with a massive 1 TB SSD.

HP promises a brightness of up to 1000 Nits. We cannot confirm this value, but "only" 700 Nits, which is still a lot when you compare it with the rivals.

The HP EliteBook x360 830 G6 is an excellent convertible with a very good screen, even though we cannot confirm the advertised luminance.

The EliteBook x360 830 G6 is primarily designed for business users with high requirements. Long battery runtimes ensure you can work on long travels and the WWAN option can be another argument for the device.

We also liked the comfortable input devices as well as the included Digitizer Pen. The low temperature development in combination with the quiet operating noise complete the package very well.

Dell’s Latitude 7400 [see review here] is a premium 2-in-1 convertible equipped with Intel’s Core i7-8665U CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and 512 GB of storage.

During our test, we encountered difficulties maintaining the i7’s high level of performance, which had to be throttled regularly due to high temperatures. Nevertheless, the i7 managed to outperform the i5 by between 11 and 15 percent. Whether or not this minor performance improvement is worth the price premium is up to you.

We liked the Dell Latutide 7400’s high build quality, including the choice of material. The downside to the sturdy aluminum case is the laptop’s high weight. The input devices were pretty good and well-suited for avid typists and prolific writers.

The display’s color accuracy and contrast were decent, albeit its maximum brightness was too low overall. This inadvertently also had a negative impact out outdoor usability. Battery life was decent, as were the speakers and the notebook’s low noise emissions.

Our overall rating was 87 percent, which secured the Latitude 7400 a spot in our top 10 list.

Dell’s Latitude 7400 is equipped with a fast Intel Core i7-8665U CPU, at least on paper. Unfortunately, it failed to perform accordingly during our review.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X390 Yoga [see review here] is the successor the last year’s ThinkPad Yoga 380. The case remained largely identical but the internal hardware was upgraded to reflect the latest technology available at the time of construction. The top of the line SKU includes an Intel Core i7-8565U quad-core CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and a fast PCIe SSD. The FHD IPS display was good, and given its business pedigree the ThinkPad convertible can be easily opened for maintenance or upgrades. Among others, you can replace the SSD and clean the fan. Unfortunately, the RAM is soldered to the mainboard.

Dell’s Inspiron 7486 (review) is a high-quality Chromebook competing against Google’s Pixelbook. However, the latter is much more competitively priced compared to Dell’s asking price of more than $500.

The Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 is equipped with Intel's latest Ice Lake GPU. Besides the Core i7-1065G7, the Iris Plus Graphics offers significantly more performance compared to the old UHD Graphics. The new Iris iGPU is sitting between the AMD RX Vega 8 and Vega 10 in the benchmarks.

Dell's XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 is a very light convertible with a great display and long battery runtimes.

Thanks to the new Ice Lake GPU, the slim and light convertible gets a decent performance bump and beats all the previous XPS 13 models. Despite the higher performance, the nominal TDP is still 15 Watts similar to previous Whiskey Lake models. This means the battery runtimes of the XPS 13 7390 are also very good. You can browse the web for almost 9 hours before you have to recharge the battery.

However, the XPS 13 7390 unfortunately lacks many small things. The missing NFC is not a big deal, but you need the Internet if you travel a lot. There is no LTE module, so you have to use another device as a hotspot, for example. Due to the size, there is no USB Type-A, either.

The Lenovo L390 Yoga (here in review) is equipped with a fast Whiskey Lake processor. Lenovo sticks with the excellent input devices, which are great for frequent writers. The 14-inch convertible also convinces with good performance figures. The materials are sophisticated, the convertible offers fast Wi-Fi and the ActivePen Pro can be stored inside the chassis.

All in all, the Lenovo ThinkPad L390 Yoga does not offer any surprises. Very good build quality and materials meet excellent input devices, and the performance also corresponds with the price tag.

Drawbacks include the short warranty period of just 12 months and the missing WWAN option, which would have been great for a business device. The restrained fan control results in high surface temperatures under load and the limited color gamut of the display prevented a higher rating.