Notebookcheck's Top 10 Ultrabooks

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 offers the sixth generation of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (here in review). This time we reviewed the SKU with the matte WQHD screen. The 14-inch business laptop got an excellent rating (90%) and secures a top spot in this ranking.

We now had the chance to test all display options of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon: The default 1080p IPS screen with and without touch, the matte WQHD panel as well as the glossy WQHD HDR option, which is brighter than all the others. However, the high resolution requires more power, so the runtime suffers a bit. The default matte 1080p SKU is leading the mobility aspect. 

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is one of the best business laptops, and this does not change when you select the matte WQHD screen. The matte panels are better suited for work compared to the very glossy WQHD HDR screen. The matte WQHD panel from LG Philips is subjectively superior in terms of picture quality compared to the FHD panels, but the latter last a bit longer on battery.

Other than that, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is an excellent business laptop with a high-quality, slim and light chassis. The utilization of the quad-core processor is good and we like the modern port selection including regular USB Type-A ports.

As you expect from a ThinkPad, you get an excellent keyboard and the battery runtime of 9 hours is not bad, either. Drawbacks include the heavily limited maintenance, the missing Ethernet port (even though the corresponding adapter is provided), as well as the high-pitched fan noise, which is sometimes running without apparent reason.

The business alternative is offered by Fujitsu. The LifeBook U938 is almost 200 grams lighter and just slightly smaller with its 13.3-inch panel, but Fujitsu does not offer as many display options.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2019 is made of very sophisticated materials, which are not only nice to touch and leave a high-quality impression, but it also looks very good. The build quality of ThinkPad models is on a very high level anyway, but we had the impression Lenovo did an even better job here.

Lenovo equips the ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2019 with an Intel Core i7-8565U, which can consume up to 51 Watts. However, this setting results in heavy performance fluctuations under sustained workloads.

The advantages of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2019 also include the new speakers, which are much better compared to other ThinkPad devices. We also still like the good port selection, even though the lack of a card reader is a drawback. Keyboard, TrackPoint, and touchpad are still very good, but the key travel is a bit more shallow than before, so long term ThinkPad users will take some time getting used to it.

The performance of the 2019 ThinkPad X1 Yoga has not improved, but it is not worse, either. Lenovo did change the cooling solution though, because the fan does not run as often as before, although the surface temperatures are a bit higher.

On the outside Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7 (see review here) looks like like its predecessor. As before, it feels very premium and great. On the inside, Microsoft upgrade both CPU and GPU. Due to its passive cooling the SoC has to throttle under sustained load. That said even bigger devices are not necessarily any better in this regard.

Battery life was slightly improved over its predecessor, and the new Surface Pro 7 lasted for around ten hours. This should be long enough to last a full work day, and it remains unrivaled in its class.

Microsoft remains true to its colors and left the design untouched for the 2019 model year. Looks, feel, and design are still premium, and the Surface Pro 7 offers a very good performance to boot. We still miss the future-proof USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 options. Why Microsoft refuses to include this port in 2019 is beyond us.

The top model, equipped with an i7 CPU and 1 TB of SSD storage, costs over $2,000. However, Microsoft recently got company with HP’s Elite x2 that costs around the same.

The Surface Pro 7 left a good impression on us during our review. We particularly liked the fact that the Surface Pen is now included by default. The type cover must however still be purchased separately, and will increase the giant gaping hole in your wallet even further. The device also lacks a USB-C port, which should be included given its price tag.

Dell offers the new 2019 XPS 13 9380. The cooling system with its dual fans ensures good performance utilization under sustained workloads, even though it is not always stable (Whiskey Lake quad-core). There is still an improvement over the 2018 model.

The 2019 XPS 13 only reduces its performance by 8% under sustained workloads, so it is faster than the Kaby Lake Refresh quad-core in the predecessor.

The case did not change; the XPS 13 still offers a nice design with slim bezels. A lot of display with a small footprint. The UHD screen, which is now provided by AUO (previously from Sharp) is bright, but the sRGB gamut is a bit lower.

The webcam is back at the top of the screen, but we cannot commend its quality.

The XPS 13 is a good option for all users looking for Thunderbolt and DisplayPort via USB Type-C and want a lot of performance in a small package. The battery runtime of 8 hours is nit bad, but not class-leading, either. The i5/1080p model from SKU managed almost 11 hours in the same test.

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.

Acer’s Swift 3 SF313 (see review here) is an almost all-around well-made 13.5-inch notebook. It is very light yet manages to maintain a very robust base. We also liked its very bright 3:2 display, which turned out to have good color space coverage to boot. The small 13.5-inch device features the latest technology: Ice Lake CPU, NVMe SSD, DDR4 RAM, and an IPS panel. It is thus well-suited for photo editing purposes.

Acer’s Swift 3 SF313 offers good performance, long battery life, and a great display without putting too much strain on your budget.

Upgradeability is fairly limited, though. RAM is soldered onto the motherboard, and the devices does not support a second storage device. Wi-Fi performance was comparatively poor. However, we expect this issue to be a a problem with our particular device and are hoping to receive an identical second device to repeat our tests.

Dell’s XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 (see review here) features Intel’s latest Ice-Lake CPU. In addition to the Core i7-1065G7 its Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 is much more powerful than the previous generation UHD Graphics 620. In our test, it performed better than an RX Vega 8 but worse that an RX Vega 10.

Acer’s Swift 5 SF514 (see review here) is an almost all-around well-made 14-inch Ultrabook. Despite its extraordinarily low weight of just 943 g (2.08 lbs) it features a very robust base. The 14-inch featherweight features the latest technology: Ice Lake CPU, NVMe SSD, DDR4 RAM, and an IPS touchscreen with decent color accuracy.