The Best Ultra-Portable Notebooks

Apple refreshed its MacBook Pro series. Visually, the differences are minor but the 13-inch laptop (see review here) now features Intel’s Ice Lake CPUs, which means four real cores. The processor works slightly better than before. The power supply remains barely adequately dimensioned. The error-prone Butterfly keyboard has now been removed from all MacBooks.

After years of rumors Apple finally took the plunge and updated its MacBook Air with its own brand-new in-house M1 processor (see review here). The new M1 SoC is based on an ARM architecture and was already able to show its true colors in the MacBook Air 2020, and even the entry-level SKU turned out to be capable enough to easily outperform comparable Intel and AMD processors. However, the switch to a new CPU architecture also means that not all applications will continue to run, which is where Apple’s Rosetta 2 emulation steps in and ensures compatibility. The case and display are identical to its Intel predecessor. 

Apple’s new M1 chip is a great fit for the MacBook Air 2020. 

The display remains excellent. It runs at a native resolution of 2560 x 1600 (227 PPI), referred to as Retina by Apple. Its passive cooling ensures quiet operation at all times, and yet the device remained surprisingly cool with very low surface temperatures overall. 

It continues to feature the same good speakers as well as two full bandwidth Thunderbolt 3 ports. At 16 hours in our Wi-Fi test battery life was very good, even better than on the previous Core i5 model.  

The HP Elite Dragonfly [see review here] is a light-weight business convertible based on an Intel Core i5-8265U, 16 GB of RAM, and a 512 GB SSD. Its 13.3-inch touchscreen supports stylus input and offers a good contrast ratio and acceptable overall color space coverage levels. Another highlight is its long battery life. Furthermore, the HP Elite Dragonfly comes with WiFi 6, LTE, and a wide variety of security features that users will no doubt benefit from.

HP’s Elite Dragonfly turned out to be an excellent business convertible. While it has some minor flaws, they are easy to dismiss.

The compact case comes with its own set of drawbacks. For example, Intel’s Core i5-8265U was incapable of utilizing its full turbo-boost potential, and overall maintenance options are not particularly great.

After last year’s update to the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon this year all we get is a minor refresh (see review here). Performance improvements brought by the new SoC are minor at best, and practically unnoticeable. In return, the Wi-Fi 6 modem manages much higher data transfer rates.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon continues to forgo AMD processors, and accordingly we only see a minor update this year.

Despite the minor update this year’s Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon remains a great business notebook with a lightweight high-quality case that does not sacrifice rigidity for the sake of lightness. The low power display remains a gamble as there is still no way to tell what you are going to get – not particularly consumer friendly.

Whether or not the 2020 ThinkPad X1 Carbon is worth the switch can be discovered in our full review.

The Latitude 7310 (see review here) is a basically a fine-tuned and optimized Latitude 7300. Its Intel Core i7-10610U offers plenty of performance for everyday office tasks. That said CPU performance did not improve noticeably over the Latitude 7300. Furthermore, the compact 13.3-inch laptop comes with 16 GB of RAM, a 512 GB SSD, and Wi-Fi 6.

The HP Spectre x360 14t (see review here) is a well-made convertible that easily managed to secure a spot in our top 10 list. Its case and build quality are without a doubt state-of-the-art, and its display with its almost 100% sRGB color-space coverage a pleasure to look at. However, it could have benefited from a better OEM pre-calibration. 

Dell’s XPS 13 9300 [see review here] offers a 16:10 display and an up-to-date Intel Ice Lake CPU including Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 GPU. As such, the compact convertible is a true jack of all trades, although gaming should definitely not be at the top of your list.

Despite the fact that the Dell Latitude 9410 2-in-1 does not feature the brightest display it still remains one of the best currently available 14-inch office convertibles.

The device is slightly heavier than other 14-inch convertibles. Its superb build quality and well-thought-out choice of material leave a great haptic feedback befitting of its price range. The Latitude 9410 2-in-1 was very energy efficient and ran for a very long time in our standardized Wi-Fi battery test. Road warriors dependent on long battery life should definitely take a closer look at it.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad L13 Yoga [see review here] offers a fast Comet Lake processor and is the successor to Lenovo’s L390 Yoga. The input devices are at the expected level and will satisfy avid typists. In our review, the 13.3-inch convertible offered a good overall system performance. It is made of high-quailty case materials. In addition, the convertible offers fast Wi-Fi and an ActivePen Pro stylus that can be stored inside the case.

The HP EliteBook 845 G7 (see review here) is aimed primarily at businesses for whom the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U is a great basis to build on. The SoC features an AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 GPU, and with a runtime of more than 13 hours in our Wi-Fi test the EliteBook 845 G7 shows that AMD APUs are no longer synonymous with poor battery life. The device should thus easily last a full workday. Its input devices are comfortable to use, a comfort that is quickly thwarted by the annoying high-pitched fan noise. Unfortunately, the device lacks Thunderbolt 3. In return, it supports LTE connectivity and offers decent upgradability of RAM, Wi-Fi modem, and SSD. 

HP’s EliteBook 845 G7 is the fastest 14-inch business laptop we have ever reviewed. 

When it comes to the display one should seriously consider the optional 400 nits panel. In addition to its higher maximum brightness it also offers more accurate colors at almost no cost to battery life.