Convertible / 2-in-1

A straightforward concept. The requirements for a convertible that functions as your daily companion are high. Apart from a fully functioning Windows operating system, performance and battery runtimes need to be good too. A bright display and solid build should also be included - and all this, ideally for a good price. Asus has a solution to offer: The Transformer Book.

A niche of its own. Panasonic is the manufacturer of the robust Toughbooks made for the military and use on building sites. The CF-XZ6 is supposed to attract regular business customers who would usually choose a Surface, Latitude, ThinkPad or EliteBook. Find out why the Toughbook has not quite managed to get out of its niche in our detailed review.

Versatile with limited stamina. Lenovo's new compact device gets a nice aluminum case and versatile 360-degree hinges, but also works well as a conventional office subnotebook. Important advantages such as the screen and the input devices are countered by a small number of drawbacks, and most interested buyers should be fine with them – except one.

Chic. With the Yoga 720-13IKB, Lenovo delivers a chic 13.3-inch convertible that shines with a great keyboard, a fast NVMe SSD and good battery life. The touchscreen can be used both with the fingers and the included stylus. The quad-core processor can utilize its Turbo boost only for a very short while.

Spectre Elite. The EliteBook 1020 G2 is a great example of the merging between sleek consumer designs and feature-heavy business configurations. It's inarguably faster and thinner than the 1020 G1, but not without some cutbacks that longtime EliteBook owners may lament.

Robust. Panasonic's Toughbook is well-protected against dust, liquids, and falls. In addition to a robust case, the 12-inch detachable offers powerful hardware and many connections. The battery life is good.

The Surface Pro alternative. Faster than the fastest Surface Pro and cheaper as well, the Lenovo tablet returns with Kaby Lake-R to boost the Miix family back on top.

More than just a convertible! Above all else, the Acer Spin 5 is a 15-inch convertible. However excitement is aplenty, because Intel’s latest Core i7-8550U and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 are what we have under the hood here. Whether this convertible laptop can function as a gaming notebook you shall learn in this extensive review.

Weak chest. While the new Intel processors represent the biggest performance boost in years, the Lenovo Yoga 520-14IKB is still equipped with older Kaby Lake processors. You can find out in this extensive test, why the convertible did not receive our final recommendation.

A very rough gem. The performance-per-Dollar is easily the highlight of HP's first notebook centered around AMD's Raven Ridge platform. It's too bad that the software is still a buggy mess.

Just a compromise, again and again. Asus' Transformer 4 Pro is a product of the company's regular practice of keeping their models up-to-date. The convertible laptop is now available with a choice from various Kaby Lake processors and up to 16 GB of RAM. Those who have a penchant for high-performance tablets will not find our test device lacking in attractive features. For anyone looking for an alternative to a simple laptop, it is worth a look. In everyday use, it was not so much the hardware and connections that vexed us – but rather the little defects we encountered during our testing process.

Powerhouse performance? According to Microsoft the new Surface Book 2 combines the best of two worlds and is also the most powerful Surface device yet. The specifications look promising, thanks to the new Kaby Lake-R processor and Nvidia's Pascal GPU. Our in-depth review reveals some shortcomings – some can easily be bypassed, but others are just incomprehensible in this price range.