Almost any laptop, other than a beefy gaming option, is considered an Ultrabook these days, as manufacturers strive to create the best lightweight laptops, balancing portability and performance. Dell does exactly that with the XPS 13 Plus, but we’ve found plenty of other Ultrabooks sure to deliver.
TL;DR – These are the Best Ultrabooks:
- Dell XPS 13 Plus
- Asus ZenBook 14
- Razer Blade 14
- Apple MacBook Pro M3 Pro (14-inch)
- Lenovo Yoga Book 9i
- HP Envy x360
- Surface Laptop 5
- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 3
- Surface Laptop Studio 2
The best Ultrabooks easily take on almost any workload with capable internals inside a thin, light frame, far surpassing what the best Chromebooks can do. From budget-friendly offerings to powerful workhorses, these are our favorite Ultrabooks based on personal experience, price, specs, and aesthetics – and click here to see them in the UK.
Best Ultrabooks
1. Dell XPS 13 Plus
Best Ultrabook
Dell has long maintained its dominance in the category of ultrabooks, and that continues with one of its latest models, the XPS 13 Plus. This machine somehow manages to be both thin and light than its, but it's packing a bigger battery and a more powerful CPU than its predecessor. You also get plenty of ports including a Thunderbolt 4, though you do lose the microSD slot and headphone jack. It still totes a 13.4", FHD+ IPS display with thin bezels for plenty of screen real estate. That display also has a 500 nit peak brightness and an anti-glare finish to ensure easy visibility from just about anywhere. As an added bonus, it’s even got touchscreen capabilities.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus base model comes running on an Intel Core i7-1360P processor and 16GB of RAM for a blend of performance and efficiency perfect for day-to-day work. You get an integrated GPU on this ultrabook with no upgrade option, but it's the Intel Iris Xe graphics, which can actually muster playable frame rates in some esports games. So, you'll have a laptop that can compile spreadsheets during the day and crush competition after work.
2. Asus ZenBook 14
Best Budget Ultrabook
If you’re on the hunt for a wildly capable yet affordable machine, look no further than the Asus ZenBook 14. At just $600, it's chock full of quality hardware, and Asus has done a solid job trimming down the bezels around the display to let the laptop maintain its compact dimensions while making it look like it cost way more. This particular model delivers a 14-inch OLED touch display offering a 2880 x 1800 resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate and 0.2ms response time for some impressive clarity. Beyond that, there’s a solid color performance with 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and it’s even rocking HDR600 True Black certification, so this display is sure to shine.
Under the hood, the Asus ZenBook 14 is powered by a 12th-gen Intel Core i5 processor and an integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics GPU. This mobile processor makes it easy to zoom through all your work tasks, though it may struggle through gaming and video editing with no standalone graphics card. The 1TB of PCIe NVMe SSD on board should provide ample storage for most users, while the system offers a modest 8GB RAM but should still be able to multitask.
See more of the best budget laptops to buy right now
3. Razer Blade 14
Best Ultraportable Gaming Laptop
PC gaming and portability don’t usually go hand in hand. Oftentimes compromises need to be made, but with the Razer Blade 14, those are few and far between. It has managed to squeeze some insane hardware into a laptop just over four pounds and well below an inch thick. The 14-inch 240 Hz QHD+ display offers an is slightly taller than your typical screen, with a 16:10 aspect ratio that could take some getting used to. But it’s what’s on the inside that really blows us away.
That solid display is powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor with an equally impressive Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card. This machine is ready for whatever game you throw at it, and it’ll also handle video editing like a champ. Heck, you can even do some overclocking. Toting a 16GB DDR5 RAM and 1TB of SSD storage ensures it’ll speedily chug along. And, Wi-Fi 6E support lets you enjoy fast connectivity for your on-the-go battle station, or you can park this at your desk to play and connect it directly to a gaming monitor with the laptop's full-size HDMI port.
See more of the best gaming laptops to buy right now
4. Apple MacBook Pro M3 Pro (14-inch)
Best Ultralight Apple Laptop
Want a beast of a laptop in a compact, lightweight form factor? The 14-inch Apple MacBook Pro M3 Pro keeps svelte dimensions, weighing only 3.5 pounds while delivering a hard-to-beat performance sure to impress. Its M3 Pro processor with an 11‑core CPU, 14‑core GPU, and 16‑core Neural Engine features hardware accelerated ray tracing, powerful machine learning, and extreme efficiency, making it perfect for creatives working with more graphically intensive programs. However, anyone who’s often multitasking or has heavy workloads will appreciate Apple’s M3 silicon.
You’ll enjoy the perfectly sized, ultra-crisp Liquid Retina XDR display, but should you need more screen real estate, there are three USB-C (Thunderbolt 4) ports and one HDMI port to hook up additional monitors—or other peripherals. That’s not even all the MacBook Pro’s connectivity, as there’s MagSafe charging to top up your iPhone along with an SDXC card reader and headphone jack for added convenience. Plus, when you take this laptop on the go, it’s got an impressive battery life and durable chassis.
See more of the best MacBooks to buy right now.
5. Lenovo Yoga Book 9i
Best Convertible Ultrabook
Lenovo’s Yoga Book 9i earns its name as it provides a ton of flexibility, letting you flip and fold it for use like a laptop, tablet, or stand-up display. But it sets itself apart from other 2-in-1 laptops thanks to its not one, but two 13.3-inch OLED touchscreens. You can use the displays in a multitude of ways, including different orientations, like a book or vertically stacked on top of each other. It’s even possible to have the bottom display function like a keyboard and trackpad. However, typing on glass isn’t ideal, so Lenovo throws in a Bluetooth keyboard, a mouse, and a stylus to make life easier.
Given there are two screens, you’ll need plenty of oomph on the inside to keep up. Luckily, powering this machine is a ten-core Intel Core i7-1355U processor paired with 16GB of DDR5 memory and 512 GB of SSD storage, so you’ll be good to run almost any productivity application. The integrated graphics limit this laptop’s gaming and content creation ability, so be prepared to run them at the lowest possible settings.
6. HP Envy x360
Another Lightweight Convertible Laptop
If you like the sound of a convertible laptop like the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i but want something cheaper with one less display, check out the HP Envy x360. This machine weighs slightly over 3 pounds and is only 0.77 inches thick, but it still totes an all-metal chassis that acts as an added layer of protection from an accidental drop. Even when you’ve got the laptop flipped to tablet mode to do a bit of drawing or in tent mode for giving a presentation, you’ll have peace of mind that this device is durable enough to take on whatever you throw at it.
The HP Envy x360 has several configurations, but our favorite offers an Intel Core i5-1335U CPU with an integrated GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB NVMe SSD. Those internals should be more than enough to get through most workloads and not break a sweat. They also help power the 14-inch IPS display with a Full HD resolution and an intuitive touch screen offering thin bezels, making the most of all the laptop’s available space.
7. Surface Laptop 5
Most Stylish Ultrabook
The Surface Laptop 5 delivers an exceptional ultrabook experience with a well-polished design, modest but dependable internals, and a great display. The sleek and simple metal chassis comes in a new sage green color that exudes class. Even with its durable frame, this laptop remains lightweight and ultraportable, weighing 2.8 pounds and measuring just over half an inch thick. The keyboard and trackpad are super smooth, perfectly sized, and highly responsive, while the 13.5-inch PixelSense Touch display offers a 3:2 aspect ratio and a sharp 2,256 x 1,504 resolution. That touchscreen totes some new handy features that can increase productivity and help with multitasking.
Inside, the Surface Laptop 5 is powered by a capable Intel Core i5 processor offering two performance cores and eight efficient cores with multi-threading to cruise through everyday tasks. The system runs on 8GB of memory, though you can upgrade to 16GB for improved multitasking, while the 512GB of storage should be plenty of space for most users. As for connectivity, Wi-Fi 6 support lets you take advantage of everything from your typical Netflix streaming to Microsoft’s Xbox game streaming. However, this laptop does leave a bit more to desire as far as ports are concerned, offering just one Thunderbolt 4 and one USB-A.
8. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 3
The Thinnest and Lightest Ultrabook
When it comes to a thin and light Ultrabook that still packs a powerful punch, not much compares to the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 3. The laptop’s compact form factor is slightly over half an inch thick and weighs just over 2 pounds, but under the hood, it squeezes in an Intel Core i7-1360P processor and impressive 16GB RAM. You’ll be a multitasking maven with those internals. However, there are only Integrated Iris Xe graphics, so you’ll have limited image rendering when gaming or video editing.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano delivers a stunning, colorful 13-inch, 2K display. You can easily view the screen from just about anywhere thanks to the IPS panel’s anti-glare coating and 450 nit brightness, which comes in handy since the laptop is super portable for use outside. Speaking of portability, it has a great battery life to make working on the go as simple as possible, while two Thunderbolt 4 ports and Wi-Fi 6E support mean you’re in for some speedy connections.
9. Surface Laptop Studio
Best Ultrabook for Creatives
Creating on a laptop takes a bit more than just processor muscle and a pretty display. Microsoft has figured that out and improved upon it with the Surface Laptop Studio 2. This laptop certainly hits the performance levels you’ll want, and we particularly love this model, which pairs an Intel Core i7-13700H GPU with Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050. That gives the device enough graphical power to edit videos and photos, making it a content creator's dream. Add in 16GB memory and 512GB of SSD storage—there are configurations to bump up those specs—and you’ll be a multitasking maven with quick loads and saves.
Microsoft’s screen and flexible design will fully convince you this is the creative tool you want. The 14.4-inch display has a sharp resolution of 2,400 x 1,600 and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. There’s even HDR 400 support for more accurate colors and contrast, and the screen can hit a wild 650 nits of brightness. The clarity and motion precision will be extra helpful when using the advanced stylus, while the display portion of the laptop shifts forward and tilts back, letting you get it closer and write or draw on it at a more natural angle.
What to look for in an Ultrabook
Shopping for an Ultrabook comes down to picking an ultraportable laptop and shaving many millimeters from its profile, without sacrificing performance too greatly. For the most part, the best Ultrabooks nowadays are pretty peppy machines that can handle all-day office work as well as some light video and image editing tasks too.
These modern machines mostly come with either Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, a minimum of 8GB of memory, and at least 128GB SSD for storage. There are, of course, always exceptions to this rule.
Prices for a capable Ultrabooks laptop usually hover above $1,000 and can easily increase to over $2,000, depending on specs and manufacturer. Don’t get overwhelmed when looking at specs and prices, because unless you are going to edit a lot of videos or use resource-intensive programs, most mid-range ultraportables will be just fine.
