9 Best 2

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The HP Envy x360 is a gorgeous 2-in-1 laptop. It's beautifully built and is snappy enough for most tasks. Read More

The HP Spectre x360 14 2-in-1 laptop excels as both a tablet and a laptop, with comfortable ergonomics. It's one of the best 2-in-1s around. Read More

With a discrete graphics card, a top-tier processor, and an eye-catching design, the ROG Flow Z13 is the best Windows tablet you can buy for everything. Read More

The Dell Inspiron 14 7420's shorter battery life and irritating trackpad make it no match for the XPS 13 9315 or MSI Summit 13 Evo Flip. Read More

Updated May 1, 2023

If you can't decide between a traditional laptop and a tablet, a convertible 2-in-1 gets you the best of both worlds: a tablet for kicking it on the couch and a laptop for when you need to buckle down and work. To find the best of the best, we put these versatile tablet/laptop hybrids through a number of tests.

After spending hours testing dozens of the best 2-in-1 laptops, the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 (available at Best Buy for $1,399.99) is our top pick. We love its touchscreen display, color gamut coverage, and price for the performance. But not all two-in-ones are created equal. From bright screens to portability, or a diverse selection of ports, there's something here for everyone.

Pencil artists should appreciate the stylus' textured rubber tip the most.

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is a marvelous 2-in-1 laptop. Its 2K touchscreen display is a smooth canvas for the included pressure-sensitive stylus, and its full coverage of the P3 color gamut and 400 nits of brightness make for a beautiful picture. When you factor in its incredibly dynamic audio and snappy performance, the Lenovo Yoga 9i provides a phenomenal multimedia experience.

Writing on the Yoga 9i feels as natural as writing on paper, making it a natural choice for art and note-taking. People who use a laptop from their lap will be very happy to know the laptop never gets scalding hot. Whether you’re an artist working in Photoshop or a student working through formulas in Evernote, you’ll find the Yoga 9i is a reliable companion.

At eight hours and 46 minutes, the Yoga 9i's battery life should be sufficient for a workday but feels slim compared to some laptops’ 15-plus hours of battery life. Similarly, its Intel Core i7-1360P processor, despite excelling at productivity performance, isn't able to handle exceptionally heavy workloads like those required for video production, software development, or gaming.

But as an everyday, all-purpose laptop, the Yoga 9i is a dream.

Read our full review of the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8.

Phenomenal touchscreen display

Dynamic audio

Included stylus and case

Slightly underpowered

Short battery life

Decent value AND a good quality machine? This one stands out among the competition.

The HP Envy x360 15.6 is a great 2-in-1 at a solid price. While our specific test configuration is getting harder to find, you can upgrade the processor to an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U and still stay under $1,000.

Even with the weaker 5625U processor, this HP Envy x360 15.6 sailed through our performance benchmarks to become one of the top-performing sub-$1,000 laptops we’ve found. The processor may not be bleeding-edge, but it is energy-efficient, helping this machine run for over eight hours on a single charge.

It's also easy to use. The comfortably large keyboard provides a great amount of spring. The trackpad works well with light touches and parses complicated gestures with ease.

Our one big complaint is the same one we have with every HP: There's way too much bloatware. From free trials of antivirus programs to cloud storage we didn't ask for, we removed over 15 programs out of the box.

Read our full HP Envy x360 15.6 review.

Sturdy, stylish chassis

Good performance

Good battery life

Mediocre display

Bloatware

The HP Spectre x360 14 fuses the best parts of both the laptop and tablet experience into one device.

The HP Spectre x360 14 is a 2-in-1 laptop that nails just about everything, which makes it a great laptop for students. In laptop mode, it's got a great keyboard and a roomy trackpad that are perfect for homework. In tablet mode, the touchscreen and pressure-sensitive stylus offer a seamless experience for note-taking and drawing. As an added bonus, the display covers the entire P3 color gamut, which means the colors are accurate and plentiful.

And there's more to love, from the speakers that outclass the Apple MacBook to the fact that it's lighter than three pounds. A whole host of USB-C and USB-A ports are great for work environments, and over 7.5 hours of battery life can keep you going for nearly a full day of work or school.

This laptop's Intel Core i7-1255U processor isn't exceptional, but its single-core performance is about as fast as an M1 MacBook's. It's great for Photoshop or Lightroom, but it took an extra couple of minutes for 3D renders, and film editing may push it pretty hard.

Still, the HP Spectre x360 14 is a solid option. It's easy to use, has a great display and its good ergonomics make it a strong contender, depending on your needs.

Read the full HP Spectre x360 14 review for more information.

Excellent stylus included

Responsive touchscreen display

Comfortable keyboard and trackpad

OK battery life

Performance could be better

Asus' ROG Flow Z13 is an incredible jack-of-all-trades gaming tablet.

The Asus ROG Flow Z13 is the full-fledged gaming tablet we wish we could see from the Microsoft Surface line. Unlike the Flow X13 convertible gaming laptop Asus released in 2021, the Z13 has a fully detachable keyboard that also functions as a screen cover.

But like its big sibling, it has a proprietary connection to one of Asus’ external GPUs if you need more gaming power. It's the fastest, true all-around tablet you can get—although an entry-level RTX 3050 Ti GPU means you will need to turn down the graphics settings and/or enable DLSS in demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077.

The Flow Z13 is also faster in single-core and multi-core synthetic benchmarks than Apple's M1 Max chip and AMD's Ryzen 9 5900HX and Ryzen 9 6900HX, and it renders 3D images in Blender up to 90 seconds faster than all three of those competing chips.

This incredible gaming tablet's one major downfall is its battery life, which is just under five hours. For a main machine, you might be better off looking at gaming or creator laptops or sticking with the iPad Pro. But if you’re looking for a unique and portable secondary machine, that short battery life might not be an issue.

Read the full Asus ROG Flow Z13.

Stunning design

Excellent performance

Stylus support

Power-hungry

Weak battery life

This 2-in-1 Dell Inspiron 14 is a fantastic tablet and a somewhat frustrating laptop. The touchscreen is responsive, pressure-sensitive, and speedy. It comes with a Dell Active Pen that offers 4096 pressure levels but is also compatible with Wacom styluses.

The screen isn't a game-changer, but it's also no slouch. The brightness and resolution are fine for most use cases. The speakers are powerful (if oddly placed). The keyboard is silent enough for quiet environments and for folks with auditory sensitivities.

Unfortunately, using this device in laptop mode is irksome. It's large and heavy. The trackpad responsiveness is off, and the battery life and heat management both leave a lot to be desired.

Dell's Inspiron 14 2-in-1 is a strong contender for people who want a tablet with an occasional keyboard. But if you want the full flexibility of both form factors, this may not be the strongest choice.

Read our full Dell Inspiron 14 2-in1 review.

Pressure-sensitive tablet mode

Quiet keyboard

Uncomfortable laptop mode

Chunky design

Poor heat management

We love the Lenovo Yoga 6 for its thin, light form and great battery life. We do wish that the price was a little lower for the moderate performance, but it's still a solid machine.

The keyboard Lenovo offers here feels like a traditional keyboard, with great responsiveness and key travel. The touchscreen is fast and accurate, and using a stylus feels as much like writing on paper as possible. The compact size makes it easy to switch from laptop to tablet mode as needed.

There are some downsides, and most of them have to do with computing power. The included Ryzen 5 5500U processor will get the job done, but it's built for squeezing the most performance out of a laptop without making it run too hot. The 8GB of RAM isn't going to add a ton of speed to the equation, either, and the speakers are underwhelming.

If you’re mostly writing and checking email on the go, you’ll be happy. But as much as we love the portability and feel, there are some performance drawbacks that have to be considered.

Read our full Lenovo Yoga 6 review.

Good battery life

Comfortable keyboard

Responsive touchscreen

Just okay performance

Terrible audio

Fabric-covered lid

The MSI Summit E16 Flip is one of the best 2-in-1s an artist could hope for. Its breathtaking, ultra-bright 4K screen accurately displays HDR content with a full DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB color gamut.

The graphics processor is powerful enough for 3D modeling work, easily opening and working on sculpts. If you’re more of a 2D person, the MSI Pen stylus has 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity for crisp, varied line art.

Despite the massive screen, its 16:10 aspect ratio and ultrathin bezels keep it down to about the same size as a standard 15.6-inch laptop. When you use it as a laptop, you’ll find a roomy, smooth trackpad and a crisp, easy-to-use keyboard.

The Summit E16 Flip does have one major downside: a 4-hour battery life. This puts it well behind other 2-in-1s, including MSI's previous model, the Summit E13 Flip, which gets eight hours. However, most 2-in-1s don't feature a 16-inch, 4K display, or have a lot of graphical processing power.

While the Summit E16 Flip is one of the pricier 2-in-1s out there, its excellent pressure-sensitive display and powerful graphics hardware are some of the best on the market.

Read our full MSI Summit E16 Flip review.

Phenomenal HDR display

Excellent stylus included

Sleek form factor

Poor battery life

Fingerprint magnet

The Surface Pro's debut back in 2013 helped create the modern 2-in-1 landscape. The Pro 8 features some neat improvements but doubles down on some long-term frustrations.

The thin, lightweight, rounded design is easily portable. The vibrant screen can push a 120Hz refresh rate that's unusual for the space but makes a difference. Our test model's i7 processor let us push the device pretty hard before it started struggling or giving off heat, which is unique given its slim profile.

Unfortunately, there are downsides. The battery life is middling despite Microsoft's 16-hour claims, but the biggest issue is price.

The Surface Pro 8 is expensive for an older model. You can get comparable 2-in-1s or more-powerful laptops for hundreds of dollars less. And that's before you shell out separately for the keyboard cover and the stylus, neither of which are cheap. There's plenty to like about this machine, but we can't heartily recommend it for full price.

Read our full Microsoft Surface Pro 8 review.

Big, vibrant 120Hz display

Lightweight design

Snappy performance

Battery life just okay

Keyboard and stylus sold separately

Upgrading will cost you

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is a great option for Samsung enthusiasts who already own a Galaxy phone and smartwatch. It's not the speediest machine, but it has enough oomph to run multiple apps at once and you can even load up the Chrome browser with a bunch of tabs (just don't overdo it).

The Galaxy Chromebook 2 has a bright and vibrant 1080p QLED display, topping out at 440 nits. Shows like Life in Color and video games like Cyberpunk 2077 look gorgeous on this screen. The display is also a touchscreen, so good news if you like reading ebooks.

This Chromebook falls way short of its advertised 13 hours of battery life. We measured only 6.5 hours of battery life after constantly cycling through a series of web pages until the battery died.

The trackpad had trouble registering when my fingers were trying to scroll up and down on a webpage for the first few swipes, but eventually figured out what I was trying to do. The keyboard is also a tad shallow, which makes for quieter keystrokes but a less satisfying press.

QLED display

Wi-Fi 6 compatible

2-in-1

Touchy trackpad

Battery life

We test laptops for their processing capability, graphics, battery life, and screen brightness.

At Reviewed, we use a series of standardized benchmark tests for laptops to measure their processing capability, graphics, battery life, and screen brightness. Those benchmarks include standard tests like Geekbench and 3DMark to gauge how well the laptop multitasks, runs games, and handles day-to-day computing.

To test battery life, we set up our laptops to continuously cycle through various websites at a brightness of 200 nits—around 60% brightness for many of these 2-in-1 models—until they run out of power, estimating how much work you can get done on a single charge. Our tech experts also personally use each laptop for an extended period of time, rating each on factors like build quality, price, portability, and design.

2-in-1 or convertible laptops tend to be more expensive than their traditional counterparts, so there aren't a lot of great budget models in this space. When we look at 2-in-1 laptops, we analyze their performance for most everyday tasks and build quality that will last more than a year or two of use. Still, you’ll likely have to make some choices about what's most important to you. You’ll need to consider:

The processor, graphics chip, RAM, and storage all affect your laptop's capabilities. If you’re doing anything remotely taxing, a midrange chip like the Intel i5 is a solid choice. We’d also recommend at least 8GB of RAM. You could maybe get away with 4GB on a 2-in-1 Chromebook, but with the modern possibilities of extra tabs and browser extensions, even the Internet can take a lot of RAM.

For more intense work (or play) like photo/video editing or keeping up with new games, you’ll want a little more juice. Intel's higher-end i7 processors make for noticeably faster video rendering, a dedicated graphics card will help you get the most out of AAA games.

No matter who you are, we recommend loading up on storage. Even if you don't think of yourself as a heavy computer user, your photos, videos, and music can eat up a lot of space over time. You can definitely pay a lot for a high-end solid-state drive, but you can also just look for a 2-in-1 with an SD card slot and give yourself an option for affordable expansion later.

Most 2-in-1 laptops have a 360-degree hinge so that the keyboard cover can fold to prop up the screen, or even fold back all the way for tablet functionality. Other models have a separate keyboard/dock that detaches from the screen/tablet. Ultimately, the difference between the two is less important than build quality.

You want a laptop that can take a beating as it rides around in your bag all day. You also want one with a sturdy trackpad and keyboard. After all, a variety of inputs is your whole reason for seeking a 2-in-1 machine.

When looking at 2-in-1s, the screen size conversation feels a little different. The balance between having an easy-to-read screen vs. portability is always important, but when your computer doubles as a tablet, new factors come up. You need to consider what you can comfortably hold, as well as how much space you need to comfortably use your stylus.

Most screen sizes for 2-in-1s fall between 13 and 17 inches. It's not uncommon to find thin bezels here that make 2-in-1s smaller than traditional laptops. Bear in mind that small laptops tend to be less powerful. In turn, if you do find a small, powerful 2-in-1, it’ll usually cost more than choosing one or the other.

Many modern laptops (especially tablets) feature components that are soldered onto the motherboard. That means that if you want more RAM or bigger storage later on, you’re out of luck. As you shop, either look for a laptop that allows you to swap out parts, or plan to spend more upfront to future-proof your purchase a little.

Michael Garrett Steele

Contributor

Michael Garrett Steele has been writing and editing professionally since 2013, and has been a part of Reviewed since 2020.An MFA in music composition, Garrett has lent audio expertise to everyone from Independence Community College to Bethesda Softworks, informing reviews of audio equipment and services. Garrett also covers tech, drawing on experience working everywhere from IT helpdesks to enterprise architecture sales. Steele has also become a go-to reviewer for minor plumbing fixtures since covering bidets for Reviewed in early 2020.

Adrien Ramirez

Staff Writer

Adrien is a staff writer for Reviewed, mainly focused on reviewing laptops and other consumer tech. During his free time, he's usually wandering around Hyrule.

TJ Donegan

Director, Content Development

TJ is the Director of Content Development at Reviewed. He is a Massachusetts native and has covered electronics, cameras, TVs, smartphones, parenting, and more for Reviewed. He is from the self-styled "Cranberry Capitol of the World," which is, in fact, a real thing.

Whitson Gordon

Freelance Writer

Whitson Gordon is a valued contributor to the Reviewed.com family of sites.

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