Best ultraportable laptops 2023: Best overall, best battery life, and more

Between the leading-edge performance and a stunning OLED panel, the Dell XPS 13 Plus is the cream of the crop among ultraportables. The Intel Core i7-1280P CPU has an impressive 14 cores, which means you can expect fast processing performance. It’s more than capable of whizzing through photo editing work as well as general-use tasks. This device also comes equipped with Intel Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. In addition to the impressive internal components, we really liked the 13.4-inch OLED touchscreen. It has a resolution of 3456×2160, so you can expect a sharp and vibrant picture. That said, connectivity is limited and battery life is mediocre. If you can forgive those limitations, then the Dell XPS 13 Plus is a good option for most people.

If you’re on the hunt for an ultraportable with excellent battery life, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 may be your best bet. When we ran our battery benchmark, which cycles through a bunch of different tasks and videos, the Pro 360 lasted 14 hours on a single charge. And, despite the hefty 67 watt-hour battery inside, the device itself still manages to weigh just a little over three pounds. As for the internal components, it has an Intel Core i7-1260P CPU, Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. That’s plenty of oomph for multitasking, media editing, spreadsheet work, and so on. The 15.6-inch AMOLED display has a resolution of 1920×1080, which is perfectly fine for most tasks. For ports, you’re getting three USB Type-C, one microSD, and one 3.5mm audio jack. If you’re a frequent traveler and need a laptop that’ll last you more than a full work day, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 is a great choice.

The Lenovo Slim 7 Pro is something of a jewel among the sand dunes in that it’s an ultraportable capable of running games. It has a discrete graphics card, which usually takes up quite a bit of space inside of a laptop. However, the 7 Pro still manages to stay relatively lightweight at a little over three pounds. It also has a spacious keyboard with full-sized keys. According to our tester, the “key feel is excellent despite modest key travel, with a short but precise throw that bottoms out in a springy, tactile action.” While we love the keyboard and robust design, let’s take a quick peek at the most important bit: the guts. It’s packing an AMD Ryzen 6900HS CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 with 55 watt TDP, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. This laptop is packing a good amount of power and should be able to handle some gaming as well as productivity tasks.

The Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED is a perfect example of how increased portability doesn’t have to mean decreased performance. It features the latest Intel Core i7-1355U processor with 10-cores, Intel Iris Xe graphics, a future-proof 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD storage, and a vibrant OLED screen. Asus has packed all this into an ultraportable laptop that only weighs 2.2 pounds and is less than half-an-inch thick.

It didn’t skimp on the design materials either. The Zenbook 13 S has a mostly metal chassis that produces surprisingly little flex or wobble—even the thin OLED display feels sturdy. Plus, in such a thin frame, Asus was able to provide good connectivity features with a useful selection of ports. In our testing, the only downside we came across was the clicky physical trackpad that feels a bit old-school in such a modern laptop. But we’ve tested modern laptops with worse trackpads, so if that’s our only complaint, we’ll take it. Asus has priced the Zenbook 13 S OLED competitively too, making it a no-brainer for Asus fans (or anyone, really) in the market for an ultraportable.

Want the attractive design, awesome efficiency, and stellar performance of a MacBook Pro but in a Windows device? Well, the HP Dragonfly Pro comes about as close as possible to Apple’s line of premium laptops. HP partnered with AMD to trick out this laptop with the latest generation Ryzen 7 processor with eight high-performance cores and a Radeon 680M graphic card, making it much more powerful than its slim figure would have you believe.

With a thin and attractive design made from aluminum and polycarbonate, the Dragonfly Pro has a high-quality feel. The laptop even takes a cue from the MacBook’s minimalist approach to ports, which may or may not appeal to users as it can become a bit tricky if you need to plug in a lot of accessories. The one area where it can’t live up to Apple’s best is the display. While nice enough, it has a bit of catching up to do. Still, for a laptop that is significantly cheaper than the current line of MacBook Pro models, this Dragonfly Pro laptop from HP is a more than worthy competitor.

In a competitive field of ultraportables the Acer Aspire Vero 14 stands out due to its use of post-consumer recycled plastics. Acer has opted to take a unique angle on the design of the Vero 14, which will appeal to those concerned with using more eco-friendly materials. Not only are the use of recycled materials a draw, but the design of this ultraportable itself is attractive and includes a few unique touches. And while Acer could have coasted with the eco-friendly, attractive design, it decided to actually give it some solid performance, too. Featuring a Core i7 processor, Iris Xe integrated graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a welcomed 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, the Vero 14 is an attractive ultraportable for the eco-conscious.