The 6 Best Lightweight Laptops - Black Friday 2024

The best lightweight laptop we've tested is the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024). This 13.6-inch model has a sleek and compact design, so it fits easily into a small bag, and it only weighs 2.7 lbs. It has an incredibly sturdy all-aluminum build and provides a great user experience with its sharp display, spacious keyboard, and haptic touchpad. Apple's M3 SoC can easily handle light productivity tasks and even some light video editing and 3D graphics. Plus, its remarkable power efficiency results in 11 to 12 hours of battery life in light uses. You get Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity, great-sounding speakers, and one of the best webcams on the market. Port selection is its biggest weakness, as it only has two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports. Unlike its M2 predecessor, it can output two external displays, but it can only do so with the lid closed.

For Windows users, we recommend the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024), also a premium model that provides a great user experience. This 2-in-1 convertible has a sturdy all-aluminum chassis, a gorgeous 2.8k OLED display, a comfortable keyboard, and a responsive touchpad. The display supports pen input if you want to take handwritten notes or draw, though you may have to buy the stylus separately. You get an excellent 4k webcam, support for the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard, and a wider port selection, including one USB-A port, two USB-C ports, and a 3.5 mm mic/headphone jack. Two things to bear in mind: the display doesn't get as bright as the MacBook Air, so visibility will be more of an issue outdoors in broad daylight. Also, the screen's flickering may bother people sentitive to display flicker.

Our mid-range pick is the HP Pavilion Aero 13 (2024), a 13-inch Windows ultraportable. It's available with AMD Zen 4-based Ryzen CPUs, which are more than adequate to handle light tasks like text processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and video playback. You can get it with an FHD+ or QHD+ IPS panel; both look sharp and get bright enough to provide good visibility in well-lit settings. Its 1440p webcam produces a sharp but slightly overexposed image, so you'll have to tweak the webcam's settings or your room's lighting if you want to look your best on video calls. The webcam supports Windows Hello facial recognition for fast logins. Its battery life is great at around 10 hours of light use, and you can charge the laptop over USB-C, so you won't have to deal with a proprietary charger.

Unfortunately, this model's budget-friendly price comes at a cost: build quality. Its aluminum and plastic chassis exhibit a fair amount of flexing, and the device as a whole feels hollow and somewhat cheap, especially compared to the models mentioned above. Also, the finish scratches easily from everyday use. The touchpad could be better, too; it's plastic and doesn't track continuous inputs all that well, like when dragging and dropping items across a long distance.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023) is the best budget lightweight laptop we've tested. This compact 14-inch model is a great option if you only need a simple device for light tasks. It's available with an Intel N100, N200, or Core i3 processor; we recommend the latter paired with 8GB of RAM for the smoothest experience. The cheaper configurations with an Intel N100 or N200 CPU and/or 4GB of RAM are fine if you have an extremely light workload, but know that they'll get bogged down quickly when multitasking. You can find the Core i3 configuration regularly on sale through Lenovo.

It's somewhat the same story when it comes to the display. While you can probably get by with the 768p TN panel option, we highly recommend getting a model with a 1080p IPS screen. Not only does it look sharper, but it also has better viewing angles and color reproduction. Unfortunately, the keyboard feels a tad mushy, and the touchpad is small and sometimes unresponsive. One notable surprise is its excellent 1080p webcam, one of the best you can find on budget-friendly Chromebooks. Lastly, remember that Chrome OS is limited in the type of applications you can install so make sure you can do everything through a Chrome browser or Android app.

If you like the versatility of 2-in-1 tablets, get the Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition (2024). Unlike 2-in-1s with a 360-degree hinge, you can remove the keyboard to make the device easier to hold. This also helps save space, which is handy in tight places, like on an airplane or bus with a small tray table. This 11th Edition has many upgrades over its predecessor, including an OLED display option, a 1440p webcam, and Wi-Fi 7. Along with the device, Microsoft has released a new Flex keyboard—sold separately—which sports a haptic touchpad and Bluetooth connectivity. The latter lets you use the keyboard even when detached from the device, so you have more flexibility to position the device to your liking. The display still supports pen input, but again, it's a separate purchase.

An important thing to know about this model is that it uses an ARM-based Snapdragon SoC. You can choose between the X Plus and the X Elite chip; both are fast enough to handle general productivity tasks and very power-efficient. However, many Windows programs don't run natively on ARM, so it's best to check that the apps you use are compatible first. Also worth noting are the limitations regarding the display options: the X Plus model has an IPS panel, while the X Elite model has an OLED panel. The OLED display produces deeper blacks but exhibits the 'screen door effect,' meaning its digitizer is visible, creating a grid-like pattern some people may find distracting. Get the X Plus model if these issues bother you; just know that you'll have to compromise a bit on performance because the X Plus isn't as fast in multi-threaded workloads.

For demanding tasks like video editing or 3D graphics, we recommend the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023), a premium mobile workstation. This laptop has a solid all-aluminum build but only weighs 3.5 pounds, making it one of the lightest mobile workstations on the market. It has a gorgeous Mini LED display with full DCI P3 coverage, a comfortable keyboard, and a gigantic, easy-to-use haptic touchpad. You get plenty of ports for peripherals and external displays, including three USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s, an HDMI, and a full-size SD card reader. The speakers are among the best on the market, and the same goes for its 1080p webcam.

You can configure this laptop with an M3 Pro or M3 Max SoC; both can easily handle intensive workloads. These chips are also incredibly power-efficient, resulting in all-day battery life. Thermal throttling is minimal, and the laptop doesn't get hot or loud under load. There's a base M3 model, too, similar to the discontinued 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, which can be a great option if you don't need a lot of processing power but still want the 'Pro' features like the Mini LED display. The base M3 model only has two USB-C ports, though, and unlike the Pro/Max models, it can only support a single external monitor.

The best portable laptop for gaming we've tested is the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024). This compact 14-inch model is easy to carry around and packs enough processing power to provide a smooth gaming experience in demanding AAA games. It sports a gorgeous 120Hz 2.8k OLED display, a tactile keyboard, and one of the best speaker systems you can find on a Windows machine. You get a wide port selection for peripherals and external displays, including two USB-Cs and an HDMI 2.1, as well as Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity for a fast and stable internet connection when gaming online.

Configuration-wise, you can choose between an AMD Ryzen 7 or 9 CPU paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050, 4060, or 4070 discrete GPU. If you don't mind playing your games at 1080p, you can go with a 4050 model, but for 1440p gaming (or at the display's native 2.8k resolution), we recommend upgrading to a 4060 or 4070. Storage configuration maxes out at 1TB, which isn't a lot considering the size of most modern titles, but thankfully, it's user-replaceable. Unfortunately, the battery life lasts less than two hours when gaming, so you'll need to bring the charger when gaming on the go.