Lightest Ultrabooks for 2020 | Top 5 Windows Models Reviewed

Contents

1 Top 5 Lightest Ultrabooks Compared
2 Key Factors to a Good Light Ultrabook
3 Common Mistakes to Avoid
4 Features to Look For

When you’re looking for the ultimate in portability for your next laptop purchase, you want one of the lightest ultrabooks you can get. Ultrabooks are designed to help you be as productive as you possibly can no matter where you are, which means they need to be as light as possible to fit in any style of bag or backpack. But how do you know which ultrabooks are the lightest in 2020?

We decided to find out, so we went to the internet to find the best lightweight ultrabooks with the best features and the highest customer sentiment. After that initial research, we bought the top 10 ultrabooks and started testing them out. During testing, we measured performance, screen quality and overall build quality. With these features in mind, we chose the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 11e as the winner of the bunch. With a unique 2-in-1 laptop configuration, great overall performance and responsive touchscreen, this ultrabook will last you a long time through all of your computer needs. Keep reading to learn more about the Lenovo Yoga and our other top picks.

Top 5 Lightest Ultrabooks Compared

#1 Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 11e

Our #1 Pick is the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 11e

Award: Top Pick/Best 2 in 1

WHY WE LIKE IT: The Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 11e is the most versatile and flexible option on our list of the best lightweight laptops. With a unique 2-in-1 form factor, this compact and portable ultrabook is the best choice for students and frequent travelers.

Pros

Super portable 2-in-1 design
Runs cool
Touchscreen is highly responsive

Cons

Not 1080p full HD
Performance could be better
Could use more battery life

The Lenovo Yoga 11e was designed to be a versatile and portable laptop. With a unique 2-in-1 design, you can use this ultrabook as either a traditional laptop or keyboard-less tablet. Simply fold the display back by 180 degrees and it will automatically convert into tablet mode with a built-in touchscreen. The best part about this is that the Yoga 11e’s touch display is super responsive, a rare find in a world of covertible laptops.

While the display is great overall, it doesn’t offer full HD resolution, but we were still pleasantly surprised at how rich the display colors were, along with how bright the display could get. We were also really pleased with the overall cool operation. Even during heavy usage, we didn’t experience any overheating. The Intel Celeron processor isn’t the fastest or most powerful of the bunch, but it’s still plenty enough for your daily average use. Check out the best portable ultrabook too.

#2 Jumper EZbook 2

Our #2 Pick is the Jumper EZbook 2

Award: Honorable Mention/Best Display

WHY WE LIKE IT: The Jumper EZbook 2 features an attractive design similar to premium ultrabooks, really beautiful display and an extra-affordable price tag. If you don’t want to spend too much for your lightweight ultrabook, this is the pick for you.

Pros

One of the more affordable options
One of the more affordable options
Great keyboard

Cons

Not as much internal storage
Battery life isn’t the best
Overall build feels a little cheap

There’s something familiar about the Jumper EZbook 2, and that’s mostly because it’s trying a lot to look like premium ultrabooks like the Apple MacBook Air, Surface Laptop and Surface Pro. It’s doing a pretty good job too, except for being made of plastic instead of aluminum. And really, that’s the biggest difference between the two. The plastic build can feel a little cheaper at times, but it’s durable and reliable overall. However, this is a great option if you’re trying to achieve a MacBook look without spending an arm and a leg to do it.

One of the best features of the Jumper EZbook 2 is its stunning display. With full HD resolution and bright, vivid colors, you’ll have a great time watching videos or viewing photos with this ultrabook. The EZbook 2 can struggle a little with performance at times, considering it uses a limited 64 GB of flash storage and a lower-end processor, but we found it to be enough power for most basic office and home use. It won’t run games very well at all, so keep that in mind during your research. All in all, the Jumper EZbook 2 is one of the lightest weight and most affordable ultrabooks on our list. Check out the best ultrabook under $500 and compare.

#3 Dell Latitude E7240

Our #3 Pick is the Dell Latitude E7240

Award: Best Touchscreen

WHY WE LIKE IT: The Dell Latitude E7240 features a lightweight and durable design with plenty of performance to boot, making it a great choice for anyone looking to purchase one of the best ultra-portable laptops you can buy. It’s perfect for both home and office applications because of its overall build quality and high performing speed.

Pros

Responsive and bright touchscreen
Durable build quality
Onboard speakers sound great

Cons

No full HD display
Battery life could be better
Not as attractive as other options

The act of finding a lightweight ultrabook isn’t difficult in and of itself, but finding the right option for your needs is another story, especially when you’re looking solid design and fast performance. Here to solve that problem for you is the Dell Latitude E7240. You may not get the most premium specifications here, but you’ll still get a powerful Intel Core i5 processor which is more than enough for most office and home applications.

Perhaps even better than this is the Latitude’s super sturdy design that can handle all the bumps and bruises laptops experience over the years with ease. Unfortunately, the E7240’s battery life is the worst we tested, measuring in at only 5-6 hours of light usage. We were pleased with the touchscreen display though, even in spite of it not being full HD resolution. The touchscreen was responsive and snappy, as well as bright and colorful. With a low price and great features, the Dell Latitude E7240 is a good choice for almost any customer. You might also like the best 2 in 1 ultrabook.

#4 Dell Latitude E7470

Our #4 Pick is the Dell Latitude E7470

Award: Best Value/Best for Gaming

WHY WE LIKE IT: If you’re looking for sheer power in your lightweight ultrabook, you can’t go wrong with the Latitude E7470. This is the most powerful one we tested and does great with gaming and more process-heavy programs.

Pros

Powerful Intel Core i7 processor
Great battery life
Keyboard is one of our favorites

Cons

Could use better built-in speakers
Expensive
Rear port placement is awkward

Ultrabooks aren’t known for their gaming prowess, and we’re not saying that the Dell Latitude E7470 should be used as your main gaming rig, but it certainly has the guts to take on some light to moderate gaming while you’re on the go. Its ultra-powerful 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 processory combined with its 256GB SSD, or solid state drive, make this ultrabook a force to be reckoned with. It’s no doubt that the Latitude E7470 outpaced all the other ultrabooks we tested on this list.

To top it all off, the Dell also features a beautiful 1080p full HD display. You get a full 14 inches of screen size here (another great option for on-the-go gamer) with plenty of brightness and colors to make anyone around you jealous. It’s also an anti-glare LCD display, making it all the more valuable for anyone who isn’t using this in the office. But the best part we liked about this Dell ultrabook is its keyboard. We know it sounds kind of funny, but the keyboard can make or break a laptop. The Latitude E7470’s keyobard is responsive and super comfortable. Read about the best value ultrabook for more deals.

#5 HP EliteBook 840 G1

Our #5 Pick is the HP EliteBook 840 G1

Award: Best Budget/Best Battery Life

WHY WE LIKE IT: The HP EliteBook 840 G1 comes from a long line of HP reliability and it’s easy to see that long track record in this lightweight ultrabook. The EliteBook gives you premium build quality and one of the longest battery lives we tested.

Pros

Longest battery life on the list
Easy to maintain and upgrade
Reliable HP performance

Cons

One of the heavier options
Viewing angles aren’t the best
Need to clean often

Ultrabooks and laptops aren’t necessarily known for their long-lasting batteries, but the HP EliteBook 840 G1 subverts that expectation to give you up to 12 hours of operation. Of course this battery life can vary depending on the type of usage you experience, but this was the longest battery life of all the ultrabooks we tested on this list. You also get a big more real estate here with a 14 inch display in lieu of the 11 and 12 inches of screen size we see in other models on the list. Unfortunately, the display doesn’t offer full HD resolution, but it still gives you great color accuracy and deep contrast levels.

Now, the added screen size is nice, but it also adds to the HP’s overall weight and bulkiness. This was the heaviest ultrabook we tested, but at 3.7 lbs, it’s still not insanely difficult to lug around. We were ok with the added weight because it gave HP more room to design a laptop that looks and feels like a combination of modernity and tradition. And even better than that is the Intel Core i5 processor you get inside, which is perfect for heavier application usage. For more top rated models, read best ultrabook.

Key Factors to a Good Light Ultrabook

Obviously, the first and most important feature to look for on a light ultrabook is going to be the weight. In general, I prefer anything that’s in the 1.5lb – 4lb range, though none of the ultrabooks listed here go over the high end of the scale.

Other features to keep an eye out for include a high-quality screen, a solid keyboard/trackpad combo, and a roomy solid-state drive to keep all your important files on.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The biggest mistake people can make when trying to go as light as possible and shed all the pounds off their device that they can is sacrificing the actual quality of the device itself as a result.

An Ultrabook doesn’t have to be flimsy or easy to break from a short fall just because it’s light, which means you should never compromise for cheap plastic shells or low resolution screens just because you want a device that’s as portable as possible.

Going name brand only can also cause problems since you’re not targeting a solution for your individual needs. Some of the most popular names in the lightweight ultrabook game include the Apple MacBook Pro, Microsoft Surface Book, Asus Zenbook Pro, LG Gram, Acer Swift, HP Spectre x360 and more. While these are good ultrabooks in their own way, the products we tested are best for lightweight and portability.

Features to Look For

Processor

Because the main focus of these laptops is ultimate portability above all else (including power), the processors you find here aren’t going to be all that impressive on paper.
A few of the pricier models were able to pack in Intel’s newer sixth-gen Skylake processors, but don’t be disappointed if that’s not always the case.

RAM

Same thing goes for RAM. The Dell XPS does pack some hefty specs with 8GB of onboard (upgradeable to 16GB), but it’s the exception to the rule.

Graphics Card

You’d be lucky to find a graphics chip on any of the lightest laptops that was capable of powering anything more than Heroes of the Storm on the absolute lowest settings
Processors are one thing, but GPUs (and mobile GPUs) add a whole lot of extra weight to an ultrabook.
If you want gaming power, check out our other guides on the top gaming laptops to find out which kind is best for you.

Storage

Thin and light ultrabooks will never have a classical hard drive in them, too much weight to pull around for an older technology.
All the ultrabooks in our list have a solid-state drive, not only because they’re lighter, but also a heck of a lot more durable than HDDs to boot.

Screen/Display

Surprisingly, it seems manufacturers have been able to surmount the hurdle that kept them from including QHD+ and UHD screens in lighter laptops.
These styles of screen used to mean the ultrabook would pack on at least an extra pound or two, but several of the options we’ve listed here have great screens all while staying under the 3lb+ mark.
4K displays are still making their way to ultrabooks, but at a much higher price point. These ultrabooks are often made much more expensive due to the included Intel UHD graphics cards built in to handle the 4K resolution.

Build Quality

Last up is one of the most important features to consider: build quality.
Just because it’s a light laptop doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to be built solid.
A lot of makers will shed weight using flimsy or unreliable plastic, so be sure you check what the ultrabook is actually constructed from before making a purchase.

Read Next: Best Ultrabook 2019

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