The greatest Ultrabooks allow you to work (and catch up on your favorite shows) from any location, making them the ideal travel companion. These lightweight, thin laptops are packed with high-end features and designs to keep you busy whether you’re traveling, at a work function, or in the office.
Because Ultrabooks are high-end laptops that are built with premium components like machine aluminum and magnesium alloy that are lightweight, you’ll discover that some of the best laptops available fall into this category. Ultrabooks also usually have the greatest processors available. This implies that you can purchase with assurance because each laptop on our list is unquestionably a high-quality item.
The news that Ultrabooks are no longer the priciest laptops available to consumers will come as a relief to many. Acer has released the reasonably priced Swift 3 OLED, which is among the seriously good, small, and powerful laptops that are shockingly reasonable.
These less expensive Ultrabooks can be among the best laptops for students and, if you need a professional computer that won’t break the bank, also make excellent business laptops. For your convenience, we have enumerated the greatest Ultrabooks below, ranging in price from ultra-premium to budget-friendly, and even include several 2-in-1 laptops for those who require a little extra versatility. Continue reading to see the top Ultrabooks available.
QUICK LIST
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon.
1.Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon.
The Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 (2023) boasts an elegant design, rapid performance, and excellent features. This is a true beauty, especially with its sophisticated chassis, 360-degree rotating soundbar, and OLED display that produces stunning visuals and an engaging streaming experience. And that too for less money than its more well-known competitors’ prices.
Naturally, it also performs incredibly well, outperforming rival touchscreen laptops in our benchmarks such as the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360. It performs admirably when handling creative tasks; processing and exporting 50 high-resolution 7952 x 4472 photographs from RAW to JPEG in Lightroom took less time than we anticipated. That means that our web browsing battery can last for slightly more than 10 hours when fully charged.
Our measurements show that the OLED panel is not as brilliant as we had hoped, averaging about 350 nits. Despite this, it still has a colorful appearance and responds to touch commands with ease.
This is consistent with Lenovo’s history of only offering two or three variants for each laptop model. As of this writing, there are just two options available for the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8. Both are equipped with the same 16GB RAM, Intel Core i7-1360P processor, and Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics.
The display and storage capacity are where the higher-end model differs. It sees the 2.8K OLED display on the base model and increases it to a 3840 x 2400 OLED panel, doubling its storage to 1TB.
It’s important to note that although the US and the UK have confirmed certain combinations, we are unaware of the cost or availability in Australia. Furthermore, there’s a good chance Lenovo will add more either before or after its formal introduction. Don’t worry, we’ll make the necessary updates to this review.
With its military-grade strong construction, compact size, light weight, and sleek design, the Yoga 9i Gen 8 is more than suitable for travel. Its tablet and tent modes make it manageable. Although I haven’t fully come around to the idea of laptops that can also function as tablets, I can tell that using this one in both modes was comfortable. Specifically, I enjoy that I don’t need to wear my glasses to watch Narcos in bed. To further enable you to interface with the touchscreen more without going over budget, a stylus is also included in the box.
It has a fairly clever hinge that doubles as a 360-degree spinning soundbar. You always get terrific audio because the speakers are never pointed straight at you, no matter what mode you’re in. Later on, though, more on it.
The large, well-lit keyboard that runs the length of the laptop will never make you feel crowded, especially because there is much room between the stubby, thick, and short keys. Additionally, typing on it is pleasant and comfortable, which makes it ideal for working on job documents—or, in my case, reviews and features. I particularly value Lenovo’s painstaking addition of shortcuts, which include performance modes, an audio profile, an airplane mode toggle, a webcam background blur, and more within easy reach thanks to these shortcut keys.
Pros
- Stunning design
- Excellent performance
- Stylus comes in the box
Cons
- Too expensive for most people
- Display averages at 350 nits
2.Acer Swift 3 OLED (2022)
- The Ultimate Premium Laptop Experience: Don’t sacrifice performance, graphics or battery life…Enjoy superior performance with the Acer Swift 3, based on the Intel Evo platform, it charges fast and lasts and wakes instantly and is super thin and light.
- Kick-Start Your Productivity: Now featuring 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H processor with dedicated Intel Iris Xe graphics delivering superior performance where you need it most. With Turbo Boost Technology, get up to 4.7GHz for your high-demand applications
- OLED is Everything: Feast your eyes on the brilliance of the 16:10, 2.8K WQXGA (2880 x 1800) OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display and prepare yourself to thoroughly enjoy this new screen. 90Hz Refresh Rate | 1ms Response Time | High-Brightness (400 nits) | 16:10 aspect ratio | Color Gamut DCI-P3 100percentage | Certified True Black HDR500
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon.
The Acer 3 Swift OLED is a worthy successor to one of the greatest laptops ever produced, and it is not at all disappointing. Its stunning OLED screen, which also supports HDR, is its primary selling point, even if it lacks a touchscreen like the Acer Swift 3 or Swift 5.
Its elegant and thin design conceals some of the strongest CPU performance we’ve seen in an Ultrabook in a long time. It actually has one of the best scores of any laptop we’ve ever evaluated. You can work and play with ease because the GPU performance is also very good. Additionally, the battery life is very respectable given the OLED screen.
The keyboard strikes a mix between a clean and sleek design and a pleasant, almost mechanical feel. The OLED screen is one of the most gorgeous we’ve seen on a laptop. It’s also a complete bargain considering how little it costs for everything it provides.
The Acer Swift 3 OLED is the replacement for the Acer Swift 3, one of the best laptops ever produced, and the Acer Swift 5 touchscreen. The primary attraction of this laptop, meanwhile, is not its touchscreen like the others—rather, it’s its brilliant and gorgeous OLED screen with HDR capability.
This Ultrabook is incredibly affordable, its most costly model, in contrast to many of the best ones. At the moment, though, it’s extremely hard to find; in the US, the few stores that carry it are all sold out, and in other countries like the UK and Australia, it’s completely absent.
I’m hoping that the stunning laptop will soon be back in stock. It features a sleek and attractive silver chassis, a wonderful keyboard with backlighting that nearly gives it a crystal-like appearance, and a responsive and silky touchpad. In addition, it weighs only three pounds, making it very thin and portable. The ease of portability of this laptop is quite astounding.
Its performance in terms of CPU is among the greatest for an Ultrabook that we have ever seen. This laptop is clearly pushing the already outstanding Core i7 CPU to its limit, so it can handle any computational activity you throw at it, as well as streaming movies and videos, and much more.
It would seem that a laptop with a maximum CPU price tag would come with a GPU that is below average, yet this one performs exceptionally well in a number of gaming benchmarks, making it an even more remarkable non-gaming laptop. Thus, while your professional laptop can compete with the greatest laptops available, it can also play low- to mid-range games rather effectively during your casual gaming sessions.
This laptop’s sound is quite good quality, therefore it’s a double-edged sword. When performing classical music, like in an orchestra, every instrument’s clarity is incredibly clear. However, the problem is in the level, making it difficult to hear anything unless you have a pair of headphones with you. If you’re trying to watch movies or videos with other people, this can be an issue.
The 1080p webcam is of average quality—nothing particularly noteworthy. It’s surprising because nothing sticks out during conference calls even though you’ll look perfect because this is an Ultrabook.
Our favorite feature of the Acer Swift 3 OLED is its design. It’s beautifully painted silver, very portable, and slimline. The lack of a touchscreen doesn’t take away from the laptop’s incredible OLED screen—one of the most exquisite screens we’ve ever seen. Actually, this laptop is ideal for people who aren’t too fond of touchscreens because it works just well without one. The OLED is enhanced by its 500-nit brightness, and the optional HDR accentuates the display’s brilliance. These maximize the amount of screen real estate and have sleek, thin bezels that never go out of style.
We particularly love the keyboard, which strikes a perfect combination between a clean and elegant design with a fulfilling, nearly mechanical sensation when typing. In addition, it has a gentle pearl-colored backlight that gives it a gem-like shimmer. Additionally, the touchpad is quite sensitive and smooth, making it ideal for mobility even without a touch option.
Two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 connectors, one HDMI 2.1 port, one audio jack, and one K-lock for security make up the amazing range of ports. Other than the SD Card slot, which is the only port it needed to be flawless, it’s more than adequate, especially in light of the USB ports.
The Acer Swift 3 OLED has a single, sizable air vent that is visible, and it is situated just over the keyboard. It’s a clever location because it makes sure that air escapes from whichever surface it’s resting on. Even when it is visible, the slope angle it is resting on effectively conceals it, and it blends in with the laptop’s overall design.
The fan setting may be changed from off, regular, and maximum by pressing the ‘Fn’ and ‘F’ buttons while you’re really pushing your system. Naturally, this also has an impact on the fan volume, so you can change it to suit your needs. While not particularly awful, the standard ventilation setting is nothing special. It can warm up rather quickly even though it never gets hot, so you’ll most likely find yourself using the maximum setting anyway.
Pros
- Well-priced
- Gorgeous OLED screen and HDR
- Excellent keyboard and touchpad
Cons
- Lackluster battery life
- Average webcam
- Terrible availability
3.Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra
- All-out power and speed If you can dream it, you can do it with a remarkable PC that’s brimming with power. Featuring lightning-like performance for big ideas, our most powerful processor series yet helps you code, design and create without restraint. Whether you’re rendering video for a film project or dabbling in some after-hours gaming, the latest NVIDIA graphics card brings visuals to life like a dream.
- Refined style. Ready to go. Be ready whenever and wherever inspiration strikes with a thin, lightweight design that’s made to move with you. A minimalist approach inspired the slim profile for Galaxy Book3 Ultra, making it amazingly portable. Now you’ll never be without phenomenal computing power, no matter where you go.
- A screen like you’ve never seen Get blown away by the crown jewel of all our PC displays — the evolution of the rich heritage of quality you’ve come to expect from Galaxy screens. Experience jaw-dropping clarity on a stunning 3K AMOLED screen. See more of your content with a superwide 16:10 aspect ratio, the largest ever for a Galaxy.1 Whether you’re streaming, coding or gaming, content leaps out at you on a crazy-big 16” screen.
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon.
The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra is a deserved and gorgeous addition to this list. It is an incredibly outstanding Ultrabook that demonstrates that Samsung can produce laptops as fashionable and appealing as major laptop companies. Beyond its attractive appearance, this device has outstanding internal specifications that, in our opinion, can handle most creative and editing jobs, as well as higher-end gaming and productivity.
The eye candy here, though, is the stunning 3K AMOLED screen, which offers 500 nits of brightness and supports HDR. We discovered that it provides brilliant, vivid colors and clear, sharp images on a 16-inch panel that provides ample room for work and creative projects.
Regretfully, the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra’s battery life is appalling. With productivity work, you may make it last no more than six hours. However, it compensates for that by having a numlock pad and a keyboard with keys.
Samsung has published the most recent update for its Galaxy Book laptop lineup. The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra, the most opulent of the three, is an Ultrabook designed to provide customers with an exceptional experience in terms of productivity, creative work, and even gaming.
With its amazing features and stunning display, the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra is a truly stunning portable device that comes in a sleek and stylish design. The Book3 Ultra is one of those few exceptions, even though I frequently bemoan the absence of color in these laptop lines. Despite having a larger form factor than the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro or Pro 360, at 0.65 inches and less than four pounds, it is still incredibly thin and light for a 16-inch display.
The display’s stunning 3K (2880 x 1800) AMOLED screen goes well with its many applications, many of which call for a top-notch screen. The large, evenly spaced keys make the keyboard seem smooth and make typing effortless. A num lock pad will also have enough of room because of the 16-inch display. The huge, perfectly smooth touchpad has excellent reaction.
One HDMI 2.0 port, two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, one USB 3.2 Type-A port, an audio jack, and one MicroSD slot make up its respectable port assortment. Although I wish the Ultrabook had an additional Type-A connector and an Ethernet port, it still has sufficient coverage for the majority of uses, which puts it ahead of many other laptops.
Overall performance is excellent, with productivity being this laptop’s ideal use. However, this laptop can also function well if you require a device that can handle creative and editing tasks in addition to some decent gaming. This is made possible by the laptop’s integrated 13th-generation Intel Core i7-13700H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, both of which can be upgraded to Core i9 or RTX 4070 for even greater performance.
However, the addition of multiple Samsung file and internet sharing tools, such as Multi Control, Quick Share, Microsoft Phone Link, the Expert RAW software, and Instant Hotspot, is the new crown gem of this new series of Galaxy Book3 laptops. Having numerous Samsung devices is worthwhile because of this ecosystem of file-sharing and more, which poses a serious challenge to Apple’s own outstanding file-sharing services.
Despite all of these advantages, battery life is a significant disadvantage. You’re getting less than five hours before you need to recharge if you’re streaming TV shows or movies. And you won’t even be able to work for a full day at the office when you just have roughly six hours before you need to take a break.
Pros
- Excellent performance
- Beautiful 3K AMOLED with HDR
- Keyboard feels great
Cons
- Terrible battery life
- Extremely expensive
4.Dell XPS 15 (2023)
- With 16 GB DDR5 SDRAM of memory, users can run many programs without losing execution
- 15.6″ display with 1920 x 1200 resolution showcases movies, games and photos with impressive clarity
- 512 GB total SSD capacity is enough to store your essential documents and files, favorite songs, movies and pictures
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon.
The Dell XPS 15 (2023) is still going strong despite all the significant modifications Dell has been making to its flagship laptop line, even though the XPS 13 series is now officially off our list of the best Ultrabooks. Don’t get us wrong, this one also saw some design modifications, but even though the beloved chassis is gone, it still has a stunning display and a fantastic keyboard and touchpad.
What’s more, it still has power. It performed flawlessly throughout our tests, executing both our routinely high output and our innovative work with little to no hiccups. It also maintained its coolness as a cucumber throughout, which avoided the laptop overheating and throttling during the heavier workloads. Purchasing one of the more expensive setups will allow it to continuously deliver excellent performance, effectively turning it into a fantastic gaming laptop with ray-tracing capabilities.
It’s true that it doesn’t have the same battery life as the one it replaced. It should, nevertheless, last you the entire day at work.
The incredible Dell XPS 15 laptop from 2022—which we gave a flawless five stars—has been updated with the Dell XPS 15 (2023) laptop. Though the design and features of the 2023 model have mostly remained the same, there are some significant—both positive and negative—differences between the two.
It differs from many of the other top Ultrabooks with its light silver chassis, which is visible from the outside. The body still feels good and sturdy, even though it weighs about the same as the greatest thin and light laptops. Additionally, the chassis is identical to that of the previous model, which was likewise an artistic creation.
When we open it, we also enter pretty well-known terrain. This model shares a small bezel with the 2022 model, and it has a nice, satisfyingly smooth black matte finish around the keyboard and touchpad. Despite being sufficiently softer to prevent an audible click, the touchpad is mechanical in nature and provides a sense of feedback. The keys are still large and spacious, accommodating most fingers.
The 2023 model boasts a gorgeous 15.6-inch HD+ screen with an option between FHD+ (1920 x 1200) or OLED 3.5K (3456 x 2160), much like the Dell XPS 15 (2022) review we wrote. Additionally, there is a good assortment of ports, with about everything you need available, such as Type-A and Type-C USB ports, an HDMI port, an SD card, an audio line, and more. It isn’t perfect because it just has one Type-A connection and lacks an Ethernet port. But its audio quality is flawless, producing rich sound from its two speakers. I’d even go so far as to claim that the 2023 model significantly outperformed the previous one in this regard.
Similar to any other Dell laptop, there are a wide variety of configurations and specs to choose from, depending on what your needs are. This makes it quite balanced in terms of performance, as it handles pretty much any productivity or creative tasks thrown at it. It also shares with the 2022 version the ability to game at higher GPU specs, with the 2023 version having the added bonus of being able to ray-trace.
In contrast to the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra, which has an RTX 4050, the GPUs appear to be less powerful in several areas, and some benchmark tests yielded results that were even worse than the 2022 XPS 15. This begs the question of whether the Dell XPS 15 (2023) is really worth the upgrade.
The Dell XPS 15 (2023) boasts a sleek, light silver chassis that shimmers in the sunlight, making it an extremely attractive Ultrabook. It weighs little more than four pounds, or slightly less than two kilograms, yet even when you carry it around in a bag, you don’t notice the weight because of its well-balanced form factor. It is also quite substantial, with a sturdy construction that should be able to withstand wear and tear over time.
Inside, there’s a black carbon fiber palm rest that not only has a fantastic texture but also serves the useful function of keeping you cool and avoiding perspiration accumulation. The wide keys on the keyboard are great for those with larger fingers or situations that call for them.
The display is stunning, with the FHD+ (1920 x 1200) and OLED 3.5K (3456 x 2160) options both being excellent options. However, if you can, I would strongly advise you to pay the extra money for the OLED version because everything looks very beautiful and actually pops, including games, creative works, and image and video projects.
Pros
- Great well-rounded performance
- Beautiful and tough chassis
- Great display, keyboard, and touchpad
Cons
- Underpowered GPU compared to the competition
- Battery life not as good as 2022 model
- Doesn’t really improve on much else
5.Lenovo Yoga Book 9i
- The world’s first full dual-screen, multi-mode laptop
- Two stunning 13.3″ PureSight OLED displays for versatile use
- Powered by 13th Gen Intel Core processors and the Intel Evo platform
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon.
The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is a good buy if you’re a multitasker whose demands for work cannot be met by a single laptop screen, even with its high price tag. This laptop is really worth looking at, especially since Lenovo implemented the dual-display design so elegantly and smoothly that it goes above and beyond the expectations of a 2-in-1 laptop. It also has several settings.
It’s also a powerful laptop. In our test, it not only met our basic productivity goals but also completed our picture editing duties in a mere three minutes and fifty-two seconds for the export of those identical images in JPEG format. Its benchmark score of almost nine hours of battery life is even more amazing; if you play your cards well, you can increase that to fourteen hours. Furthermore astounding are the touchscreen displays. They provided around 193% DCI-P3 and 163% sRGB color coverage during testing, with an average color accuracy of Delta E < 1.0.
All of that in a lightweight, svelte chassis. Pun intended, this one is a complete ace in our book.
You would really struggle to find a dual-screen configuration as smooth or adaptable as this one at this time. The Yoga Book 9i, designed by Lenovo, offers many modes in addition to an additional amount of screen real estate. When you need to use your screens in portrait mode, such as when coding, you may place it on the provided stand and arrange the screens either side by side like a book or stacked one on top of the other.
It may also be used as a standard laptop, of course; in fact, the keyboard instantly transforms it into a conventional notebook with the ability to attach onto the top portion of the bottom screen.
Add its thinness and low weight to the list of features that have already impressed you. I adore traveling with this laptop because Lenovo did such an amazing job, and even with its keyboard, mouse, and folio kickstand in my backpack, it doesn’t feel heavy or take up much room.
Not to mention that, with its Tidal Teal color, matte surface, and softly rounded edges, it just looks sleek, beautiful, and high-end overall. I believe that this laptop wouldn’t have been able to pull off the dual display design quite as well as it does if it weren’t as sophisticated as it seems.
In relation to the accessories that come with the package, the folio kickstand is also really creative. Although there is a little of that here, I generally dislike kickstands since they are so fragile, but this one works very well at holding this laptop in place, even when it is stacked. The laptop is held firmly in place by its magnetic design, and the little keyboard can be snapped into place thanks to additional magnets.
The keyboard is excellent in and of itself. Typing on it is pleasurable and comfortable, and despite the size of the keys, mistakes are rare. Additionally, it has a number of shortcut keys that let you more easily access other built-in functions like the display settings and virtual trackpad key, which improve your control over the displays.
Pros
- Multiple modes
- Luxurious lightweight design
- Very responsive IR camera
Cons
- One and only configuration is expensive
- Steep learning curve
- Port selection is disappointing
What is an Ultrabook?
Ultrabooks are high-end notebooks with the best materials, blazing-fast CPUs, and striking graphics, setting them apart from conventional laptops. These premium laptops were first positioned as the Windows-powered substitute for Apple’s MacBook and are typically powered by Intel processors. ‘Ultrabook’ is short for ‘ultramobile notebook’, and it was first used by Intel.
The ideal Ultrabook should be tiny (less than 1 inch thick), have an SSD (solid state drive), and ideally be powered by an Intel processor. Since ultrabooks are designed to be slim and powerful, you should look for one that can run any program you can think of, including video editing, programming, and the Microsoft Office Suite. It should also be extremely portable.
An Ultrabook’s SSD is crucial since it allows used files and apps to run quickly on fast SSD storage through the usage of Intel Smart Response, which speeds up laptop performance over a standard laptop. You might wish to upgrade to at least a quad-core Ultrabook if you frequently need to multitask. A processor’s ability to execute numerous programs at once increases with the number of cores it has.
Are Ultrabooks good for gaming?
Here, the short response is no. The lengthy answer is potentially, based on your Ultrabook’s specifications and the kinds of games you intend to play. The great majority of Ultrabooks use system RAM as visual memory and execute graphical operations directly on the CPU due to integrated graphics.
Certain Ultrabooks, including the top-ranked Dell XPS 15 (2022), do feature a separate GPU with dedicated video memory. Though you shouldn’t expect to be running anything at the highest graphics settings without seeing a significant drop in framerates, those Ultrabooks should be able to handle gaming.
In general, ultrabooks without a dedicated GPU (the majority on this list utilize Intel’s Xe integrated graphics) will perform poorly in games, unless you’re just playing 2D independent games or older titles with low graphic requirements. One of the best gaming laptops or a thin and light gaming laptop, if you choose to maintain a slimline form factor, should be your first choice if you truly want to play the newest games.