6 Best 2-in-1 Laptops (2026), Wired-approved And Tested

this story

this story

Featured in this article

The best 2-in-1 laptops have aimed to bridge the gap between laptops and tablets ever since touchscreens became ubiquitous on laptops (Windows laptops, anyway). Clamshells are still the standard, but many of our favorite laptops today also happen to be 2-in-1s, thanks to their combination of power and flexibility. Whether you want a computer that can rotate its display or a tablet with a detachable keyboard, these are our favorites we’ve tested.

We review dozens of laptops every year. Make sure you read our comprehensive guide on picking the best laptop for your needs, as well as our other computing buying guides, including the Best Laptops, Best MacBooks, Best Tablets, Best Cheap Laptops, and Best Gaming Laptops.

Updated February 2026: We’ve added the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 and moved some older options to the honorable mentions at the bottom.

What Is a 2-in-1 Laptop?

AccordionItemContainerButton

A 2-in-1 is a laptop that can go from a standard clamshell laptop configuration to a tablet setup. Over the years, there are really two types of designs that fall into this category: the convertible 2-in-1 laptop and the detachable tablet.

Laptops with convertible displays use a 360-degree hinge that can position the screen flat, in “tent” mode, or flush against the underside of the laptop. Think of this as a touchscreen clamshell laptop with a fancy rotating hinge. The flexibility of positions makes them great for everything from signing documents to streaming TV shows and movies—all with the ability to go right back to a standard laptop orientation when it’s time to do some work.

Detachable 2-in-1s, on the other hand, are Windows tablets meant to be used with magnetic keyboards, not unan iPad Pro. These let you completely separate the screen from the keyboard, using a kickstand on the back of the display to keep it upright. This is a design popularized by Microsoft’s Surface lineup, which is still going strong more than a decade since its introduction. We’re even starting to see dual-screen laptops arrive to add even more flexibility (if you have the cash to spare). The main benefit of the detachable 2-in-1 is the portability. While they aren’t as good to use on your lap, they are thinner and lighter, making for better standalone tablets and devices to travel with.

Should You Buy a 2-in-1 Laptop?

AccordionItemContainerButton

The big draw of 2-in-1 laptops is that they can be used as both a laptop and a tablet. While in laptop mode, they’re generally comparable to any other clamshell laptop you’ll find. However, Windows and ChromeOS aren’t exactly the best touch-oriented operating systems out there, so you may find the touchscreen experience lacking when using it as a pure tablet.

If you already use a recent iPad or Android tablet regularly, you may not get as much out of a 2-in-1. But if you don’t, these 2-in-1 laptops can give you the functionality of both devices in one—hence, the name. Beyond that, convertible laptops use 360-degree hinges to offer even more capabilities, such as flipping the laptop upside down in various modes.

The only real downside to picking a convertible 2-in-1 over a clamshell is some of the design tweaks that have to be made to incorporate the hinge. Sometimes the balance of the weight can feel off, and the heftier hinge can be ugly and sometimes require a larger bottom bezel under the display.

Ultimately, our top pick on this list, the Lenovo Yoga 9i, happens to also be one of the best overall laptops you can buy. You can consider its 2-in-1 capabilities to be a nice bonus on top of its already stellar performance and features. If you’re aiming for the more budget range and already have a tablet, it’s worth considering whether you can some cash by sticking with a traditional clamshell.

Why Not Just Buy an iPad?

AccordionItemContainerButton

It’s a good question. All in all, it remains difficult to beat the iPad or iPad Pro when it comes to pure tablet usage. From a software and third-party app perspective, iPadOS is a far more robust device when using it without a keyboard, though that may start to change with Apple’s multitasking improvements in iPadOS 26.

The opposite is true for Windows tablets, which benefit from the full Windows 11 experience. That means you can get all your work done, in theory, on one device, while still having something highly mobile. There are some people who can even do all their work on only an iPad Pro, for example, but most of us prefer (or require) some kind of desktop computing environment such as macOS or Windows.

I still wish Microsoft would improve the touch experience of Windows though, which would make the proposition of 2-in-1 laptops that much more enticing over iPads.

How We Test 2-in-1 Laptops

AccordionItemContainerButton

We test 2-in-1s a lot how we test clamshell laptops. Before you add in the 2-in-1 element, laptops are already incredibly complex devices, and we test every possible aspect of them. That means we measure the quality of the display, we benchmark the speed of the CPU, we run it until the battery runs out, and we type on the keyboard. A lot.

With 2-in-1 laptops, though, there’s more a physical element that needs testing. If it’s a detachable, we extend the kickstand and use it in a variety of scenarios. How does it balance on your lap? What’s the adjustability of the angle of the kickstand? If it’s a convertible 2-in-1, does the touchscreen feel responsive? Does the screen wobble crazy when you tap it? These are all questions that can only be answered with hands-on time with the 2-in-1 laptop.

All of the products we recommend were provided by the manufacturers of the devices. However, our opinions and the results of testing are completely independent. There is no guarantee of positive coverage (or coverage at all) when we agree to accept a review unit from a company. We often send units back once we’re done testing.

• Best Overall 2-in-1 Laptop

  • 

    Photograph: Luke Larsen

  • 

    Photograph: Luke Larsen

  to wishlist

  Lenovo

  Yoga 9i (14-inch, 2025)

  $1,550

  Best Buy

  $1,650

  Amazon

  $1,640 $1,476 (10% off)

  Lenovo

  The Lenovo Yoga 9i has been one of my favorite 2-in-1 laptops for a long while now, and the 2025 model doesn’t rock the boat. Lenovo has left the more experimental features to its updated clamshell Yoga Slim 9i, while the convertible model remains the tried-and-true option.

  It’s a highly polished laptop, with soft, rounded edges, extremely robust build quality, great speakers, a large touchpad, and a glorious high-resolution OLED screen. Lenovo even manages to squeeze in a USB-A port in its thin chassis. My main problem with this laptop in previous generations was battery life, but with the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V, that problem is solved. Initial configurations were limited to an expensive 32 GB RAM model, but you can now snag it with 16 GB, though with the slightly lesser-performing Core Ultra 7 256V.

  Specs
  Display: 14-inch, 2880 x 1800 (OLED)
  CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 256V
  RAM: 32 GB
  Storage: 1 TB
  Thickness: 0.6 inches
  Weight: 3.1 pounds

  WIRED/TIRED

  AccordionItemContainerButton

  WIRED

  • Absolutely gorgeous design
  • 2-in-1 functionality
  • Better than average audio
  • Glossy, OLED display

  TIRED

  • Overly expensive

• Best Detachable Laptop

  • 

    Photograph: Christopher Null

  • 

    Courtesy of Microsoft

  • 

    Courtesy of Microsoft

  • 

    Photograph: Christopher Null

  to wishlist

  Microsoft

  Surface Pro 13-inch (11th Edition, 2024)

  $1,400 $1,100 (21% off)

  Amazon

  $1,700 $1,450 (15% off)

  Best Buy (OLED)

  $1,049

  Microsoft

  If there’s one device that came to define the 2-in-1 category, it’s the Surface Pro. The 2024 model, also known as the Surface Pro 11th Edition (6/10, WIRED Review), is easily the best version of the device ever made. The OLED display is downright amazing, battery life is awesome thanks to the new AI-infused Qualcomm Snapdragon X CPU, and Microsoft’s Flex Keyboard feels great. It even has an improved webcam. For the first time, it feels a proper competitor to the iPad Pro.

  It’s not cheap once you add in the cost of the Flex Keyboard, sold separately. Microsoft has also removed the starting configuration of the device (with 256 GB) to make room for the newer Surface Pro 12. For a proper laptop replacement, however, the larger 13-inch model remains the go-to choice and is the best detachable 2-in-1 you can buy. With the announcement of the Snapdragon X2 chips from Qualcomm, I expect Microsoft to bring the Surface Pro (and Surface Laptop) up to date. But Microsoft tends to not always be the first out of the gate.

  Specs
  Display: 13.3-inch, 2880 x 1920 (OLED)
  CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus or X Elite
  RAM: 16 GB
  Storage: 512 GB
  Thickness: 0.58 inches (including keyboard)
  Weight: 2.72 pounds (including keyboard)

• The Best 2-in-1 Chromebook

  

  to wishlist

  Acer

  Chromebook Plus Spin 514

  $699 $579 (17% off)

  Best Buy

  $800

  Acer

  The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is one of only two Chromebooks that mark part of a new era in Chromebooks. It uses a new MediaTek Kompanio Ultra chip. Normally, you might see the MediaTek brand and be thrown off, but the company has really pulled off something special here when it comes to Chromebook chips. Without going into much detail, it’s an efficient ARM chip that pairs solid performance with great performance, not un Qualcomm’s or Apple’s latest laptop chips, except made explicitly for Chromebooks. It’s great.

  While the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is my favorite of these two new Chromebooks, the Acer model is the one that comes with a 2-in-1 hinge, along with a touchscreen. And while it’s not OLED, the higher-resolution screen really looks nice in this form factor and highlights the great screen.

  Specs
  Display: 14-inch, 2800 x 1800 (IPS)
  CPU: MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910
  RAM: 12 GB
  Storage: 256 GB
  Thickness: 0.61 inches
  Weight: 3 pounds

  WIRED/TIRED

  AccordionItemContainerButton

  WIRED

  • Glossy, high resolution display
  • Excellent performance and battery life
  • Attractive design, feels durable
  • 360-degree hinge and touchscreen are useful

  TIRED

  • Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 offers slightly better value

• Best Compact 2-in-1 Laptop

  

  Photograph: Luke Larsen

  to wishlist

  Microsoft

  Surface Pro 12

  $900 $830 (8% off)

  Amazon

  $800

  Microsoft

  I love the idea of a smaller Surface device for portability. But Microsoft has struggled in the past to deliver a smaller and more affordable Surface tablet that makes the right compromises. The Surface Pro 12 (6/10, WIRED Review) gets awfully close to nailing that balance. It uses the same overall design—and even the same Snapdragon X Plus processor—ensuring that you aren’t losing the premium feeling.

  It trades out the option for a OLED display, the Surface Connect port, and the Alcantara fabric keyboard—but what you get is a lighter, thinner, and completely fanless tablet. If it were a bit cheaper, I’d be a bigger proponent of this device. That’s especially true since you still have to buy the keyboard attachment, which isn’t cheap.

  Specs
  Display: 12-inch, 2196 x 1464 (IPS)
  CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus
  RAM: 16 GB
  Storage: 256 GB
  Thickness: 0.6 inches (with keyboard)
  Weight: 2.2 pounds (with keyboard)

• Best Powerful 2-in-1 Laptop

  

  Photograph: Luke Larsen

  to wishlist

  Asus

  ROG Flow Z13 (2025)

  $2,100 $1,800 (14% off)

  Asus

  $2,300 $2,169 (6% off)

  Amazon

  $2,300 $2,170 (6% off)

  Best Buy

  The ROG Flow Z13 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is the kind of device no one asked for, and upon its release, everyone doubted. Against all odds, it worked. Despite being a tablet, Asus stuffed a discrete GPU beneath its impressive screen, and out came one of the most portable PC gaming devices ever made. Because the computer itself is behind the screen instead of under your fingers, all the hot air stays far away from your hands while gaming, which is a fantastic benefit of this design.

  This latest model takes things even further. Under the hood, the Flow Z13 uses the most interesting chip from last year, the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, which has powerful enough integrated graphics to make it a step forward above even the RTX 4060 without the use of a discrete GPU. It also has a slightly toned-down aesthetic and improved battery life. It’s expensive, but there’s truly nothing else it.

  Specs
  Display: 13.4-inch, 2560 x 1600 (IPS)
  CPU: AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395
  RAM: 32 GB
  Storage: 1 TB
  Thickness: 0.59 inches (with keyboard)
  Weight: 3.51 pounds (with keyboard)

• Best Dual-Screen 2-in-1 Laptop

  

  Photograph: Christopher Null

  to wishlist

  Asus

  Zenbook Duo (2025)

  $1,785

  Amazon

  $1,900

  Asus

  For road warriors who want to take their dual-screen setup on the go, the Asus Zenbook Duo (9/10, WIRED Recommends) could be your perfect match. At first glance, the laptop looks just any ordinary 14-inch Asus laptop, but appearances can be deceiving. The keyboard is attached to the bottom chassis magnetically, and lifting it away reveals a second 14-inch screen.

  The two screens give you much more real estate to work with while you’re on the road, allowing you to orient them side-by-side for two portrait displays or one on top of the other (with the help of a kickstand). Our testing found the laptop performs pretty well, beating out its predecessor, particularly on graphics and AI tasks. Battery life has significantly improved, with nearly 14 hours of streaming video in our test (on one screen). It’s truly a portable workstation on the go.

  Specs
  Display: Dual 14-inch, 2880 x 1800 (OLED)
  CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285H
  RAM: 32 GB
  Storage: 1 TB
  Thickness: 0.78 inches
  Weight: 3.64 pounds

  WIRED/TIRED

  AccordionItemContainerButton

  WIRED

  • Two screens are better than one!
  • Impressively intuitive to use
  • Lots of ways to use it
  • Solid performance and battery life

  TIRED

  • Limited configurations
  • A bit gimmicky

Compare Top 6 2-in-1 Laptops

Other 2-in-1 Laptops to Consider

Framework Laptop 12 for $549: The Framework Laptop 12 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) isn’t just the smallest, cheapest, and most repairable Framework Laptop to come out. It’s also a 2-in-1. The device has a 360-degree hinge that lets you flip the screen all the way around. That’s fitting for a smaller device that’s meant to go everywhere with you. The Framework Laptop 12 is much more than that. Its accessibility is unbeatable, allowing you to upgrade and swap out virtually every component imaginable. That even includes the CPU and motherboard. The starting configuration is just $549, too.

Lenovo Chromebook Duet Gen 9 for $244: The Lenovo Chromebook Duet Gen 9 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) was one of my favorite pieces of tech when it came out for one reason: its size. This diminutive detachable laptop is only 11 inches, which sounds painful at first. But this isn’t a productivity machine. Rather, it’s better viewed as a companion you can take anywhere for light web browsing, writing, and watching videos.

Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus for $490: If you want to dip more into the budget range, we’re big fans of the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus (8/10, WIRED Recommends). While it usually goes for $500, you’ll frequently find it on sale for under $400. That’s excellent value if all you need is solid performance, a web browser, and the occasional Android app.

Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 for $650: You might think a 16-inch 2-in-1 laptop sounds silly. It’s not portable enough to use as a tablet, that’s for sure. But if you need a large touchscreen on your laptop, there’s reason to pick up something the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 (6/10, WIRED Review). The flexibility of having a 360-degree hinge is useful in all sorts of scenarios too. This 16-inch 2-in-1 balances price, portability, and performance with just enough finesse to be worth it.

Asus ProArt PZ13 for $1,300: Another detachable, the Asus ProArt PZ13 (6/10, WIRED Recommends) veers toward mimicking Microsoft’s Surface Pro playbook but at a much more affordable price. For $1,100, you get a Copilot+ PC that can go up to around 19 hours on a single charge. Unfortunately, the performance leaves much to be desired, and its three-piece design is confounding. Still, it’s a nice alternative to the Surface Pro if you’re dead set on the style.

Power up with unlimited access to WIRED.Get best-in-class reporting and exclusive subscriber content that’s too important to ignore. Subscribe Today.

Luke Larsen is a product writer and reviewer at WIRED, covering laptops, PCs, Macs, monitors, and the wider PC peripheral ecosystem. He’s been reporting on tech for over a decade, previously at Digital Trends as the senior editor in computing, where he spent seven years leading the publication’s daily coverage. … Read More

Product Writer & Reviewer

TopicsShoppinglaptopstabletsapplebuying guidesComputersWindowsChromebooks

Windows laptops have never been so good, and they’re only going to get better as we move through 2026.

From surprisingly good $300 Chromebooks to excellent $650 Windows laptops, these are the best budget laptops we’ve tested.

We tested the latest and greatest gaming laptops, and whittled our list down to the six absolute best you can buy right now.

Want the image quality of a DSLR without the bulk? These WIRED picks do more with less.

The Gear team spends countless hours in front of displays while writing for you. So we reviewed those too (including a portable screen).

From flagship and budget to flipping and folding, Samsung’s Galaxy range spans the breadth of the smartphone cosmos. WIRED’s here to help you make your choice.

The old-fashioned drip coffee maker has come a long way. Our favorite machines here can turn your barista into a stranger.

These WIRED-tested devices will help you hear sounds more clearly. Never miss out on a dinner conversation again.

Shopping for a phone can be an ordeal. That’s why we’ve tested almost every Android phone, from the smartest to the cheapest—even phones that fold—to find the ones worth your money.

We tested leading filtered shower heads, from Rorra to Canopy to Jolie. The winners were clear.

Whether you’re biking to the office or schlepping a camera to a shoot, a laptop bag is your constant companion. These WIRED-reviewed packs do the job.

Keep your iPhone or Qi2 Android phone topped up with one of these WIRED-tested Qi2 or MagSafe portable chargers.

Wired Coupons