Budget 2-in-1 laptops 2022

Hybrids. 2-in-1s. Flexi-hinge laptops. They all have roughly the same aim. You get a laptop when you want to work, and something more like a tablet for afters. Handling the shift between these two identities well is a sign of a good hybrid.

We came away from this test with one observation you should keep in mind when shopping for a 2-in-1 laptop. No design is perfect.

If the picture of a hybrid you see on an Amazon shopping page looks more like a laptop, it wont offer a tablet experience to shame an iPad Pro. And if it looks like a tablet with a keyboard attached, you probably wont want to write a novel on the thing.

With that thorny caveat out of the way, wed recommend any of these eight hybrid laptops if their particular style matches your needs. And if none of these seem quite right for you, head to our best laptop guide for some more conventional recommendations.

What is the best 2-in-1 laptop in 2021?

Samsung's Galaxy Book Pro 360 [from £999] is the best 2-in-1 laptop you can buy right now. It looks classy, offers top notch performance and works seamlessly in both laptop and tablet modes.

View the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 from £999 on Amazon

The best budget 2-in-1 is currently Acer's Chromebook Spin 713 [£599]. This good value machine doesn't have Windows but it does offer a 3:2 display and good connectivity.

View the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 for £599 on Amazon

Gamers, consider the Asus ROG Flow X13 [from £1,299]. It's out best 2-in-1 laptop for gaming, on account of its fantastic 120Hz display, fantastic performance and docking capabilities.

View the Asus ROG Flow X13 from £1,299 on Amazon

WIRED Recommends is your definitive guide to the best technology. Every product featured has been properly tested by WIRED reviewers. Read our list of the best gadgets for our favourite picks in every category.

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360

WIRED Recommends: The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is the best overall 2-in-1 laptop

Samsung's Galaxy Book Pro 360 [from £999] earns the top spot thanks to its titular 360 degree hinge. Despite compact dimensions, it's a near-perfect laptop for productivity, thanks to Intel's latest 11th Gen processors and a choice or 8GB or 16GB of RAM.

Where it really comes into its own though is in tent mode, where the vibrant 1080p AMOLED display works brilliantly as a portable movie screen, and particularly in tablet mode. It's extremely thin at 11.9mm and surprisingly light too, for a 15.6in model, at under 1.4kg but the aluminium shell still feels high end. And because it's so thin, light and comfortable to use, the only reminder that you in fact aren't in fact using a regular oversized tablet is essentially the feeling of the keys on the back.

There's a lot more to like too, from the delightful S Pen stylus, which zips along with no lag and is comfortable to hold and scribble with for long periods, to the excellent keyboard which offers good feedback and decent travel. The trackpad is nice and big too - and, as per for Samsung, the speakers are impressive too.

Our only complaints? Those fans are a tad eager, though Samsung offers custom silent and no fan modes that you can keep on for everything but sustained creative work. Oh and as the Galaxy Book Pro 360 is so slim, there's no slot to hide the S Pen, as on some of the Surface line. But we can live with that.

Also consider: Our most recent top 2-in-1 pick before the Samsung, the HP Spectre x360 14 [from £1,200] comes with a squarer display, which is great for day to day productivity as well as a stunning OLED panel for all your movie-watching needs.

Pros: Best-in-class Full HD display; ergonomic tablet mode; terrific speakers; big trackpad; S Pen stylus
Cons: Overeager fans; no 3:2 or 16:10 display

Price: From £999 | Check price on Amazon | John Lewis | Samsung

Acer Chromebook Spin 713

The best affordable Chromebook 2-in-1

Acers latest convertible Chromebook is the best option if youre on a budget and if youre happy to use Googles browser-based operating system to tackle your computing. After all, you can handle virtually every mainstream task between the browser and Androids vast selection of apps.

Theres a lot to like beyond Chrome OS on the Spin 713 [£599]. The machine has a soft, comfortable keyboard and a smooth, snappy trackpad, and the anodised aluminium body looks good and offers impressive build quality. The 360-degree hinge offers slick movement, and the Asus has two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 alongside a full-size USB connector, a microSD card slot and an audio jack. Its also got HDMI.

The 13.5in touchscreen uses an unusual 3:2 aspect ratio, which means you get more vertical space than on most laptop screens a boon for working and web browsing. It offers good quality, too, with well-balanced colours and reasonable contrast.

On the inside the Acer is available with Intels Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, with those chips capable of everyday tasks and some tougher creative workloads at the top end. And, as usual, you get WiFi 6 and Bluetooth. The battery is gpod it reaches eight hours with normal use and ten if youre careful but youll get better longevity from pricier portables.

The only other area of concern revolves around the chassis. Its sturdy, but the Acer weighs 1.45kg and is 17mm thick, so its larger and heavier than most Windows convertibles.

Thats a reasonable price to pay for this affordable laptop, though, and elsewhere the Chromebook offers good design, lashings of connectivity, solid components and a helpful display. If youre happy on Chrome OS, this is the convertible for you.

Pros: Good connectivity; 3:2 display

Cons: Heavier than many rivals; doesnt use Windows

Price: From £599 | Check price on Amazon | Argos

Dell XPS 13 2-in-1

The best luxury 2-in-1

Dell XPS laptops have long been the byword for high-end portable experiences, and the firms latest compact hybrid device continues that tradition. This XPS 13 2-in-1 [from £1,200] hybrid is hewn from diamond-cut aluminium and is available in silver or white finishes, and it has rock-solid build quality alongside a modest weight of 1.32kg and slim 14mm body. It looks and feels good, and is eminently usable, with a smooth mechanism that enables smooth, almost effortless tablet switches.

The XPS has recessed, shallow keys that are light and consistent, and its trackpad is large, responsive and rapid. The Gorilla Glass touchscreen impresses, too: its a 16:10 panel that offers punchy, bright images with loads of contrast and accurate colours thanks to its 500cd/m2 brightness and 90% DCI-P3 gamut coverage. Its available in 1920 x 1200 and 3840 x 2400 resolutions, and both are superb.

On the inside, the laptop is available with Core i5 and Core i7 processors the former ideal for everyday work, the latter for tougher tasks and you can opt for 8GB or 16GB of memory and either 256GB or 512GB SSDs. Its got WiFi 6 connectivity, a Windows Hello webcam and a sensor that wakes the laptop as soon as you open the lid.

Those components can handle everyday workloads, but the Dell has no proper graphics chipset, and youll certainly get more power from an Apple M1 chip. Dont expect much physical connectivity here either: the Dell has two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, a microSD card slot, and a headphone jack, but thats it - and one of those USB-C ports charges the machine. In terms of battery life, the Dell will last about ten hours when working and fourteen hours when watching video, which is a decent result.

Dells machine isnt overflowing with ports, but it does have a slim, light and high-quality exterior, superb screen options, solid components and good battery life. If you desire a high-end convertible, this should be your first choice.

Pros: Sleek, stylish and robust design; high-quality screens; solid battery life

Cons: Minimal port selection; other CPUs are faster

Price: From £1,200 | Check price on Amazon | Dell |Currys

Lenovo Yoga 9i

The best 2-in-1 laptop with a larger display

The Lenovo Yoga range is prominent in the world of 2-in-1 devices, and the Yoga 9i [from £1,000] is one of the rare convertible machines that goes beyond the conventional 13.3in form factor because its available in 14in and 15.6in versions instead.

Those screens are available with 1080p or 4K resolutions, and the panels offer nearly 500cd/m2 of brightness alongside great contrast and solid Delta E measurements. Theyre great everyday displays, even if they dont quite have the accuracy to tackle high-end creative tasks. The displays are also paired with excellent speakers, so the Lenovo is a particularly good choice for media.

This machine also has a full-size USB port alongside its two USB-C connectors, which helps it stand out amid many rivals. Negatively, it doesnt have a card reader or a Windows Hello webcam.

Lenovos device looks and feels classy thanks to a leather lid, and the rest of the body is made from black aluminium alloy. Movement is smooth, the keyboard is fast and crisp, and the trackpad is fine. On the inside, the Yoga is available with 11th Gen Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, so youve got enough power for everyday computing and some tougher tasks, depending on how much youd like to spend. If you opt for the 15.6in model, you can get a modest Nvidia graphics card too for mainstream and esports games.

In terms of battery power, the Lenovo lasts for nine hours when working and twelve hours when playing media. Thats fine, if a little poorer than some other hybrids, and itll see you through most of a day.

There are no surprises elsewhere, with WiFi 6, Bluetooth and decent amounts of memory and storage all available. As usual, while those Intel chips are good, AMD and Apple both offer more grunt these days. Also bear in mind that this larger laptop is slightly thicker and heavier than equivalent 13.3in notebooks, but the Yoga is never so big that itll prove cumbersome.

The Yoga might not tick as many connectivity boxes as some other hybrids, but it looks superb, has sleek design, and its the perfect choice if you want the benefits of a hybrid alongside the larger form factor of a traditional laptop especially for media use.

Pros: Larger form factors; great screens and speaker options; full-size USB ports

Cons: Mid-market battery life; thicker and heavier than many other hybrids

14in: From £1,000 | Check price on Amazon | Lenovo

15.6in: From £1,599 | Check price on Argos | Lenovo

Asus ROG Flow X13

The best 2-in-1 for gaming

Very few convertibles tackle gaming, and the Asus ROG Flow X13 [£1,299] does a superb job thanks to surprising, innovative design.

This machine combines aluminium, magnesium, and plastic to create an industrial design that contains an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card and an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS processor [or similar variants of those chips] alongside 32GB of memory and a 1TB SSD. Thats fearsome hardware for a convertible, and it means that this notebook can tackle mainstream games and esports alongside any work tasks.

The Flow has a 13.4in touchscreen thats available in Full HD and QHD resolutions, with the former running at a smooth 120Hz and the latter at 60Hz, and quality is consistently great. The speakers are surprisingly powerful, and the screen is paired with a crisp, quick keyboard and a reasonable touchpad.

In terms of connectivity, expect Wi-Fi 6 and two USB-C connections alongside one full-size USB port and an HDMI output. Its all crammed into a machine thats 15.8mm thick and 1.3kg in weight, which isnt bad when you consider everything inside.

The X13 has one major trick up its sleeve, too its possible to buy this convertible alongside a 1kg dock that contains a laptop RTX 3080 core and loads of extra ports. That adds huge gaming power and connectivity to this machine, and it turns the Asus into a viable high-end gaming option.

Unsurprisingly, there are downsides. The X13 gets hot and produces noticeable fan noise if you push the components, and the notebook lasted six hours during everyday computing tasks but only an hour when gaming. Its not cheap, either: the laptop alone starts at £1,299 and youll have to pay that again for the dock. For that money you could buy a heavier, larger but more powerful gaming notebook.

If you want a 2-in-1 that can genuinely handle games alongside an option to beef up performance with a peripheral that you can sling in your bag, though, the Asus is eminently suitable.

Pros: Fantastic game and application performance; docking capability; 120Hz display

Cons: Sometimes hot and loud; mediocre battery life

Price: £1,299 | Check price on Amazon | Argos

Samsung Galaxy Book Flex

An excellent 2-in-1 for travellers

Samsung largely left the world of laptops in 2014, but is back in a big way. Its Galaxy Book Flex [£1,249] is the star of the new range.

It has a 360-degree hinge and two of the top features of Samsung's phones and TVs. The screen has a bright QLED panel, which delivers rich colour for an LCD panel, and holds up extremely well even though the screen is glossy and quite reflective.

A Galaxy Note-like S-Pen slots into the Flex's side too. It is less substantial than the average laptop stylus but you are 86 per cent less likely to spend an hour looking for the thing when you need it. The Galaxy Book Flex is slim at 12.9mm thick and very light at 1.16kg but it still lasts 11 hours of streamed video off a charge.

Several elements of the Book Flex are near-perfect, and the Core i5 has just as much power as many thicker models.

Still, there are a few significant problems. The Samsung's hinge is quite weak. Work with it on your knees and a quick movement may cause it to flop backwards. It wobbles as you work too. The keyboard is very shallow, in the mould of an Apple MacBook too. Your fingers may pine for a little more travel. Ours did.

Pros: Ultra thin, ultra light; bright and colourful QLED screen; surprisingly long battery life Cons: Weak hinge; shallow keyboard

Price: £1,249 | Check price on Amazon | Samsung | John Lewis

Microsoft Surface Go 2

The best 2-in-1 laptop for casual use

The Microsoft Surface Go 2 [from £359] is Microsofts entry-level hybrid. It is here to let you do the basics and run most of the same apps you might use on a more powerful Windows 10 work PC.

Fresh out of the box it runs Windows S, which will only install apps from the Microsoft store. But you can take off those training wheels and convert it to standard Windows 10 Home if you prefer.

The Go 2 excels at the glossy surface-level stuff. Its case is a slab of magnesium alloy just like the Surface Pro 7. Its kickstand is just as sturdy too, and the screen is far better than that of any budget laptop.

This hybrid feels timely, too, as it probably has the best webcam of any Windows computer at the price. The webcam: ignored in 2019, adored in 2020. However, you will need to factor in an extra £100 for the Type Cover. It's an essential buy.

The lower-end Surface Go 2 tested, with a Pentium 4425Y CPU, has real performance limitations. Even basics like pulling up the Start menu are slower than they would be in a low-end Intel Core i3 CPU laptop. And video editing? Dont even think about it.

The Surface Go 2 keyboard is also cramped. We cant criticise the quality of the keys, the backlight or the lovely little glass trackpad. But after a full day of work you may be left begging for a bigger keyboard.

Pros: High-quality build; great webcam

Cons: Keyboard is cramped, makes Windows 10 feel slow

Price: From £359 | Check price on Amazon | Argos | John Lewis

Lenovo ThinkPad X12

The best 2-in-1 for business

Its no surprise that the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 [£979] is the best choice if you need a 2-in-1 machine that can get the job done in all situations. The 12in screen means that this laptop is smaller than most rivals, and it weighs 1.2kg and is only 14.5mm thick, so its more compact than competitors too. Impressively, its detachable you can pop the screen free to use it as a tablet, and it has an excellent flip-out kickstand.

The Gorilla Glass touchscreen uses a 3:2 aspect ratio that gives users extra height for web pages and documents, and it covers the entire sRGB colour gamut at a peak brightness level of 400cd/m2, so its accurate and suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

And, because this is a ThinkPad, its got great ergonomics. The keyboard is excellent, the unit has the usual three-button trackpad with the red keyboard nub, and Lenovo includes a decent stylus thats ideal for note-taking.

Lenovos machine is sold in two configurations the Core i5 model costs £979 while the Core i7 machine sits at £2,381. The former specification is fine for everyday work and offers the best value by far. Elsewhere, the specification includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, Intel vPro, a TPM module and military testing to ensure exterior durability, and the webcam uses Windows Hello for facial recognition login. A fingerprint reader can be added as an optional extra, too.

Battery life is good, at around nine hours of work use, but youll certainly be able to find better longevity on other hybrids. And, as ever on slim machines, be aware of port limitations: the ThinkPad has two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack, but thats it.

If you dont need physical connectivity, though, the ThinkPad X12 impresses in plenty of other areas. Its detachable, compact design is extremely versatile, it has loads of work-friendly features, and that Core i5 model is available at a good price.

Pros: Slick detachable design; slim, light and compact; loads of features

Cons: Core i7 version is expensive; not many ports

Price: £979 | Check price on Lenovo

Whats the difference between a touchscreen laptop and a 2-in-1 laptop?

A 2-in-1 laptop is a touchscreen laptop but a touchscreen laptop doesnt have to be a 2-in-1. Thats the TL;DR but delving into it a bit more, a 2-in-1 laptop is also often referred to as a convertible as it offers the ability to use it as a laptop and a tablet. Devices like the Surface Pro and Lenovo Chromebook Duet are also often referred to as 2-in-1s as they can be used as a tablet or laptop [when paired with a keyboard attachment].

If you are after a touchscreen laptop that isnt a 2-in-1 laptop then you can look to models of our WIRED Recommends best laptop, the Dell XPS 13 or other top-of-the-line ultrabooks.

What are the advantages of a 2-in-1 laptop?

The key things to think about when considering a 2-in-1 laptop are: whether youd like a laptop you can use for drawing too? And, if you like watching movies and videos on your laptop?

Firstly, many 2-in-1 devices come with a stylus or offer specific stylus support. So an important advantage is being able to kick back and get some drawing done, as you can with a tablet.

Then, having a 2-in-1 laptop lets you utilise what manufacturers call tent mode where you rotate the display around enough so it can be stood up. This is a handy free-standing way to watch videos, avoiding the overheating dangers of resting a laptop flat on a bed or having to deal with some awkward angling to get comfortable.

Can you game on a 2-in-1 laptop?

No is the simple answer. 2-in-1 laptops are typically ultrabooks or lower-powered devices that dont offer the onboard graphics that let you play many games. However, that isnt the whole story.

Intel and AMDs latest mobile chips for thin and light laptops do let you do a bit of gaming supporting fairly low settings in less demanding titles like Rocket League but playing games should be far from your primary reason for buying such a device.

Theres also game streaming. Game streaming removes the limits of graphical processing power, meaning you can game on a 2-in-1 laptop via services like Google Stadia, Xbox Games Pass Ultimate [though its Cloud Gaming is still in beta], Nvidia GeForce Now and PlayStation Now. But, youll need a decent internet connection.

Detachable or rotating hinge?

Weve touched on it already but theres some wiggle room in the 2-in-1 lexicon. 2-in-1 is often used to refer to both laptops with hinges that let the lid rotate around fully to the base of the device and tablets that can be combined with a detachable keyboard.

However, you may often find the laptops with a rotating hinge referred to, more specifically, as: 2-in-1 laptops. While many tablets that could be referred to as 2-in-1 often arent instead just being seen as a tablet with the option of a detachable keyboard.

Does Apple make a 2-in-1 laptop?

Sticking to our strict rules of 2-in-1s, Apple does not make a 2-in-1 laptop. Theres no Apple MacBook with an overrotating hinge and a touchscreen. However, if we ditch laptop, you can get several detachable keyboards to pair with Apples iPad range with the new Magic Keyboard making the iPad Pro and Air feel especially 2-in-1 laptop-like.

What is the best 2-in-1 laptop in 2021?

Lenovo Yoga 9i

Whats the difference between a touchscreen laptop and a 2-in-1 laptop?

What are the advantages of a 2-in-1 laptop?

Can you game on a 2-in-1 laptop?

Detachable or rotating hinge?

Does Apple make a 2-in-1 laptop?

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