One of the main advantages of owning a laptop is mobility, but many models which have big dimensions or heavy weight might lead you into a bad purchase. This post is intended to find and analyse the ideal lightweight laptops.
Owning some of the lightest laptops available on the market will prove itself an excellent idea if you perform complex tasks on your laptop PC while moving around at a frequent rate. The weight specifications of a laptop are specially import for you if your job involves field work, if you visit clients frequently or if you are a digital nomad who travels frequently.
If you are looking for a really lightweight laptop with a decent / good / great performance the first word that you should search for is Ultrabook. Despite being not the only devices which have an acceptable performance versus weight radio on the laptop PC market, Ultrabooks are a category of devices which always fit this description.
What is an Ultrabook?
The term Ultrabook was coined by Intel to refer to laptops which are thin, light, use solid state drive (SSD) for data storage, and low energy consumption processors to extend battery life. They also have a one-piece chassis and a structure with less components to reach the dimensions criteria recommended by Intel.
All Ultrabook manufacturers follow a list of specifications provided by Intel to determined whether a given model should be called an Ultrabook. The last update in this guidelines was made in this June 2013 for the Shark Bay platform. As an example of specifications an Ultrabook should have, we can refer to the need of 6 hours HD video playback.
Even if it may seem fancy and complicated to own a lightweight laptop, as one can expect that their price range would be above average, the prices actually do vary in this segment.
In this list of devices, the main priority was rather a good relation of lightweight combined with an upper level performance, therefore, if you are looking for a bargain you might not find it here, but they do exist.
Best Lightweight Laptops
Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus 13.3 Inch Touchscreen Laptop
Intel Core i7-5500U 2.4 GHz Processor
8 GB DDR3L SDRAM; Intel HD Graphics
256 GB SSD Storage; No Optical Drive
13.3 inches 3200 x 1800 pixels LED-lit Screen
Windows 8.1 Operating System; Black Chassis
This is a pretty neat Ultrabook by Samsung, a brand which is not so present in the laptop market as Dell or HP, but well renowned by its other products. It was released in the beginning of 2015 with an nice 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM. A typical 13.3 inch as for many other Ultrabooks and a low weight of 3.1 which is good, but not the lightest on the market definitely. The biggest issue with this laptop is definitely it’s price which is at whopping $1.700. A nice model if you want something exclusive, a with a very luxurious price tag. Click here to buy your Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus 13.3 Inch Touchscreen Laptop from Amazon.
Dell XPS13 XPS13-9343 13.3-inch Ultrabook Computer
The World’s Frst Infinity Display of 13.3″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) Backlit WLED Screen
5th Generation Broadwell Intel Core i5-5200U 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.70 GHz
4GB Dual Channel DDR3L-RS 1600Mhz/ 128GB SSD / Intel HD Graphics 5500
Backlit Keyboard; 2 x USB 3.0; Bluetooth 4.0; HDMI; Exceptionally Long-Lasting Battery Life up to 15 hrs
Windows 8.1 (64-bit), light weight only 2.6 lbs
This Smart Dell Ultrabook has an extremely efficient battery that lasts up to 15 (!) hours, which is just excellent. It’s weight is just about 2.6 lbs which, if not the lightest laptop in the market, is definitely among them. Unfortunately it has just 4GB RAM, which in my opinion is a huge setback for 2016. I’d recommend this machine if you already have a main computer and this can be the one which you will be moving around with. Click here to buy your Dell XPS13 XPS13-9343 13.3-inch Ultrabook Computer from Amazon.
ASUS UX305 13-Inch Laptop
13.3-Inch Full-HD IPS Anti-Glare Matte Display with an Ultra-wide 170° Viewing Angle.
Intel Core M-5Y10 Processor (4M Cache, up to 2.00 GHz).
8 GB RAM / 256 GB Solid State Drive; Up to 8~10 Hours Battery Life. 1.2 MP High Definition Webcam.
Equipped with dual-band WiFi 802.11N. Bluetooth 4.0.
Designed to be ultra-slim with an all-aluminum body. The unit weighs only 2.6 lbs, is less than .5-inch thin.
This is definitely my choice of Ultrabook for the beginning of 2016. 8GB RAM (which is the minimum for me in laptop) combined with a storage of 256GB. Â It benefits from a body made entirely in aluminium which gives him a final weight of 2.6 just like the Dell model but with so much more power. It has a very similar hardware as the Samsung one, but with a much more appealing feature on the financial side. Â Click here to buy your ASUS UX305 13-Inch Laptop from Amazon.
