The best Lightweight laptops in the UK 2023

The evolution of laptops has always been driven by the search for more energy-efficient, slimmer and, above all, lighter designs. With a lightweight laptop, you can work anywhere: at home, on a trip, in a park, etc. This type of PC is thin and light and can fit among your various files or clothes. Read our comprehensive buying guide to find the right lightweight laptop for you.

ACER Swift 3, SF314-42 1
8/10

Best value for money

ACER Swift 3, SF314-42

The best lightweight notebook PC

Very thin and light, the ACER Swift 3 will accompany you during your classes or business trips. Featuring a 14″ IPS screen, it's powerful enough to handle all your projects.

See the price

Enjoy enhanced vision with the 14″ display featuring a VertiView IPS panel, 16 : 9 aspect ratio, with FHD, 1920 x 1080p resolution. The display will be enhanced with Acer Color Intelligence and ExaColor technologies that improve the contrast level. Never run out of batteries with the continuous power supply that can last up to 11.5 h.

Lightweight, it weighs only 1.2 Kg with a thickness of 1.66 cm. But don't be fooled, under the hood, it packs a Ryzen 5 4500U with 6 logical cores capable of running at over 4 GHz, well supported in its task by its 16 GB of RAM. The storage is not left out, as you have a 512 GB SSD. To be on the cutting edge of technology, you have USB-C ports.

ACER CHROMEBOOK CB514-1HT-C1SQ 2
7/10

Best value for money

ACER CHROMEBOOK CB514-1HT-C1SQ

The best entry-level lightweight notebook PC

This Chromebook from Acer has all the bells and whistles to get the job done on a daily basis. Running Chrome OS, it has an excellent 14″ touchscreen and a wide range of connectivity.

319 £ on Darty

This new Chromebook signed by Acer offers an excellent visual comfort thanks to its FHD, 1080p, 14″ touch screen with LED backlighting. On the scale, it weighs only 1.4 kg with a thickness of 1.69 cm. You will be able to store it easily in the middle of all your files. With a stylish silver color, it is compatible with WI-FI 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.2.

For smoothness when you open multiple browser tabs at once, the CB514-1HT-C1SQ packs an Intel Celeron N3350 CPU, featuring two cores and two threads, 8GB of DDr4 RAM, and a 64GB eMMC storage drive. Expand your capacity with the help of 2 USB 3.0 ports and one in USB-C mode. On the battery life side, you have an excellent battery life of up to 12 hours.

Dell Inspiron 15-7501-638 3
8/10

Best value for money

Dell Inspiron 15-7501-638

The best high-end lightweight notebook PC

Able to run demanding software, this Dell Inspiron 15 has been boosted on steroids. A 10th Gen i7 and a dedicated graphics card for incredible performance at a weight of 1.9 kg.

See the price

This is a lightweight, 1.9 kg, very versatile laptop that will allow you to play and work. The i7, Comet Lake class, offers 6 logical cores, including 12 Threads, with a maximum speed of 5 GHz and 16 GB ensure a smooth operation, without slowdown. Adding to all this, the Nvidia 1650 graphics card, 4 GB of Vram, HTC VIVE compatible. Don't be afraid to install your photo processing or 3D rendering software.
The display will provide you with vivid and sharp images thanks to the 15.6-inch FHD, 1080p screen, enjoy all your multimedia content in very high quality. To save your work, this Dell Inspiron 15 dedicates a 512GB SSD. In terms of connectivity, it is in the air of time with 1 output HDMI 2.0, 2 USB-A 3.2 and a Thunderbolt 3, USB-C.

MSI Prestige 15, A10SC-056EN 4
7/10

Very good

MSI Prestige 15, A10SC-056EN

The best versatile lightweight notebook PC

Gamer, here is the long awaited MSI Prestige embarking on a beautiful 15'6″ screen, GTX 1650 Max-Q, low power and WI-FI 6 to not miss anything.

See the price

Here is a laptop dedicated to computer graphics and gaming very light with its 1.6 kg and its thickness of an Ultrabook, 1.59 cm. It has a formidable Intel processor, the i7-10750H, capable of running at over 5 GHz with a base frequency of 2.60 GHz. Get a highly responsive laptop with 16GB of RAM and its speedy 512GB SSD.

The dedicated graphics card, Nvidia 1650 with 4GB Vram, will make the most of the 15'6" IPS display with 1920 x 1080p resolution. For your online games or video conferences, take advantage of the faster Wi-Fi 6. USB-A 3.2 and USB-C ports will make transferring your files a snap. The autonomy could have been more greedy, but 8h is in the average.

Buying guide • November 2023

Best Lightweight laptop

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The best lightweight notebook PC

The best entry-level lightweight notebook PC

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The best versatile lightweight notebook PC

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Comparison table of the best Lightweight laptops

TOP OF THE TOP CHEAP TOP OF THE LINE VERY GOOD
ACER Swift 3, SF314-42 5
8/10
ACER CHROMEBOOK CB514-1HT-C1SQ 6
7/10
Dell Inspiron 15-7501-638 7
8/10
MSI Prestige 15, A10SC-056EN 8
7/10
OUR SELECTION
ACER Swift 3, SF314-42
ACER CHROMEBOOK CB514-1HT-C1SQ
Dell Inspiron 15-7501-638
MSI Prestige 15, A10SC-056EN
Very thin and light, the ACER Swift 3 will accompany you during your classes or business trips. Featuring a 14″ IPS screen, it's powerful enough to handle all your projects.
This Chromebook from Acer has all the bells and whistles to get the job done on a daily basis. Running Chrome OS, it has an excellent 14″ touchscreen and a wide range of connectivity.
Able to run demanding software, this Dell Inspiron 15 has been boosted on steroids. A 10th Gen i7 and a dedicated graphics card for incredible performance at a weight of 1.9 kg.
Gamer, here is the long awaited MSI Prestige embarking on a beautiful 15'6″ screen, GTX 1650 Max-Q, low power and WI-FI 6 to not miss anything.
Processor
Ryzen 5 4500U
Intel Celeron N3350
Intel Core i7 - 10750H
Intel Core i7 - 10750H
Number of cores
6 Logic Cores/6Threads
2 cores/2Threads
6 cores/12 cores
6 cores/12 cores
RAM
16 GB
4 GB
16 GB
16 GB
Hard disk
512 SSD
eMMC 64 GB
SSD 512 GB
SSD 512 GB
Weight
1.2 kg
1.4 kg
1.9 kg
1.6 kg

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Buying guide - Lightweight laptop

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How to choose your Lightweight laptop

The first criteria to be considered will be the main difference when choosing a classic laptop or a lightweight laptop.

#1 - The Weight

When shopping online, or in a store, you should especially take into account the weight of the machine. For great portability, the lightweight laptop should weigh less than 2 kg for models with a graphics solution. If you want to have a really light travel bag, you will have to look at laptops between 1.4 and 1.8 kg. In this weight range, you can find machines with performance equivalent to traditional laptops.

#2 - The screen

The

second factor to consider is the size of the screen, which will also influence the thickness of the lightweight laptop. Your future laptop will have to fit easily in the middle of all your files. In general, this type of laptop will have a screen size between 13 and 15 inches, 15.6" at the limit, with a thickness of less than 2 cm. The models we recommend meet these criteria.

But that's not all, because you also need to have good visual comfort when using your lightweight laptop. Given the size of the screens, the ideal will be to have an IPS panel with a resolution in FHD, 1080p, which generally offers a nice definition and sharpness of image compared to TN technology. The anti-reflection protection will be welcome, as it will allow you to work in different environments.

#3 - Autonomy

Since

the majority of people looking for a lightweight laptop will be far from power outlets, they will have to set their sights on a machine with a long battery life. To allow you to increase your productivity, prefer laptops with a battery life of up to 10 hours. On the other hand, on the muscular models capable of serving those working in the world of 3D rendering, video processing or images, 7 hours will be perfectly suitable.

The reason, the energy consumption of the processor, more powerful, and the graphics card, more powerful than the integrated chips.

#4 - A good versatility

The

versatility of use will be defined by the processor, RAM and storage capacity of the lightweight laptop

.

The processorFor

students or those favoring office suites, a good CPU with two logical cores will

do.

In addition, new models are low-powered. For a more flexible use, a light laptop with 4 cores is a good choice. More expensive models with i7 will be more than capable of running heavy software and even for gaming.

RAMMost lightweight laptops come with 8GB of RAM. This is a configuration that will allow you to do everything without slowing down. For computer graphics, 3D or 2D rendering, it is recommended to choose a machine with 16 GB or more.

Storage capacityIf

you're not comfortable with the idea of backing up your data to the cloud, it's best to avoid machines with flash memory. Instead, look for lightweight laptops with a 256GB SSD. For high definition images or videos, a capacity of 500GB or more will be advised.

#5 - Connections

This

is an important section when making your purchase. The question here will not be the number of ports, but the type of port. Depending on the volume of data you manage, you will surely use an external hard drive. For large files, it is imperative to have at least one USB 3.0 type-A port. You will have a transfer speed of 10 times higher than USB 2.0.

Then, the presence of a second USB type-C port, Thunderbolt, is necessary. In addition to transferring your data, this port will allow you to charge your smartphones equipped with the same connector. Useful when traveling by train or plane.
In your missions, you often have to make presentations. Take into account the presence of an HDMI type connector.

ConnectivityWI-FI 6 will become the norm in the near future. It's not a requirement, but an immeasurable addition to have a lightweight laptop equipped with this new protocol. For greater flexibility, the presence of Bluetooth 5.0 will be like the icing on the cake.

Are ultrabooks more interesting than a laptop?


Before answering this question, we will first see the difference between the ultrabook and the laptop. In the first part, we will talk about an ultrabook. Ultrabook is the name adopted by Intel to call a laptop that has a maximum thickness of 1.5 cm. This portable machine is characterized by its size, its thickness should not exceed 21 mm for a model of 14 inches or more.

The machine must also be light, allow instant startup, and the autonomy must exceed five hours. In addition, it must be secure with technologies like Identity Protection Technology. It has an Intel processor and an SSD drive. Thus, often it has more powerful hardware. In fact, an ultrabook is much more suitable for a traveler than for a simple user.

Then, if you want to use heavy software like Photoshop, it is advisable to use it too. As for the laptop, it is also a machine for surfing the Internet, or to use for office work such as word processing, video viewing, etc. But also to multimedia uses.

As it is portable with integrated screen and keyboard, nothing prevents you from using it when you need it, it does not need an electrical outlet, just charge it well before departure. This machine has autonomy too. Indeed, each device is interesting with its specific characteristics. It is up to the user to choose what seems adequate and meets his needs.

The different types of Lightweight laptops

This is an important issue, as it will affect your visual fatigue and therefore your productivity during your travels.

The VA panel

Expensive, the machines equipped with this type of slab are rather intended for computer graphics, or those working in the field of photography or video. It is characterized by an excellent level of contrast that allows it to display a very sharp black and colors well pronounced. Moreover, it should not be ignored complement in games, because the new models now have an improved response time approaching TN.

The TN slab

You

want a lightweight Gamer laptop, choose a model with a TB panel. This technology has the best response time, between 5 and 1ms, this technology allows some of the highest refresh rates. For readability, it will rank 3rd with average sharpness images and a limited viewing angle.

THE IPS

Having

missed its start at the beginning, IPS panels now offer the best of both worlds. With a response time of around 4 ms, it offers vivid colors with an excellent, but not as good as VA, contrast level. This translates into a wide color gamut, displaying the sharpest images, with the widest viewing angle. This type of screen is versatile and it is marketed with an affordable price.

Ultrabook or classic laptop?

The ultrabook

Formerly called Ultraportable, less than 1.8 kg, this type of lightweight laptop has the distinction of being very light and thin. It has the compactness of the Chromebook, but with the power of a classic laptop. In general, it has a better storage capacity, which is the default of Chromebooks, with processors powerful enough to run computer graphics software. The concern is their price, but they have a longer battery life than traditional laptops.

The classic laptop

The growing demand from users for lighter laptops has reached the manufacturers' offices. It is not uncommon these days to find so-called Gamer laptops weighing between 1.8 and 2 kg with incredible performance. Much more expensive than an Ultrabook, their portability allows image or video professionals and professional gamers to move more often. On the other hand, given the compactness of the machine, it is necessary to make a compromise on the level of autonomy which turns around 7 or 8 h.

Verdict

If you're on the go a lot, the best choice will be an Ultrabook laptop or a Chromebook if you're comfortable using Google apps like Drive and cloud backup. For programmers or those working with software that requires 3D rendering, the best bet is to start with Ultrabooks or regular PCs with a dedicated graphics card.

Tips

Use a PC cooler

To avoid overheating your new hardware, consider buying a PC cooler for when you're on the go and a tabletop one to increase your productivity when you're working on your couch or in bed.

A USB-C type external HDD

USB-C allows you to transfer large volumes of files faster than USB 3.1. This will prevent you from getting frustrated and looking at your screen all the time for the remaining transfer time. As a reminder, if you use a USB-C port with a USB 3.1 port using a cable with two different tips, you'll be using the speed of the slower USB port.

Wireless

This may bother some people to use a wired mouse on a train or plane, because you have to manage the length of the cable. To avoid this, you can switch to a wireless mouse. The other trick will be to have in your bag a wireless keyboard that will allow you to increase the typing rate when working in a cafe or in an office.

Install a free antivirus software

In order to protect your data when you are connected to Wi-Fi in public areas, it is advisable to install, always, an Antivirus even a free version, featuring a Firewall if possible. If you don't have a tight budget, invest in a powerful antivirus.

Lock down your lightweight laptop

A laptop should always be protected by a password. This will prevent thieves, potential thieves, from accessing your machine quickly or reselling it. Don't choose passwords like: 1234, your name or your birthday. The trick is to insert signs like : _ or / for example.

FAQ

What is the best lightweight laptop?

The best lightweight laptop depends on your needs and your budget. Read our buying guide to find out which products are the best.

How do you decide if a laptop is lightweight?

To learn more, we invite you to read the "How to choose" section of our buying guide on the subject. It's clear that you should first look at its weight, but its make huge compromises on power.

Is a lightweight laptop capable of supporting 3d rendering?

Yes. Thin and light doesn't mean a lack of engine muscle. There are machines out there that offer you the same level of power as regular laptops. You can find examples in our recommended products section.

Is it possible to add a second hard drive to a lightweight laptop?

Unlike a desktop PC, this is not possible due to the compactness of these machines. Instead, you can replace the SSD in your lightweight laptop, if allowed by the manufacturer, or get an external hard drive.

How to activate Win 10?

Legally activating your version of Windows will ensure that you have a lightweight laptop that works optimally. The first thing to do is to go to Settings, choose Update & Security and press the Activation option. There you will see the current status of your OS. If your version is not yet activated, you must acquire either a numeric key or a key or code composed of 25 characters. Then you must follow the steps provided in the Activation section of your machine.

Sources

Note: Below are some of the sources we have consulted in writing this article. Links to other sites are not continuously updated. It is therefore possible that a link may not be found. Please use a search engine to find the desired information.
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  8. , ultrabookreview.com
  9. , pcmag.com
  10. , toptenreviews.com
  11. , comparatif-meilleur.fr
  12. , darty.com
  13. , electree.fr
  14. , fnac.com
  15. , asus.com
  16. , clubic.com
  17. , darty.com
  18. , lesnumeriques.com
  19. , pcspecialist.fr
  20. , menubesttop.com
  21. , laptopspirit.fr
  22. , clubic.com
  23. , fnac.com
  24. , amazon.co.uk
  25. , commentcamarche.net
  26. , lejustechoix.fr
  27. , laptopspirit.fr
  28. , bfmtv.com
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  33. , futura-sciences.com
  34. , menubesttop.com
See more

Updates

March 2022 : Translation of this buying guide from our partner meilleurtest.fr

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Our selection
ACER Swift 3, SF314-42 9
ACER Swift 3, SF314-42
ACER CHROMEBOOK CB514-1HT-C1SQ 10
ACER CHROMEBOOK CB514-1HT-C1SQ
Dell Inspiron 15-7501-638 11
Dell Inspiron 15-7501-638
MSI Prestige 15, A10SC-056EN 12
MSI Prestige 15, A10SC-056EN

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