15 best alternatives to Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM as of 2019 - Slant

Acer Aspire S13 S5-371T-78TA

Top Pro

Good performance for casual use

The Aspire S13 is a decent laptop for most day-to-day activities for students or normal users. The 8GB of RAM and i7 CPU work amazingly well for web browsing, watching videos or working with files and documents. See More

Top Con

The touchpad has accuracy issues

This laptop's touchpad works fine with two-finger scrolling but has issues when navigating around the desktop. There's some slight stuttering with the cursor and it's easy to accidentally select text if your palm brushes the touchpad by accident. See More

Top Pro

Has a top-notch display

This laptop's display outshines most of the competition, from various lab tests it managed to score 106.8% sRGB color gamut. Which is better than the average for this display size (83%). The display is quite bright as well. At 327 nits you can clearly see what's on the screen even under direct sunlight. See More

Top Con

The thick plastic bezel around the display is a bit off-putting

The display is surrounded by a thick plastic bezel which should have been avoided as it makes the laptop seem cheaper and less attractive than it should be. See More

Top Pro

Has both touch and non-touch display options

The Aspire S13 can be ordered with either type of display. They are both 1080p but the non-touch version is a bit brighter. See More

Top Con

Slight sound distortion on high volume

There is some slight sound distortion when volume is over 90%. Below that level everything sounds perfect. See More

Top Pro

Good build quality

Most of the chassis is covered by a textured nano-imprint cover which adds a very "premium" feel to it and is great to the touch. The keyboard and wrist area are made of aluminium, which looks great when the laptop is opened. See More

Top Pro

Great design

The Aspire S13 comes in two colors, obsidian-black and white. Both of them have a nano-imprint cover, which gives the laptop a nice and slick aesthetic. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Core i7-7500U

Storage:256GB SSD

Ports:2xUSB 3.0, 1xUSB Type-C, SD Card Reader

Screen size:13inch

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36 4

ASUS ZenBook UX330UA-AH55

Top Pro

Great battery life

It can last for up to 8 hours on a single charge, making it a good choice for people who don't have easy access to a power plug during their day and need to use the laptop for extended periods of time. See More

Top Con

Display is decent, but could be better

1080p IPS that isnt reflective nor touch screen. Enables lower brightness in bright rooms and saves battery life, but quality of screen could be much better. See More

Top Pro

Slim and sturdy build

All metal, 2.6lbs, 0.5" thin chassis that feels solid and well built through and through. Screen hinge is also very strong. See More

Top Con

The touchpad is good, but not great

The touchpad might work perfectly fine in Windows, but in Linux, it is not that great. See More

Top Pro

Excellent linux support

Elementary OS and Linux Mint both work without issues. The only thing that doesn't seem to work is the fingerprint scanner. See More

Top Con

Occasional fan noise and coil whine

At times there can be some coil whine (as is common in ultrabooks), but it isnt terrible. The fan isnt and issue in normal browsing or document editing, but in anything remotely intensive it will spin up and is noticeable. See More

Top Pro

Inexpensive for the great build and specs

Slim, light, metal build, strong hinge, large battery, great keyboard (soft, good key-travel) 7th gen core i5, 8gb RAM, 256gb SSD, 1080p IPS display and back-lit keyboard for $700. See More

Top Con

Bezels thicker than some modern designs

When compared to new screen designs on phones or the XPS line, the bezels are quite "old school" in comparison. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Core i5-8250U

Storage:256GB SSD

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18 3

HP Envy 13-ab016nr

Top Pro

Extremely portable

The HP Envy 13 is one of the thinnest laptops on the market at just 12.9mm thick. This detail, coupled with the fact that it weighs just above 1.3kg make the Envy 13 one of the lightest and most portable laptops on the market. See More

Top Con

Poor battery life

The Envy 13 has a relatively poor battery life. You may get about 9 hours out of it if you use it for general web browsing and some productivity work, but anything more than that (watching videos, light gaming) and you will start noticing that the battery life is considerably lower. See More

Top Pro

MX150 GPU

Adds extra grunt in a small form factor. See More

Top Con

The touchpad may be unreliable

Sometimes while dragging the cursor to select text, the touchpad will not interpret the input correctly and may start zooming in or zooming out. See More

Top Pro

People who usually use their laptop on a desk will feel very comfortable with this

The Envy 13 has a hinge on the back which gives the laptop a slight extra boost in keyboard height. This puts the keyboard at a much more comfortable typing position and reduces RSI and finger-fatigue from extensive periods of typing. See More

Top Con

No touchscreen version

HP does not provide a touchscreen version of this laptop. See More

Top Pro

Good performance for the price

The HP Envy 13 offers good performance for its price. It can handle up to 16 Chrome tabs open simultaneously without even a bit of lag. Daily mainstream activities such as web browsing, editing files and even development work can be done on this laptop without any particular issues. See More

Specs

CPU: 7th Generation Intel Core i5-7200U

Storage:256GB SSD

GPU:Intel HD Graphics 520

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41 6

Samsung Chromebook Pro

Top Pro

Decent battery life

On a full charge, the battery lasts about 8 or 9 hours of intensive use, even when keeping the screen at 60-80% brightness. See More

Top Con

Audio could be better

The speakers are located on the bottom corners of the laptop and aren’t optimized properly. When used in Laptop mode and placed on a solid surface like a table, the sound mumbles and becomes quiet. It does get better when the Chromebook is positioned in Tent mode, but apart from that sound can be difficult to hear outside the room where the Chromebook is located. See More

Top Pro

High quality display

The display is top notch and has a surprisingly excellent resolution (2400x1600), making the image quality very sharp. Brightness levels on the glossy screen are ideal too. With 400 nits of brightness, it’s even brighter than some powerful full-fledged laptops. See More

Top Con

Sensitive keyboard

Keys on this keyboard are rubbery and very sensitive which makes it prone to typing errors more often than usual. See More

Top Pro

Good touchpad

The touchpad is rather wide (4.1x2.9 inches) and supports multi-finger actions such as: zooming in/out, dragging, etc. The surface is solid and oil resistant, as well. It's also pretty accurate and responsive 99% of the time. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

The Samsung Chromebook Pro is equipped with an Intel Core m3 processor, 32GB of eMMC storage, and 4GB of RAM. That’s plenty of powers for common tasks such as web browsing, editing documents, and multitasking. Most people will probably find the performance that this Chromebook offers adequate. See More

Top Pro

Works well with Android apps

The stylus and the glossy display are ideal for Android apps. The screen makes the games, and other apps look beautiful while the pen allows using apps with a different approach. Google Play Store itself runs without slowdowns; therefore app browsing is quite enjoyable. See More

Top Pro

Stylus support

The pen is small and works with great precision on the display. It can be stored in the device, giving the pen a designated place to stay while not in use. It also doesn't require batteries to use. See More

Top Pro

Very portable

It’s very slim and light for a Chromebook (2.38 pounds) which means that you can carry it in a backpack and not even feel it. See More

Specs

Touchscreen:Yes

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21 0

Acer Swift 3 SF314-51-57CP

Top Pro

Good performance for the price

The Swift 3 performs quite well for the price and laptop class it belongs to. Everyday tasks are handled without problem, multitasking is not a problem neither, and it can also play some lightweight games (DoTA, LoL, Team Fortress 2) at decent framerates as well as some more demanding software such as Photoshop and Matlab without overheating the hardware or lagging. See More

Top Con

Comes with some bloatware

The Swift 3 comes with some bloatware out of the box which may influence performance. See More

Top Pro

Great trackpad

The trackpad is a bit larger than average and feels great to the touch, albeit a bit rougher than most trackpads out there. It performs really well with standard swipes, taps, and gestures and has no stuttering or jumpiness. See More

Top Con

Fairly noisy

The Acer Swift 3 has two small fans which sit on the CPU and GPU. Unfortunately they are rather agressive and start spinning even at low temperatures. Even something as simple as opening a browser will prompt both fans to start spinning quite fast. If you also keep in mind that both these fans have a fairly high pitched hum, then it's soon clear that this laptop is not the quietest on the market. See More

Top Pro

Great build quality

For an entry model, the Acer Swift 3 has great build quality. The chassis is solid and there's absolutely no bending in either the chassis or the hood. The outer case is built from aluminum and the inner chassis is made of plastic. See More

Top Pro

Upgradeable storage

Unfortunately the CPU and RAM are soldered on the motherboard so they can't be upgraded, however the storage is not and can be easily swapped and upgraded if one needs to do so. See More

Top Pro

Portable

The Swift 3 is a pretty light and compact laptop. It weight around 3.35 lbs and is 0.7″ thick. The screen size is 14" which is well within the small category as far as laptop screens go. See More

Top Pro

Decent keyboard

The keys have a slightly concave shape and a soft finishing which makes them feel great to touch and they also provide pretty good feedback. See More

Top Pro

Good battery life

The Swift 3 can get a good 10 hours of use (sometimes even more) with simple tasks such as web browsing or watching videos. This is true for both the models with i3 and i5 CPUs. See More

Specs

CPU:Core i5-7200U

Storage:256GB SSD

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24 13

Dell XPS 13

Top Pro

Great Linux support

You can configure the XPS 13 to come with Linux out of the box. Even if you pick the Windows version, the XPS 13 has Linux drivers for all of its features and most users have reported that the whole process of installing a Linux distribution on a Dell XPS 13 is very simple. See More

Top Con

Webcam located in an odd place

Due to the narrow bezel of the infinity display, Dell moved the webcam to the bottom left corner. This results in an odd viewing angle and the webcam getting blocked while typing. See More

Top Pro

Great build quality

The body has a slick and elegant design. It's a mix of aluminum, carbon fiber and magnesium which hardly ever flexes even when held with one hand. See More

Top Con

Spongy keyboard

The keyboard feels a bit spongy and does not have a lot of travel to the keys. When bottoming out there is no feel of completion. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight and portable

It's weight is only 2.7 lbs, making it very portable. See More

Top Con

The touchscreen reflects light making it hard to see unless the lighting on the display is properly set

The screen for the touch-screen model is glossy instead of matte (non-touch screen). For what is a Linux notebook this does not make a lot of sense since most Linux users are the more tech savy who program. A glossy screen is more for multimedia, something Linux is not really known for excelling in. See More

Top Pro

Stunning display

Before buying you can choose between the 4K UHD- or full HD-resolution touch displays or a full HD non-touch one. However, Linux compatibility for super high resolution displays can be spotty at times, so you might be better off sticking with the full HD if you plan on running Linux. Display quality is very good as far as viewing angles, brightness and color reproduction go. It also has a very small bevel so the screen goes more or less edge-to-edge. It also has an output of 400 nit, putting it in the "really bright" category as far as displays go. As for color reproduction, XPS 13's display produces an impressive 107.2 percent of the sRGB color gamut. See More

Top Con

Trackpad hardware (touch/feel/operation) is noticeably worse if coming from MacBook/MBP

Part of this is the hardware, and part seems to be the drivers. It's very unforgiving when accidentally brushing the trackpad with a different finger. Certain actions like double-clicks (tapping with two fingers) and scrolling (with two fingers) doesn't work reliably. This is true with other windows based laptops too. Not an issue if you spend a lot of time in a terminal/shell. See More

Top Pro

Uses an SSD for faster operations on disk

Using an SSD greatly increases performance for every I/O operation, especially compared to laptops that use an HDD. The laptop will boot faster, programs that need to read and write to disk will run faster and scripts will compile much faster than on an HDD. See More

Top Con

No upgrades

Ram is soldered on the board. See More

Top Pro

Latest generation hardware

The XPS 13 was recently updated with all the latest generation hardware which means that it won't become outdated any time soon. See More

Top Con

13" is too small for many kinds of development

At these sizes, it is inches which start to matter, not only pixels. See More

Top Pro

One of the best Windows trackpads available

The Dell's trackpad is one of the best Windows trackpads available. It has smooth and precise tracking and even supports three-finger gestures similar to the Macbook's. See More

Top Con

The battery wears out quickly

After some use, the battery continues to fall at an alarming rate, to only 5-6 hours after a couple of months. See More

Top Pro

Great keyboard

The keyboard is high quality, feels great to type on and isn't too mushy or too shallow. Even though there's nothing very special about the keyboard, it's as good of a keyboard as you could want. See More

Top Con

The battery does not last as long as advertised

The laptop never performs to the promised 11-15 hours, average usage is around 7-8 hours. See More

Top Pro

Toggleable and customizable keyboard backlighting

Users can turn on or off the backlighting of the keyboard as well as adjust the brightness. See More

Top Con

Phone support is very slow

Customers have reported waiting for up to 15 minutes to get connected to someone who will be able to help solve their issue. See More

Top Pro

Plenty of RAM for all programming needs

Building software typically takes more resources than running the final product. Having a lot of RAM helps building big complex applications faster. See More

Top Pro

Decent speakers

The Dell XPS 13 has above average speakers for a laptop, they get very loud but at max volume tend to distort the music a little too much. See More

Top Pro

Non-glossy

The build is non-glossy, so no fingerprint markings all over the thing. See More

Top Pro

Great online customer service

Dell's customer service is one of the best in the industry. Especially the online customer service website. There you will find frequently asked questions which usually solve 90% of issues, if that's not enough, there's a live chat with a customer service representative, who are usually very helpful and very understanding about every issue that may arise. See More

Specs

CPU:8th-generation Intel quad-core i5-8250U or i7-8550U processor

Storage:128GB/256GB/1TB SSD

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329 153

Microsoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)

Top Pro

Gaming performance on-par with gaming laptops

The 15-inch version of the Surface Book 2 comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU. This is a powerful, VR-ready card that handles intensive gaming tasks. As for real-world performance, Hitman (1920 x 1080, ultra) runs at 71.9 frames per second, Grand Theft Auto V runs at 45 fps. It should also be mentioned that you need to be using the dock in order to do graphic-intensive tasks since that's where the GPU is located; using the laptop in tablet-mode will yield poor results in this regard. See More

Top Con

No Thunderbolt port

For a laptop aimed at creative professionals, the missing Thunderbolt 3 port is surprising considering the fact that Thunderbolt 3 is used to connect a laptop to peripherals such as external GPUs or power-dual 4K displays. See More

Top Pro

One of the best performances found on a 15-inch laptop

Equiped with an Intel Core i7-8650U CPU, 8GB (or 16GB) of RAM and an SSD that goes up to 1TB, the Surface Book 2 certainly packs a punch. It handles multitasking perfectly; you can open dozens of Chrome tags, stream video, and draw using the built-in software without experiencing any lag even once. As far as benchmarks go, on the Geekbench 4 overall performance benchmark, the Surface Book 2 got a score of 12,505, better than the 15-inch laptop average (11,004) coming third after the Dell XPS 15 (13,911) and the MacBook Pro (15,170). See More

Top Con

The pen must be bought separately

If you want to use the Surface Book for drawing then you will probably have to buy the Surface Pen which unfortunately does not come bundled with the laptop (it costs an additional $99). See More

Top Pro

The hinge is quite stable as far as 2-in-1 laptops go

The new fulcrum hinge that Microsoft used for the Surface Book 2 is much more stable than the one found on the previous Surface Book or even other 2-in-1 laptops for that matter. See More

Top Con

Disappointing audio performance

The audio that comes out of the speakers is quite average. It's enough to fill a small room but that's it. See More

Top Pro

Great display for creative professionals

This laptop's display is bright and vivid, making it perfect for people who do a lot of drawing, design, or video editing work. The display offers an excellent coverage of 131% of the sRGB colour gamut (the average for this price range is 101%). The colour coverage and the bright display which measures an average of 417 nits really makes colours truly pop out and offers lifelike pictures. See More

Top Pro

Great tying experience

Even though the keyboard is rather shallow (just 1.2mm of travel), the typing experience is excellent. Keys have a great amount of feedback when clicking and you rarely (if ever) bottom out when typing. See More

Top Pro

The battery easily lasts a full work day on a single charge

The Surface Book 2 lasts on average 12 hours on a single charge. This should be more than enough to get anyone to the end of their workday on a single charge. See More

Specs

CPU:8th Generation Intel Core i7

GPU:Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060

Screen size:15"

Memory:8GB / 16GB

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5 0

Asus Chromebook Flip

Top Pro

Great performance for a Chromebook

The Chromebook Flip has durable high-quality hardware including a high-end Intel core m3-6Y30 processor and 4GB RAM. This ensures that the Chromebook Flip is far ahead of competitors who mostly use older hardware or smaller RAM. See More

Top Con

Terrible webcam

The plainly bad 0.9-megapixel webcam produces grainy images and leaves some background colors behind and is unable to have a real focus. See More

Top Pro

Versatile

Has a firm, 360-degree bendable lid with sturdy, not too wobbly hinges and the 2.5-pound lightweight base makes this Chromebook very portable. You can also turn the screen and use the laptop in three different "standing" modes (laptop, stand, tent, tablet) where the last three modes completely hide the keyboard. See More

Top Con

Pricey

Good hardware performance, smooth design, and crisp image quality come with a high price-tag, making this Chromebook slightly expensive. See More

Top Pro

Great display

The Chromebook flip has a great 1080p display with good viewing angles. It's also quite bright at around 300 nits of brightness which makes it a decent choice for working outdoors. See More

Top Con

Battery life could be better

Battery life is limited to 6-7 hours while actively surfing the web and leaving the brightness at 75%, which is decent but not the best battery life as far a Chromebooks go. See More

Top Pro

Supports Android apps

The Asus Chromebook Flip supports Android Apps which can be directly installed from the Play Store. See More

Top Pro

Great keyboard

The Chromebook Flip has a backlit keyboard which is a rarity among Chromebooks. The keyboard itself is pretty good as well. The keys have decent travel length and the keyboard feels very comfortable when typing even for long periods of time. See More

Top Pro

Great build quality

The whole chassis is made out of sturdy silver aluminium while the lid is covered with a double-layer impact resistant glass. The resistant glass protects the cover from tear and damage which makes the product more durable. See More

Specs

CPU: Intel Pentium 4405Y – Intel Core m3-6Y30

GPU:Intel HD Graphics 515

Screen size:12.5inch

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30 3

Acer Spin 5 SP513-52N-58WW

Top Pro

Extremely easy to carry everywhere

The extremely compact size (12.9 by 9 by 0.8 inches) and light weight (3.5 pounds) make this laptop very easy to carry around in a backpack everywhere you go. Making it a good choice who for people who have to take their laptop everywhere. See More

Top Con

The battery does not last a full day's work

Averaging at around 4 hours of independent battery life while doing easy day-to-day activities like web browsing, the battery life for the Acer Spin 5 is not enough for a full day's work. See More

Top Pro

The fans are usually very quiet

The fans on the Acer Spin 5 are very quiet even when you have multiple browsers open with several tabs on each. They do get rather loud when playing games or installing new apps though, but gaming is not what this laptop will usually be used for. See More

Top Con

Too large and heavy to be used as a tablet

Even though it's got a touchscreen display and the screen can be flipped 360 degrees, it's unfortunately too large and heavy to be used as a tablet comfortably. The tent mode though is quite comfortable. See More

Top Pro

The screen can be viewed comfortably from multiple angles

The 1080p IPS display can be viewed from multiple angles without making it seem washed up. The display also covers 59% of the sRGB color gamut, which makes it one of the most color-accurate displays for this price range. See More

Top Con

The typing experience is not very pleasant

The keyboard is too shallow and the keys are too mushy, which makes the typing experience less than optimal. See More

Top Con

Too much software bloat

Comes with 10+ pre-installed applications which most people will never use and that are borderline spyware. The Acer Collection software for example pops up constantly asking for permission to access the location. See More

Specs

CPU:8th Generation Intel Core i5

Screen size:13.3"

Display Resolution:1080p

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2 0

Microsoft Surface Pro

Top Con

Heavy for a tablet

Top Pro

Works as a tablet or a laptop

Surface Pro can be used both as a laptop and a tablet. Being that it can be used as either makes it extremely convenient to those that want power on the go. See More

Top Con

Keyboard doesn't come with the device

You have to pay an extra $130 for the type cover keyboard. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight yet powerful

Top Con

Not a lot of ports

1 USB 3.0, microSD Card reader, Headset jack, Mini DisplayPort See More

Top Pro

Comes bundled with a great stylus

N-trig pen feels like a real pen and is natural to hold. There is a top button on the pen that allows for an eraser function as well as use for a wake up function. See More

Top Con

Requires tweaking to reach full potential

Kinda applies to most Windows computers, but in the case of the Surface Pro, many users will benefit from undervolting (among other tweaks) to help keep performance steady and temperatures down. Especially true for the models without a fan. See More

Top Pro

Reasonably priced

For the specs, the Surface Pros are a fantastic deal. Then factor in that you’re getting a tablet plus a laptop...it’s a no-brainer. See More

Top Con

Can be difficult to use

Unless you have a flat surface available to deploy the kickstand, it's not very laptop-like. See More

Top Pro

The last couple of i5 models are fanless

Top Pro

Balanced screen colors

Top Pro

3:2 aspect ratio makes the device easier to hold and use

With a 3:2 aspect ratio the device is not as top heavy when holding in portrait and is easier to reach parts of the screens with the users thumbs when in landscape. See More

Top Pro

New redesigned keyboard and touchpad attatchment

The keyboard attachment has been redesigned form earlier versions with a larger touchpad. See More

Specs

Weight:1.69 - 1.73 lbs

RAM:4GB / 8GB / 16GB

CPU:0.9 GHz m3-6Y30 / 2.4 Ghz i5-6300U / 2.2 GHz i7-6650U

Storage:128GB / 256GB / 512GB / 1TB SSD

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58 10

HP Spectre x360 15t

Top Pro

Long battery life

For simple activities such as web browsing and editing files, the HP Spectre clocks in at around 11 hours of autonomous battery life. See More

Top Con

Can easily trap heat and overheat

The extremely thin chassis is a drawback as far as heat management goes. Even a relatively simple activity like streaming HD videos will overheat the laptop and put the internal heat at about 105 degrees Fahrenheit which is 10 degrees higher than the 95 degrees "comfortable" threshold. See More

Top Pro

Good keyboard

HP put a lot of effort in the creation of this keyboard and it shows. With 60 gram actuation weight and a travel length of 1.3mm, typing on the Spectre x360 is a great experience, reminiscent of typing on a mechanical keyboard. See More

Top Con

Has some bloatware

While it's less than HP usually has, there are still apps like Netflix, The Weather Channel, Hearts Deluxe, Connected Photo etc. See More

Top Pro

Excellent performance

Performance of course depends on the configuration, but a medium-powered configuration with 8GB RAM and i7 provides an excellent performance. Multitasking is a breeze and the laptop doesn't stutter or lag even with 20 Chrome tabs open simultaneously. The SSD is also extremely fast and is able to copy 40GB of data in about 2 seconds. Gaming performance is decent as well, managing to hit 40FPS with Dirt 3 on medium settings. See More

Top Pro

Great, colorful display

The Spectre x360 has a great glossy Full-HD screen to complement its amazing design. At 317 nits, the screen is pretty bright and it has a decent color range as well, covering 101.7 percent of the sRGB color spectrum. See More

Top Pro

Great design

The HP Spectre x360 has an all-aluminum body that gives it a very premium feel. The edges are all smooth and polished which provide a great highlight accent to the laptop. See More

Specs

CPU:8th Generation Intel Core i7

Storage:256GB SSD

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103 32

Dell XPS 15

Top Pro

Amazing display

Two display choices are available for the XPS 15, an Ultra HD touchscreen or a Full HD non-touch screen. Both screens have a very wide array of colors as they cover approximately 100% of sRGB color space. The viewing angle is around 170 degrees. However, at 45 degrees, slight color change can be noticed. With around 350 nit output for brightness, it’s a viable choice for outdoor usage. All of this makes it an amazing display. See More

Top Con

Battery doesn’t hold long with the Ultra HD screen

If you’re choosing the configuration with an Ultra HD screen, expect a very short battery life of around 6 hours for general usage. With more intensive tasks it's even less than that. See More

Top Pro

Good battery life if you pick the 1080p display

Models with the 1080p screen last about 10 hours with general usage. Naturally, if more intensive tasks are involved, the battery will be drained faster. See More

Top Con

9560 model's GPU has compatibility issues on Linux

The new 9560 model has some trouble accepting its GTX 1050 Ti video card while running a Linux operating system. Fortunately, the integrated Intel graphics card is capable enough to substitute it. The manufacturers are probably aware of the issue and will, most likely, release an update for it. See More

Top Pro

Solid keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard and trackpad are reliable and solid all-around. The keyboard is responsive but is not super “clicky”, rather a bit soft. It has a white backlight on black keys that illuminates them at night. The touchpad is rather large while having no buttons. Despite this, the XPS 15 can reliably distinguish between the left and right clicks which are done on the trackpad itself. See More

Top Con

Palmrest collects sweat

The palm rest is made from carbon fiber which attracts fingerprints and sweat. After some time it gets kind of unpleasant to touch and needs to be cleaned. See More

Top Pro

Optional password-free-sign-in via a fingerprint reader

For an additional $25 it’s possible to enjoy a password-free-sign-in by having a fingerprint reader. It will keep your laptop safe while still providing convenient access to it. See More

Top Con

Some ghosting in games

The display is not intended for gaming purposes so it can produce an effect called “ghosting”. Ghosting is when the pixels are not able to change their colors fast enough, so the color of the preceding frame can still be slightly seen on the next frame. This causes a blurring effect. Note that it only happens on high framerates coupled with fast objects. See More

Top Pro

Slick design

The whole design is quite stylish. The aluminium chassis provides a very clean look while the black carbon fiber palm rest with an almost borderless display cements it as a visually modern laptop. All of this is made with a premium build quality. See More

Top Con

Noisy fans

The laptop is very quiet during idle and light usage but when there is some workload, the fans get quite loud and distracting. See More

Top Pro

Very well-rounded laptop

The cheapest configuration is a great choice for general non-intensive use - things like internet browsing, watching movies and similar tasks. Whereas the more expensive configurations are gradually more capable of intensive tasks, like video editing or gaming. It’s not as good as a specialized computer built for a specific purpose, like a video editing laptop with an enormous RAM size or a gaming laptop with a superior graphics card, but it’s a very well-rounded, reliable laptop. See More

Top Con

Awkward webcam location

The webcam is located under the screen instead of on top. It means that your face will be shown from a lower angle which can seem a bit weird. It also means that your fingers can partially obstruct the webcam while you’re typing. See More

Top Pro

Operates well on a Linux system

All essential things, like network connectivity, ports and sound, work right “out-of-the-box” with a Linux operating system. There is a compatibility issue on the new 9560 model with its graphics card but the laptop is still very usable with its integrated Intel graphics card. See More

Top Con

Audible coil whine

Coil whine can be heard when it’s generally quiet and the fans are not running. Audible when the laptop is connected to the power supply. The manufacturers have acknowledged it as a problem and, if possible, will push out an update which should eliminate it. Until then, it’s still a gripe. See More

Top Pro

Can run most modern games

Being an excellent all-rounder, it can be used as a gaming laptop for games that are not exceptionally demanding, like Overwatch or Dota 2. Unless you’re using the cheapest model, you can expect a reasonable 60 frames per second for almost all modern games, provided that you’re willing to lower the game’s settings. See More

Specs

Weight:2kg (4.44 lbs)

Size:14.06 x 9.27 x 0.45-0.66-inches

RAM:8 / 16 / 32GB DDR4 at 2400MHz

CPU:Intel Core i3-7100H / Intel Core i5-7300HQ / Intel Core i7-7700HQ

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141 43

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Top Pro

Great battery life

The battery supports over 10 hours of light activity like web browsing, watching videos and editing documents. This can be doubled to 20 hours by swapping in the extended, 6-cell battery, which can be hot swapped without turning off the laptop since it also has an internal 4-cell battery. See More

Top Con

Extended dual battery adds weight

6-cell extended battery adds 0.4 pounds to take this ultrabook's weight far above that of the ultrabook standard (<3 pounds). See More

Top Pro

Great build quality

The Carbon X1 is a very light and durable laptop. It has the characteristic raven-black finishing of other Thinkpads on top of a carbon-fiber reinforced chassis. The carbon fiber increases the overall durability of the laptop, making it a great fit for people who travel a lot since it can withstand a lot of physical damages. See More

Top Con

Missing an Ethernet port

The X1 Carbon is missing an Ethernet port, so people who prefer having that option as well are forced to use Wifi only. See More

Top Pro

Excellent typing experience

Like most Thinkpads, the X1 Carbon has an excellent keyboard as well. The keys have about 1.8mm of travel and provide great tactile feedback. Their gently curved keys also make it very easy to target without looking at them. The keyboard also has optional backlighting which can be turned on or off with a simple key press. See More

Top Pro

Built-in support for Amazon Alexa

The 2018 model of the X1 Carbon has far-field microphones built-in to work with Amazon Alexa. This will allow you to give commands to Alexa from across the room. See More

Top Pro

Built-in support for Amazon Alexa

The 2018 model of the X1 Carbon has far-field microphones built-in to work with Amazon Alexa. This will allow you to give commands to Alexa from across the room. See More

Top Pro

Great speakers

The X1 Carbon has bottom-mounted speakers which provide excellent audio output. The sound is loud enough to fill a large room and there's clear separation of sound coming from the speakers, making them great for any sorts of recreational activity involving audio be it listening to music, watching movies or playing videogames. See More

Top Pro

Excellent display

The X1 Carbon comes in two different versions. With a 1080p or a 1440p display, with the latter being $70 more. Both displays are excellent. The image is sharp and the colors are very noticeable. Although, understandably, the 1440p display has images that are a bit sharper than its 1080p counterpart. According to colorimeter tests, both versions of the display can produce 104 and 103 percent of the sRGB color gamut, respectively. That's very impressive when compared to the average for 14" displays (83%). The 1080p screen is noticeably brighter than the 1440p screen (292nits vs 257nits) and the colors generally start fading only at about 45 degrees viewing angle. See More

Top Pro

Very portable

At around 2lbs this is a very light laptop. Especially when you compare it to other Thinkpads. It's light enough to carry in one hand and when it's carried in a backpack it's easy to forget that you are carrying a laptop because of how light it is. See More

Specs

Weight:2.49 lbs / 1.13 kg

Dimensions:WxDxH: 12.74" x 8.55" x 0.63" / 323.5mm x 217.1mm x 15.95mm

RAM:8GB/16GB LPDDR3 1866Mhz

Storage:512GB/1TB SSD

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Dell XPS 12

Top Con

Works comfortably only on a desk or lap

When keeping the laptop on a flat surface such as a desk or one's lap, the viewing angles are good. But working with it in any other position (such as when lying down) you will have a hard time with the viewing angles. There's also the issue of the screen tumbling forward since it's not held in place by anything other than some magnets. See More

Top Pro

Amazing display

The XPS 12 has a 4K display that's one of the best in its class. The sRGB color space is covered by 100% and the screen brightness is great as well. See More

Top Con

When using in laptop mode you can't tilt the screen to your liking

Since there's no hinge, you can't tilt the screen to your liking. It stays fixed at a 110 degrees angle. See More

Top Pro

Unique design

Like other laptops in the XPS series, the XPS 12 is not any different in the design department. It's a beautiful piece of hardware albeit a little strange for convertible laptops since it doesn't have anything that holds the screen and keyboard together. There's no latching mechanisms or prongs like in other similar devices. The screen slots in place and a combination of magnets, friction, and gravity holds it in place. It may seem a bit unnerving at first but it works and it's very secure while still allowing the user to easily lift the screen off. See More

Top Con

Middling battery life

The XPS 12 has an average battery life of 3 hours. See More

Top Pro

Doesn't rely on a flimsy hinge

This 2-in-1 laptop has a rigid keyboard base on which you place the tablet part. This avoids using a flimsy hinge like other 2-in-1 laptops and offers a great tactile typing experience found in business-grade laptops. See More

Top Pro

Great build quality

Both main parts (the keyboard and the screen) are made of high-quality magnesium alloy and the device is coated with a pleasant layer of soft touch paint. See More

Top Pro

Great keyboard

The keyboard is on the same level as some business-grade laptops. Keys feel great to the touch and they have a slight curvature which makes hitting keys easier. They also offer a travel distance of 1.9mm, more than any other convertible laptop on the market. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Core M 6Y54 1.1 GHz

Storage:256GB SSD

Ports: 2 x USB-C + Thunderbolt 3; SD card reader; headset jack

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