Laptops used to be heavy, chunky machines that almost looked like they were made out of Lego. These days, the best lightweight laptops are all about sleek styling and portability, so you can take these devices wherever you go without feeling weighed down. Perfect for the commute or the many of us who busily travel between locations for work all the time.
All the entries on this best-of list boast powerful performance, just like the best laptops, but they manage to pack all that hardware into a body that weighs 1.5kg or less. Here, in this carefully curated guide, we've picked out the best ultrabooks and ultraportables that offer the utmost quality and value for those seeking the best laptop minus the most mass.
From Lenovo to Apple to Dell, you'll find a variety of makes and models covered here – and at various price points to suit all budgets. Our top pick, the 2025 Apple MacBook Air M4, is a no-brainer for most people, but you'll find plenty of other interesting options, too. Use the navigation on this page to quickly jump to the very best lightweight laptop that fits your specific needs.
T3's Top Picks
With the power of the M4 chip on the inside, and Apple's usual class and quality on the outside, this is the best lightweight laptop for Mac fans who can afford the asking price – which isn't all that unreasonable.
The latest 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop is a triumph as far as lightweight Windows laptops go, and you can rely on it for great design, great battery life, and a great selection of ports for all your peripherals.
We think this is the best lightweight Chromebook around at the moment, and it's also our pick for the most affordable. Don't pay for any computing power or extra features that you won't need.
Read more below
Dave has spent two decades reviewing and testing all kinds of gadgets and gizmos, including laptops – so he knows what he's talking about when choosing Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS computers. Plus, he hates carrying around heavy hardware – and much prefers these picks.
Update 27 November 2025: our best lightweight laptops selection has been fully revised and updated for shopping season, with the latest models and specs added.
The best lightweight laptops in 2025
Best premium
The best laptop for most people is the Apple MacBook Air M4
Think thin and light laptops have to sacrifice power? Not anymore. Or that big performance means smaller battery life? Nope. Or that getting all of these things in one machine would be expensive? Wrong again. This is the best of all worlds, and it's a laptop Apple can be proud of.
It's all thanks to the M4 processor – the fourth-gen Apple-made silicon for Macs – which is effortlessly powerful. Combined with the speediest storage in the business, this laptop is super speedy. At the same time, it also runs cool enough that it doesn't need any fans at all, so it's silent.
Head over to our MacBook Air (M4, 2025) review for more on what makes this laptop so special. We described it as offering "both power and portability unlike anything else in the market", and said it was "unbelievably powerful" for its size. It's a seriously impressive device.
Best overall
The latest Microsoft Surface Laptop comes with a smaller 13-inch screen and a reduction in weight too, compared to its predecessor – that means it very much qualifies for our lightweight laptops round-up, and gives the super-slim MacBook Air some serious competition for svelteness.
Head over to our Microsoft Surface Laptop review and you'll see we are very taken with everything this laptop has to offer. It's really nicely designed and feels great to use, the battery life is impressive, and the screen is crisp and bright too (even if you miss out on an OLED panel).
Performance is more than adequate for everyday computing tasks, and although the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor can have occasional compatibility issues with some programs, those programs are getting fewer and fewer. A top-class lightweight Windows laptop, for sure.
Best affordable
Chromebooks are always good bets for thin and light laptops, and the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus is no exception, tipping the scales at a mere 1.17 kg – even with a 15.6-inch display. You'll barely notice you're carrying it with you on the move, and the build quality is very good.
Have a read through our Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus review, and you can see it really does tick a lot of the boxes you want from a lightweight laptop: it's "slick and stylish" and "means business" as per our review, and is relatively powerful for a Chromebook computer too.
It's also a little more expensive than your average ChromeOS laptop too, but in this case, the investment is worth it. If you want something that won't weigh you down, and you know you're happy with the limitations of a Chromebook, then this Samsung model is a recommended buy.
Best home office
The lightweight laptop for the discerning business traveller, the HP Elitebook Ultra G1i isn't just about its thinness and how little it weighs: it also manages to have a collection of other specs and features that make this a very appealing laptop for those who do a lot of working on the go.
In our HP Elitebook Ultra G1i review, we said the laptop offered "quality across the board", offering "excellent colour and contrast" from its 14-inch OLED display, and with "no obvious compromises" to talk about – it's simply an all-round champ that'll even do a little bit of gaming for you.
Admittedly the keyboard and trackpad could be better, and the starting storage level of 256GB is a little on the stingy side, but overall there's very little to complain about. It's a compact, high-spec, reliable Windows laptop that is strong in just about every area that's going to matter.
Best all-rounder
The Dell XPS series branding may be no more sadly, but its spirit lives on in the form of the Dell 14 Premium laptop: it's still sleek, it's still beautifully put together, and it still packs in internal specs that will cope very well with most computing tasks you want to throw at it.
Our Dell 14 Premium review describes this laptop as hitting "the just-right spot between price, performance and portability", and proving to be "a worthy successor to the XPS". In fact not much has changed from the earlier model, but that's not really a problem with laptops this good.
Okay, you're not going to get great gaming performance from this – not even with the optional Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 installed – but that's to be expected from thin and light laptops. If portability and battery life are more of a priority to you than frame rates, this fits the bill very nicely.
Best for travel
Take a quick peek at our Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 review, and you'll see phrases such as "a great all-rounder" and "plenty of appeal", which gives you some idea what you're getting here. It's "great for productivity through long days" but also adds a "surprising graphical punch".
Something for everyone really then, and of course it's also very well designed and lightweight – earning it a spot on this list. Battery life is good, the keyboard and touchpad are good, and while the 15.3-inch screen isn't an OLED panel, it still stands up well and looks the part.
Lenovo has been in the laptop business many years, and that expertise shines through with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7. While other lightweight laptops might beat it in certain areas, this is a laptop that covers all the bases very well, and at a price that won't completely bankrupt you.
Best for students
This is actually the lightest laptop in our best lightweight laptops list, weighing less than a single kilogram. If you want a laptop that's going to be as light as possible when being carried, this could be it – though the Asus Zenbook A14 has plenty going for it besides its weight (or lack of).
Read through our Asus Zenbook A14 review and you'll see this is an ideal laptop for working on the go, thanks to the slim form factor, the eye-catching OLED screen, and the impressive battery life. In our testing we were getting around 32 hours between battery charges, which is a lot.
This is a Copilot+ PC, so you get all of the AI extras that Microsoft wants to throw at you, and it's also a pleasure to type on – another tick in the box for working on the go. There are some compromises here, but if your priority is portability, then this is absolutely worth considering.
How to choose the best lightweight laptop for you
It's easy to see the appeal of the best lightweight laptops: you don't want something that's too heavy or too big to carry around comfortably, and yet you don't want to be tapping out emails and browsing the web on a tiny device that strains your eyes and your posture. A super-thin, feather-light ultraportable is the perfect tool for the job.
The emergence of Chromebooks at the budget end of the market means that the world's best thin and ultraportable laptops are being pushed down in price, sometimes to very appealing prices – keep your eyes on the sales that are regularly appearing for the best chance of bagging a bargain. Remember of course that Chromebooks run on Chrome OS and not Windows, so bear that in mind.
And while you're doing your shopping, bear in mind that it's not just the weight and specs of these laptops that are important – these super-portables have to look good as well, while you're doing your computing on the move.
With that in mind, all ultraportables listed here in our curated best lightweight laptop guide deliver on the specs front, and score highly in the appearance department too. All-metal constructions, wafer-thin form factors and internals that can rapidly handle demanding tasks are the order of the day.
As you may have noticed, we're not fans of slow, poorly made technology here at T3, so you can be confident that these really are the best lightweight laptops and best compact laptops for speed, style and quality you can get right now in 2025.
How we test the best lightweight laptops
Obviously, testing lightweight laptops is very similar to most other forms of laptops, however due to their slant toward portability, T3 ensures that travelling with and using a system while on the go is central to each review. If it's not light, it's not right for this list.
This let's us ascertain key things such as how good is a lightweight laptop's battery, how robust is its chassis and keyboard, and how easy it is to slip into a bag. These are real-world important things that no amount of wizzy specs can compensate for if lacking, as they are fundamental to the lightweight laptop experience.
Those considerations aside, T3 first evaluates lightweight laptops in terms of their overall package, design and build quality. We want to know what the system comes with out of the box, and just how ergonomically and aesthetically pleasing it is. If a system has a poor trackpad or cheap-feeling chassis, we'll find out here.
Next we consider the system in terms of specs and hardware, before proceeding to the benchmark of the laptop to see what that translates as in terms of performance. We then actually use the lightweight laptop to see how that benchmark performance translates into real-world usage.
Finally, we then consider the system's operating system, software and any extra unique features, such as biometric sign-in tech, touchscreen stylus support or built-in webcams and mics. Here we want to ascertain just how easy to use the system is, as well as if anything has been cheaped out on to save money.
The lightweight laptop is then assigned a score, with five stars the best a system can receive and one star the worst. If an ultraportable scores highly it is then considered for inclusion in T3's best lightweight laptops guide, an exclusive honour
FAQ: The best lightweight laptops
Got questions about the best thin and light laptops? We've got answers to help you make the right purchasing decisions.
What are very thin and lightweight laptops called?
There are all kinds of names for lightweight laptops, but the most common is Ultrabook. Some people will refer to them as Ultraportables. Back in the day there used to be Netbooks, too, but those are a thing of the past.
How much should a light laptop weigh?
A laptop can weigh anything from around 800g to multiple kilos – especially if we're talking about the best gaming laptops. In this guide we've aimed for laptops around the 1 kg mark, but including those up to 1.5 kg or so – as they're not back-breakers. Note that smaller laptops may be super-light owed to less battery capacity, so their longevity may be less.
Is 2kg to 4kg too heavy for a laptop?
It's not *too* heavy, but it certainly wouldn't be considered as one of the best lightweight laptops – and wouldn't make the cut for this best-of guide. Heavier laptops typically offer more in the way of power and performance, but you won't find any of those here.
Which laptop brand is very best?
The answer to this is going to change all the time, but there are great options from many brands. Do think about the split of types though: Apple makes MacBooks, which run on macOS; Windows laptops are made by many great brands, such as Dell, Lenovo and more; or the best Chromebooks can deliver lightweight and affordable offerings (albeit with fewer app options compared to the other two).
Reviewer panel
T3's trusted Tech Editor, Mike has been reviewing laptops for over a decade, bringing a wealth of first-hand knowledge to his takes on the latest Windows and macOS machines, lightweight or otherwise.
Richard has been in the tech reviewing business for several decades at this point, so he knows what he's talking about when it comes to lightweight laptops, and which features really should matter to you.
Freelance tech journalist Andrew has reviewed so many laptops he's lost count – and you can see some examples on this page. You can trust his takes to be open and honest, and packed with the details you need.
Mat is the main main in charge here at T3, but he's also a keen laptop reviewer – as you'll see above. With decades of experience in all aspects of tech journalism, Mat's opinion on laptops is one worth respecting.
Like our other contributors, Chris has many years of experience reviewing laptops, picking out the good from the bad and generally giving out tech buying advice that you know you can rely on.
