Currently, you can find lots of convertible in 13-inch sizes, but still there are not many options available if you are looking to buy a 2-in-1 in the 15-inch category. Some people like to have a 15-inch laptop that can also give you the experience of a convertible system, which means they can use a 15-inch convertible in various modes like a tablet, tented or presentation modes. 2-in-1 systems are growing pretty rapidly and have been gaining popularity all thanks to its multiple use modes. Thanks to its popularity, you can find lots of convertible in different price ranges and different specs.
So if you are looking to buy a 2-in-1 system and finding it difficult to zero in one, you can check the post to find a best convertible system that fulfills all your expectations. In this post, I am going to list out best convertible laptops available in the market.
Best Convertible (2-in-1) Systems of 2016
Lenovo Yoga 900
The Lenovo Yoga 900 is a premium 13-inch laptop that combines the performance and excellent design. The company has listened to the feedback given to the Yoga series laptops of last year and has improved the new system. The company as upgraded the performance and battery life. The company has kept the design and hinge from the last year’s Yoga Pro 3 but has packed this system with new Intel Core i7 processor instead of the slower Core M processor. This system is a bit heavier and thicker than the Yoga Pro 3 but offers fast and powerful performance along with longer battery life. Some other hybrid systems last longer than this Yoga 900, but this is clearly one of the best convertible systems your money can buy.
The Lenovo Yoga 900 is the definition of the 2-in-1 sleekness. The Yoga 900 comes with beautiful and strong magnesium panels on the bottom and top. You’ll also find the leather plastic touch on the deck and palm rest, which feels good and comfy. The best part about the design of this convertible is the watchband hinge of this laptop. The watchband hinge of this Yoga 900 is made of 813 individual pieces, which keeps the system sturdy irrespective of the modes. This hinge is more sturdy and strong than its predecessor.
The Lenovo Yoga 900 comes with a 13.3-inch Ultra HD (3,200 x 1,800 pixels resolution) touchscreen display, which is detailed and very sharp. The display is very good felt awesome when I was watching movies and photos on the system irrespective of which mode you use this system in. The display produces very detailed and crisp images, which was completely evident when I was watching a movie on the system. The display looked good in every scenario like during playing games or watching games. When I watched an HD video on this system, it looks very crisp and clear. The viewing angle is also very wide; the screen produces very clear images up to almost 90 degrees.
The Lenovo has added the scallop shaped keys to this system, which is common for all Lenovo laptops. The keyboard also comes with two levels of backlighting options which allow you type in dim or low light surroundings pretty easily. This Yoga 900 convertible also features a soft-touch deck finish, which is very good for people, who have sensitive wrists. The keyboard is very comfortable and feels awesome during typing. The company has packed this system with a 3.5 x 2.5 inches one touch touchpad, which is smooth and responsive. The touchpad has enough space for navigating all across the screen. The touchpad responded to our responses pretty quickly, the touchpad works fine for almost all kind of multi-finger gestures along with Windows 10 gestures.
The Lenovo Yoga 900 comes with a sixth generation Intel Core i7 6500U processor with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD for storing more files and super fast performance. The processor is more than enough for all your daily works and even some multitasking works along with some productivity tasks. This system works smoothly when I was streaming a video from YouTube with multiple tabs opened on Google Chrome. There was no sign of slowing down or lagging when I was watching 1080p videos in multiple tabs with more than 18 tabs opened in the background. The system performed very well in some demanding tasks.
The Lenovo Yoga 900 comes with stereo JBL speakers, which is placed behind the two grilles and comes with Dolby DS 10.0 Home Theater Certification, which produced very good sound. The audio quality of the system is solid. It is more than enough for producing a loud sound that can fill your entire room with loud sound.
The system performs decently on the battery test, as the Lenovo Yoga 900 lasted 8 hours and 07 minutes on the battery test.
Configurations
The company offers various configuration options for its Yoga 900 series systems. The basic model of this system costs $1,099 and comes with a 13.3-inch touchscreen display with 3,200 x 1,800 pixels resolution, a sixth generation Intel Core i7 processor with 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB of SSD storage space.
Our review unit costs $1,399 and comes with a 13.3-inch touchscreen display with 3,200 x 1,800 pixels resolution, a 2.5 GHz sixth Generation Intel Core i7-6500U processor with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD storage space. The device also features a dedicated 128MB Intel HD Graphics 520.
This Lenovo Yoga 900 is a really good and easily one of my favorite 13-inch convertible currently available in the market. The Lenovo has kept almost everything, which we liked in Yoga line of last year. The company has made all kinds of improvement we needed and the price of the system is in-line of all other 13-inch laptops currently available in the market.
Dell Inspiron 11 3000
The Dell Inspiron 11 3000 is the best affordable convertible available in the market. The notebook starts at the price of $330, whereas our review unit costs $600. The laptop comes with an 11.6-inch display and comfortable keyboard. Its touchpad is also good and responsive. The company has equipped this system with 360 degree hinge, which allows you to use its different modes like a laptop, tablet or tented.
The Dell Inspiron 3000 comes with a beautiful lid with soft touch finish, making its design even better and classy. When you open the lid, you will get a solid silver deck, which is good, but flexes when you press against the deck. The black keys of its keyboard also looked good. The Inspiron looks pretty good traditional notebook. Its webcam is placed at the middle of the top bezel around the screen. This Dell Inspiron laptop measures 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.76 inches and weighs 3.07 pounds, which is made thinner and lighter than its competitors.
The dell Inspiron 11 3000 comes with an 11.6-inch display with 1366 x 768 pixels resolution. The display doesn’t look very good on paper, but it performed pretty well when I was watching movies on the system. The image of the video looks colorful and detailed. The screen produces clear and vivid images.
Dell Inspiron 11 3000 comes with a really good and comfy keyboard, which is bright and spacious. The travel distance of the keys is 1.3 mm which makes it a bit shallow, but 55 grams of actuation weight, the keyboard is very good while typing. The keyword was very comfortable while typing, as I scored 70 words per minute on 10fastfingers.com. The touchpad of the laptop is spacious and responsive. It measures 4.2 x 2.3 inches, which gives enough space for navigating all across your screen. The touchpad did very good job in responding to my fingers.
The Dell Inspiron 11 3000 comes with a 2.3 GHz sixth generation Intel Core i3-6100U processor with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage space for storing more files. The processor is more than enough for all your daily works. This system works smoothly when I was streaming a video from YouTube with multiple tabs opened on Google Chrome. It performed very well when I streamed HD videos on YouTube and browsing the Web in 12 Chrome tabs. The system didn’t slow down when we moved from one tab to another.
Despite the size of Dell Inspiron 11 3000, it comes with good speakers, which can produce pretty loud and good sound. The sound quality was loud enough to fill the entire medium size room with rich sound.
The laptop lasted for 8 hours and 05 minutes on our battery test, which is enough for handling your all day work on one charge. We test the battery by continuously using the laptop for surfing over Wi-Fi.
Configurations
Dell offers multiple configuration options for this Inspiron 11 3000 hybrid model. The basic model of the laptop comes at the price of $330 and features a 2.16 GHz Intel Celeron N3050 processor with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of eMMC type flash storage space.
Another model comes at the price of $350, which also features a 2.16 GHz Intel Celeron N3050 processor, but comes with 4 GB of RAM and 500 GB of 5,400 rpm HDD storage space. The company also offers a model at $430 that comes with a 2.4 GHz Pentium N3700 processor with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD.
Our reviewed unit comes at the price of $600 and comes with a 2.3 GHz Intel Core i3-6100U processor with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage space. You can get same specifications, but 8 GB of RAM at the price of $650.
This convertible from Dell is a solid 2-in-1 notebook that gives an impressive performance and solid battery life. The design of the system is also very good and classy. Its keyboard and touchpad are good and responsive. The company has equipped this small system with lots of useful features.
Microsoft Surface Book
Microsoft Surface Book is a premium and solid detachable system that comes with sexy design and very good specs. The company has packed this system with a solid discrete graphics card in this Surface Book, which is not there in the Apple MacBook Pro. This hybrid from Microsoft comes with a very sharp display and amazing battery life.
The design of the Microsoft Surface Book is very good and looks stylish and slim. Its sturdy magnesium silver chassis looks great. The company has added a unique kind of hinge for holding the screen and keyboard together. The hinge is solid enough to hold the lid properly. The hinge expands when you lit the display while contract when you lower the lid. Initially, the Surface Book felt heavy, but won’t be feel any kind of heavy weight when you work on the system by putting it on your lap.
The Microsoft Surface Book comes with a 13.5 touch screen display with 3,000 x 2,000 pixel resolution, which is sharp, bright and colorful. Its display is just amazing. The screen also has very wide angles, so you won’t have any problem watching movies sitting in some corners. The display looked very good in every scenario like during playing games or watching games. When I watched an HD video on this system, it looks very crisp, clear and detailed.
Tablet Mode
The tablet of the Surface Book is called a clipboard by Microsoft. Its sharp and colorful display is very good for watching and streaming movies and playing games if you are comfortable in holding 13.5-inch display in your hand. Microsoft has designed this tablet part of its Surface Book for drawings and taking notes with the dedicated pen. If you want to detach the tablet part, you have to click on the detach button on the keyboard and wait until you see “ready to Detach” sign on the display of the system.
Stylus
One of the main plus points of this Surface Book system is the Pen input, which is made for making life easy for creative and artists people. The magnetic pen easily snaps to the side of the system, so you don’t have to worry about losing them. You can launch the OneNote by clicking once, but if you press for a bit longer you’ll launch Microsoft personal Voice assistant Cortana for any verbal queries.
The Microsoft Surface Book comes with a sixth generation Intel Core i5 processor with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage space. The processor is more than enough for all your daily works and even some multitasking works. This system works smoothly when I was streaming two HD movies with multiple tabs opened on Google Chrome. This system can handle almost all your works without any sign of slowing down. The system comes with an Intel HD Graphics 520, which is not a very powerful graphics card, but it is more than enough to play some games and your daily tasks like watching movies, streaming videos, surfing the web etc.
The battery life of the Microsoft Surface Book is very good, as the laptop lasted for 12 hours and 39 minutes in our battery test, which is much longer than 8 hours and 15 minutes battery life of this category average.
This Microsoft Surface Book is a very good 2-in-1 laptop with solid and sturdy chassis, stylish design and powerful graphical and overall performance. The dedicated pen is one very useful device for artists and creative people. The amazing battery life and sharp display is also a really good specification of the system. if you are looking to buy a really powerful 2-in-1 hybrid laptop with solid performance, amazing display and awesome battery life, you should consider this Microsoft Surface Book that starts at the $1,499.
HP Spectre x360 13t
The HP Spectre x360 13t is a very stylish convertible, in my options it is the best 2-in-1 as far as design is concerned. The system combines performance with the design. This 2-in-1 is a really good system that comes at the starting price of $899, whereas our review unit costs $1,520. The metallic design of this convertible looks good and feels strong. You can use this system in any modes including tented, laptop, stand or tablet mode. The company has added fast processor that offers strong performance. The battery life of this system is also long.
The design of this 2-in-1 is really good and also strong. The laptop comes with the rounded edge with clean and simple. The system also comes with optional copper colored sides. Overall, the design of the system gives classy yet beautiful. The company has added full name “Hewlett-Packard” on the back of the lid instead of traditional HP logo. Sides and edges are similar to the previous version but it comes with the nice contrast to the dark lid of the system. Some of the configurations only come in the standard silver, but some of them are also available in other color options.
This convertible from HP comes with a 13.3-inch Ultra HD (2560 x 1440 pixels resolution) touchscreen display, which is very bright and highly accurate. The display produces very detailed and crisp images, which was completely evident when I was watching a movie on the system. When I watched an HD video on this system, it looks very crisp and clear. The viewing angle is also very good; the screen produces very clear images up to almost 90 degrees. On the light meter, the brightness of its screen measures 308 nits, which is on par with the 309.19 nits average score of this category laptop. Its screen also reproduces 111 percent of the sRGB spectrum, which is much more than 83.13 percent score of this category average.
The keyboard of this Spectre x360 sometimes felt a bit flat. The travel distance of the keys is 1.49 mm, which is on par with the 1.5 mm comfortable travel distance of the mainstream laptop and makes it a bit shallow. The keys require 60 grams actuation weight for pressing it, which makes it more comfortable than some other keyboard in this category. The company has packed this system with a 5.5 x 2.5 inches touchpad, which is spacious and responsive. The touchpad responded to our responses pretty quickly, the touchpad works fine for almost all kind of multi-finger gestures along with Windows 10 gestures.
This HP Spectre x360 13t comes with a solid sixth generation Intel Core i7 6500U processor with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD storage space for storing more files and faster performance. There was no sign of slowing down or lagging when I was watching 1080p videos with more than 12 tabs opened in the background. On GeeKbench 3 test, which is used to measure overall performance, this convertible system from HP scores 6,829 points, which is much more than 4,919.48 average scores of this category laptop. The transfer speed of its 512 GB SSD storage space is 173.38 MB per second, which makes it faster than 156.61 MB per second speed of this category average.
This convertible comes with Bang & Olufsen speakers, which produced very good sound. The audio quality of the system is solid. It is more than enough for producing a loud sound that can fill your entire room with loud sound. The company has also added the Band & Olufsen software for improving the audio quality. This software was not shown in the list of the program and there is a good reason for that as you won’t be able to do much with this software.
The system performs very well on the battery test, as the Spectre x360 13t lasted 8 hours and 36 minutes on the battery test, which is more than the average battery life of this category system (which is 8 hours and 19 minutes).
Configurations
The HP offers multiple configurations for this convertible. Our review unit of this Spectre x360 costs $1,519.99 and comes with a 13.3-inch Ultra HD (2560 x 1440 pixels resolution) touch screen display, sixth generation Intel Core i7 6500U processor with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD storage space.
The base configuration of this system costs $899.99 and comes with a 13.3-inch full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels resolution), Intel Core i5 6200U processor with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage space. This 2-in-1 comes in silver color instead of black and gold.
The company offers various customization options, but according to me, the best model of this Spectre x360 series costs $999.99 and comes with a 13.3-inch full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels resolution), Intel Core i5 6200U processor with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage space. This version of the convertible laptop also comes in traditional silver color options. If you are still not satisfied with the configurations, you can go to the HP site and choose models based on your needs and requirements.
This HP Spectre x360 13t is a really good and solid convertible with impressive design and solid specs. The processor, display, and speakers are the main selling point. The new black and gold color combinations also make its design even better. Overall the system has everything become one of the best systems in this category.
HP Spectre x360 15t
Due to the popularity of the convertibles in the market, companies are looking to make convertible with larger displays. The HP Spectre x360 15t is the best 2-in-1 system that comes with a 15-inch display. The system is a good 15-inch convertible that comes with a 360-degree hinge, which allows you to use this system in four different modes. This 2-in-1 system comes with very good and stylish aluminum designs, a very colorful and solid display. This device also offers very long battery life. The Spectre x360 15t starts at the price of $1,149. HP x360 15t is a really good if we consider its design. The design of this convertible is simple but sleek and shiny. This system comes with the silver aluminum body, due to its silver aluminum body, the HP x360 looks a bit like MacBook. The bottom and lid of this system are made of silver color aluminum; you’ll find the company’s logo at the top of the convertible. The company has put Spectre logo on the hinge of the system.
The company has packed a 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels resolution) touchscreen display, which is very bright and colorful. The display produces very detailed and crisp images, which was completely evident when I was watching a movie on the system. The viewing angle is also very good; the screen produces very clear images up to almost 90 degrees. On the light meter, the brightness of its screen measures 246 nits, which is a bit lower than the 253.12 nits average score of this category laptops. Its screen also reproduces 119 percent of the sRGB spectrum, which is much more than 85.39 percent score of this category average.
The keyboard of this Spectre x360 is good but not great. The travel distance of the keys is 1.4 mm, which is less than 1.5 mm comfortable travel distance of the mainstream laptop and makes it a bit shallow. The keys require 60 grams actuation weight for pressing it, which makes it a bit comfortable than some other keyboard in this category. When I was testing the keyboard on 10fastfinger.com, I typed 100 words per minute, which is more than my average 75 words per minute.
The company has packed this system with a 5.5 x 2.6 inches touchpad, which is smooth and accurate. The touchpad responded to our responses pretty quickly, the touchpad works fine for almost all kind of multi-finger gestures along with Windows 10 gestures.
This Spectre x360 15t comes with a 2.3 GHz sixth generation Intel Core i5-6200U processor and 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage space for storing more media files and better performance. This system works smoothly when I was streaming a video from YouTube with multiple tabs opened on Google Chrome.
This x360 convertible comes with Bang & Olufsen speakers, which produced very good sound. The audio quality of the system is solid. It is more than enough for producing a loud sound that can fill your entire room with loud sound. You can watch movies, play games and even listen to music without using any external speakers or headphones.
Configurations
HP offers lots of configuration options for this x360 15t. Our review unit was a basic model that costs $1,149.99 and comes with a 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels resolution) touchscreen display, a 2.3 GHz sixth generation Intel Core i5-6200U processor and 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage space for storing more media files and better performance.
You can upgrade this 2-in-1 by paying some extra bucks like you have to pay $80 for 16GB of RAM memory and $60 for upgrading your processor to Intel Core i7-6500U. If you want to upgrade both processor and graphics card, then you have to pay extra $200 for upgrading to Intel Core i7-6560U with Intel Iris Graphics card. You can even update to 4K display for $60. If you want more storage space, you can update your 256GB of SSD to 512GB of SSD by paying extra $200.
This HP Spectre x360 15t is the best convertible if you are looking for a larger display. This laptop comes in stylish, strong and durable chassis and offers solid performance, very good display (which would be more than enough for all your works as well as multimedia works) and clear and loud sound.
Asus Chromebook Flip
If you are looking to buy a convertible in a limited budget and also want to switch to some other OS than Windows. You can check this Asus Chromebook Flip that runs light Chrome OS of Google. Asus Chromebook is sleek, light and comes in a stylish and sexy aluminum chassis. It’s 360 degree hinge is strong and makes it pretty easy to use the laptop in tablet mode. You can also use the laptop in tented and stand mode.
This Asus Chromebook Flip’s thickness measures just 0.61 inches and it weighs 1.9 pounds, which makes this system very portable. This Flip comes with a Rockchip 3288 processor with 2 GB or 4 GB RAM. The 2 GB RAM model costs $249, but 4 GB RAM model costs $299. We have seen some convertible Chromebook, but at this affordable price, this is the first hybrid. By this Chromebook Flip, Asus is aiming at the average customers.
The Chromebook comes with a 360 degree rotating hinge; due to this, you can use this laptop in different modes like laptop mode, tented mode, stand mode and tablet mode. For tented mode, you have to rotate the lid to 270 degrees away from the keyboard; this mode is very helpful for presentation or sharing info. For stand mode, the keyboard is rotated behind the screen giving perfect movie watching and video calling experience. Tablet mode is slim and simple, ideal for using while travelling. Classic laptop mode makes it easy to be used with keyboard and touchpad.
The convertible comes with a 10.1-inch touchscreen display with 1280 x 800-pixel resolution, quad-core Rockchip processor with either 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage space. This system also features an integrated Mali graphics card. Its touch screen display is dim but similar to all the other Chromebook I have reviewed. Asus tells that it will give up to 9 hours of battery backup. If it gives this much battery life, then it will be handled your day work quite easily. For detailed review visit this blog again till then enjoy these brief details of this Asus Chromebook Flip.
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