Looking to buy ultraportable laptops, so go through the post and find out best ultraportable available in the market. In this post, I am going to list out the best the ultraportable laptop of 2016. Currently, there are lots of laptops available in the market, which leads to confusion in the user’s mind.
The best feature of the ultraportable laptop is sleek and slim design along with solid performance. These laptops should be able to cope with all the increasing demands of the person, who spent most of the time traveling. Go through the following post and find out the best ultraportable laptops in the market currently available.
Best Ultraportable laptop of 2016
Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina display (2015)
The Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch is a premium ultraportable laptop. It performs better but also has better battery life performance than the previous version. Its new touchpad gives you freedom to do more than just clicking and pointing. It is available at the price starting from $1,049. The system has everything to top the list of the ultraportable laptop. The system combines the power and portability with ease.
This 2015 MacBook Pro has a new fifth generation 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5-5257U processor combined with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB of faster flash storage. On the synthetic GeeKbench 3 test which measures overall performance, the Mac score 7,113 which is way ahead than other Core i5-Powered notebooks, including Dell XPS 13 (5,653), the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus (5,056) and previous year Mac (6,730).
According to Apple, the 128GB PCI-based flash memory in 2015 MacBook Pro is up to two times faster than that of last year’s model. In our testing, it lived up to the claim made by the company. This notebook has duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia files in 13.2 seconds at the rate of 386 MBps.
Apple claims that the MacBook Pro 2015 will get up to 10 hours of battery life when surfing the web, an hour longer than the last model of MacBook Pro. But the system performed better than what company promises. The notebook gives the battery backup of 12 hours and 4 minutes while continuously browsing the web on Wi-Fi.
Configurations
As we all know that Apple’s laptop don’t come cheap and MacBook Pro 13 Is also not the exception. The price of this notebook starts with $1,299. It consists of an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM and 128GB PCle-based flash memory. If you add another $200 yo can get a model of 256GB storage.
For $1,799, Apple offers the MacBook Pro with 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 512GB PCle-based flash storage with 8GB RAM.
Apple’s new Force Touch trackpad gives the user liberty to perform a much greater number of tasks than the traditional touchpad. More than that, the MacBook Pro 2015 comes with Retina Display due to which it fills like a completely different machine than that of last year model. This notebook comes with much better performance, an amazing speed and a brighter display and much faster storage and most important you also get an additional 12 hours of battery life. After getting so much of specification who really cares about the touch screen. At last, I can only tell that MacBook Pro 2015 is worth your money as it has so much to offer.
HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2
HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 is a notebook for the person who likes to travel and do his work on the way. This laptop comes with fifth-generation Intel Core i7 processor, comfortable and new touchpad and a good amount of solid state drive. The design of this notebook is elegant as it has beautiful aluminum chassis and it starts at $1,229 and our review unit costs $1,745. This system is also very durable and secure as it also has a fingerprint reader for protection against any wrong use.
This HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 is a very beautiful laptop as far as design is concerned. Its body is thin, dark gray and has curved corners. The lid is made of aluminum alloy and at the center HP logo is placed. When you open the lid of this notebook, you’ll be greeted with a wide speaker and beautiful keyboard. The color of the deck is also black gray. This HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 measures 13.3 x 9.2 x 0.67 inches and weighs 3.33 pounds, which makes it thinner and lighter and easy to carry everywhere.
This Folio 1040 G2 comes with a full HD 1,920 x 1,080 pixels resolution 14-inch display, which is amazing and rich in colors. You’ll have an amazing movie watching experience on this laptop because its screen is sharp, colorful and accurate and has ultra-wide viewing angle. This Folio 1040 G2 comes with the good quality of audio as it comes with DTS Studio Sound software package to enhance the audio quality. When this software was turned on, the bass, lows and highs were strong.
The HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 comes with a 2.6-GHz Intel Core i7-5600U processor with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD, which produces enough power to handle all your office and business related tasks as well as daily works. On GeeKbench 3 test, which is used to measure overall performance, this Folio 1040 G2 scored 6,408 that is more than all other laptops of this category. The file transfer rate of this notebook is 110.6 MB per second makes it faster than the average file transfer speed of this category laptop. This HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 has good battery life as this lasted for 7 hours and 16 minutes on our battery test.
The HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 is a good business notebook as it has some very good features for travelers. It comes with bright display in a slim, light, beautiful and durable chassis. The battery life and its touchpad are not that great. If you want to buy a thin and light laptop with solid performance and good display, then this is a good choice for you.
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch 2015
Apple MacBook Air is one of the lightest and slimmest laptop available. This MacBook comes with a faster fifth-generation Intel Core processor with faster flash storage space but it doesn’t feature Retina display as all the other Apple products do. This ultrabook costs $999 and is one of the best Ultraportable till date with cool and elegant design, long lasting battery up to 14 hours and faster system performance. Though MacBook Air has not been much popular among the users, but this $999 Ultrabook is worth this price.
The Apple MacBook Air features 1,440 x 900 pixels resolution 13-inch display similar to its previous mode. The 13-inch MacBook Air comes with a fifth generation 1.6 GHz dual Core Intel Core i5-5250 processor with 4 GB of RAM and it can be upgraded to 8 GB, 256 GB of faster SSD storage space. On GeeKbench 3 test, which is used to measure overall performance, this MacBook Air scores 5,783, which is much more than 4,523 average score of this category. When tested for file transfer rate, it transfers the files at the rate of 358.4 MB per second, which double of its previous version speed of 190.3 MB per second.
The Apple MacBook Air lasted for 14 hours on our battery test, which is six hours more than the average 8 hours and 05 minutes battery life of Ultraportable.
Configurations
The Apple MacBook Air which is reviewed here comes with a 13-inch display with 1,440 x 900 pixels resolutions, a 1.6 GHz quad Core Intel Core i5-5250U processor with 4 GB of RAM (upgraded to 8 GB) and 256 GB of faster Flash storage. It also has an Intel HD Graphics 6000. It costs $999.
The MacBook Air 13 inch which came early in 2015 is a very good laptop and it is better than its previous model in many ways. At $999 this laptop has faster and better performance and better long lasting battery life.
Dell XPS 13
Dell has established itself with the XPS series system. Dell XPS 13 was best portable laptop from the company, now it gets even better. The company has equipped this new XPS 13 laptop with the brighter display, one new USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3 and long battery life. Dell XPS 13 was my favorite portable notebook, now it also comes with faster and more powerful 6th generation Intel Core Series processor.
This new Dell XPS 13 comes with all the features from the previous version, which we liked. Dell has kept slim and sexy aluminum and carbon fiber chassis and comfortable keyboard similar to its predecessor. The laptop starts at $799, but our reviewed unit costs $1,399.
Our reviewed unit of Dell XPS 13 comes with a 2.3 GHz sixth generation Intel Core i5-6200U processor with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD for storing more files. The processor is more than enough for all your daily works. On GeeKbench 3 test, which is used to measure overall performance, this laptop scored 6,374, which is on par with 6,264 scores of Lenovo Yoga 900 The file transfer speed of its 256 GB of SSD storage space is 159 MBps, which is better than 153 MBps of the average transfer speed of this category laptop. The laptop lasted 8 hours and 18 minutes, which makes its battery life 45 minutes longer than its immediate predecessor.
Configurations
Dell is offering multiple configurations of this Dell XPS 13 notebook. The basic model of the laptop comes at the price of $799 and features a non-touch 13.3 inch display, an Intel Core i3 processor, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage space.
Our reviewed unit comes at the price of $1,399. Its specification includes a 13.3 inch Ultra HD touchscreen display, an Intel Core i7 processor, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage space. its most expensive model comes at the price of $2,000, which features same specifications than our reviewed model, but has 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD.
Dell XPS 13 is a very good portable laptop. This laptop comes with a very colorful and bright display and powerful processor. The laptop is more than enough for daily works like watching movies, working on documents or playing some casual games.
Microsoft Surface 3
Microsoft has come up with Surface 3 at the starting price of $499, which is very good. Microsoft has improved this tablet with learning from all its previous mistakes. This is a bit smaller in size than Surface Pro 3. It comes with full version of Windows meaning you can run all your Windows apps like chrome, Photoshop and iTunes etc. Measuring 10.52 x 7.36 x 0.34 inches and weighing 1.4 pounds, Surface 3 is lighter and very portable.
The Surface 3 looks is very similar to the Surface 2, which looks beautiful, premium and modern with the silver matte aluminum finish. When you look closely, then you’ll find some important changes. This Surface 3 is thinner and lighter than the previous model, which measures 10.52 x 7.36 x 0.34 inches and weighs 1.4 pounds.
Microsoft Surface 3 comes with a glass enclosed 10.8-inch display with 1,920 x 1,280 resolutions with 3:2 aspect ratios making it very comfortable to use in tablet mode. Its display is crisp and bright with wide viewing angles. Its screen is brighter than Surface Pro 3 and also color reproduction is also better. This Surface 3 has two front facing speakers, which delivers better sound quality than the most of the Windows tablet. Its Dolby audio improves its volume to another level.
Configuration
Except the basic $499 model (2 GB of RAM with 64 GB of storage) and our reviewed $599 model (4 GB of RAM with 128 GB of storage) both comes with only Wi-Fi. Microsoft is planning for two more models with LTE capability and configuration of 2 GB of RAM with 64 GB of storage and 4 GB of RAM with 128 GB of storage.
The Microsoft Surface 3 comes with an Intel Atom x7-Z8700 processor. Lots of the new windows tablets use this Atom processor because it is a low powered chip helping in keeping the tablet cool. Surface 3 has Intel HD graphics which is graphics solution for all Intel Atom equipped system. Which is better than all other this category competitor. This system is mainly made to do video streaming and normal computing work not to play games.
Microsoft Surface 3 has a very good battery life of 9 hours 50 minutes when I tested for its battery backup. Its battery life is one of the major selling points for this tablet cum laptop.
The Microsoft Surface 3 has lots of features as this is the small size version of Surface Pro 3. Its design and the long lasting battery are best things for this hybrid. With such low price, this tablet is very good with those features. The touch, keyboard and pen are also an added advantage of this Surface 3. So if you want to buy a tablet cum laptop and have a tight budget then, you can go for Surface 3, which is an affordable hybrid for you.
Asus ZenBook UX305
his Asus ZenBook UX305 is one the best Ultrabook of 2015. In my opinion, any Ultrabook should have a thin and sleek design, long battery. This system provides you both with sleek and thin aluminum body with approx 9 and hours of battery backup which means you can do all your one-day business work on ago. Its Intel Core M processor delivers a solid performance. This system comes at the price of just $700.
This Asus ZenBook UX305 comes with a sleek and slim design similar to Apple’s MacBook. The notebook measures 12.7 x 8.9 x 0.48 inches and weighs 2.64 pounds, which makes it thinner and lighter than its rivals. This ZenBook features a 13.3 inch display with 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolutions. This display of UX305 is bright and colorful with better open-air visibility. The viewing angle of the display is almost 180 degree.
This UX305 comes with 1 GHz Intel Core M-5Y10 CPU with 8 GB of Ram and a 256 GB of Solid State Drive. Although processor does not look good but in practical it is good. When I was streaming HD video on YouTube while running full system scan in background, this system works perfectly fine without any glitch. On GeeKbench 3 test, which measures overall performance, the UX305 scored 4,623 which are pretty good for this type of laptop with such price. The transfer speed of files is 154.2 MB per second which is very good.
Asus claims that this UX305 has 10 hours of battery life.
This Asus ZenBook UX305 is best Ultraportable available for this money. In my opinion, this laptop is worth your money at any point. This comes with an Intel core M CPU with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD, this laptop is best. The only cons of this notebook are its speakers and keyboard back light. If you are looking for a laptop with a sleek design, long-lasting battery life with solid performance then this is for you.
Microsoft Surface Pro 3
Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is a premium 2-in-1 hybrid with a sharp and large 12-inch touch screen display. This hybrid is just exceptional with sexy and elegant design and huge type cover upgrade. This system costs $799 (starting), you won’t get the keyboard at this price.
This Microsoft Surface pro 3 is thinner and lighter than its previous version after having the 12-inch display not 10.6-inch display as its predecessor. Microsoft Surface Pro 3 measures 11.45 x 7.8 x 0.36 inches and weighs just 1.76 pounds without a keyboard but 2.4 pounds with keyboards. The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 comes with a 12-inch touch screen display with 2,160 x 1,440 pixels resolution, which is very bright and sharp.
The Surface Pro 3 features a 1.9-GHz Intel Core i5-4300U processor with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD, which offers strong performance for your daily computing tasks such as working on some document, watching movies and playing some games. On GeeKbench 3 test, which is used to measure overall performance, this Surface Pro 3 scored 5,665. The file transfer rate of this system is 145.4 MB per second.
Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is lighter and has more features than 13-inch MacBook Air as promised by Microsoft. It also has a higher resolution and sharp screen and also has a stylus for making notes. In these fields, this is better than MacBook Air, but keyboard of Air is better than this. If you want to buy a 2-in-1 hybrid system with amazing display and solid performance, then this Surface Pro 3 worth your attention.
Asus ZenBook Pro UX501
The Asus ZenBook Pro UX501 is a premium ultrabook from Asus, which has impressive sleek design and solid specifications. This laptop is upgraded to last year’s ZenBook NX500 and has a similar design. Its price is $1,499 (starting). This system has aluminum body, faster storage space and an ultra HD 4K display. This system features a powerful Intel Core i7 processor and 512 GB of SSD, its configuration is better than its competitor Apple laptop.
The design of Asus ZenBook Pro UX501 is similar to MacBook as its body is made of brushed aluminum metal and traditional Asus concentric circles on the cover. The deck is very good as it has a large comfortable keyboard and palm rest. This ZenBook measures 15.16 x 10.04 x 0.87 inches and weighs 5 pounds. This Asus ZenBook Pro UX501 features a 15.6 inch ultra HD 4K display with 3,840 x 2,160 pixels resolution touch screen display. This screen also supports 10 point multi-touch features and operates pretty well. The resolution of this display also looks very good.
The ASUS ZenBook Pro comes with quad core 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-4720HQ processor with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD, which has enough power to handle your work quite comfortably. Its system performance is very good and works perfectly fine for your daily works without any hint if slowing down and lagging behind.
Configuration
The Asus ZenBook pro UX501 unit, which is reviewed here has a 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-4720HQ with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD. It also comes with a very impressive 15.6 inch ultra HD 4K display with 3,840 x 2,160 pixels resolution touch screen display as well as NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M with 2 GB of VRAM and Intel HD Graphics 4600.
The Asus ZenBook Pro UX501 is a very good laptop if you are more concerned about display and system performance. Its display is very good for editing photos and videos, watching videos and working on documents. The backlight keyboard of this laptop was also good. The 512 GB of SSD storage spaces is also very fast. So if you want to buy a sleek design laptop with fast performance and excellent display and ready to compromise with battery life then you can consider this laptop.
Lenovo ThinkPad X250
Lenovo ThinkPad X250 is one business laptop which is a combination of both portability and functionality. This laptop is very user-friendly and has a 12.5 inch full HD display, a comfortable and snappy keyboard, very good number of ports and amazing battery life. This ultraportable costs $755 (starting), our reviewed units comes at the price of $1,407.
The design of Lenovo ThinkPad is quite simple and classy. It comes with a raven black keyboard deck, sides, lid, and bottom. This laptop measures 12.03 x 8.21 x 0.8 inches and weighs 3.2 pounds. This Lenovo ThinkPad X250 comes with a 12.5 inch IPS touch screen with 1,920 x 1,080 pixels resolutions, which makes it pretty good but not great. The Lenovo ThinkPad X250 features a very comfortable and snappy keyboard, which offers a very good typing experience.
The Lenovo ThinkPad features a 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5-5300U processor with 8 GB of RAM and 180 GB of SSD, which is powerful enough to handle any tasks for multi-tasking. When tested at GeeKbench 3 which tests overall performance, this ThinkPad X250 scored 5,259. The file transfer rate of this laptop is 108.3 MB per second. The Lenovo ThinkPad X250 features an integrated Intel HD 5500 graphics, which is enough to play casual games and you can also play some heavy game in low settings.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X250 comes with an optional six-cell battery, which has an epic life as the laptop lasted for 15 hours and 17 minutes on our battery life test. When you use its standard three-cell battery, the laptop lasted for 7 hours and 44 minutes, which is less than this category average.
Lenovo ThinkPad X250 is one of the best business laptops as it is mainly focused on productivity and multi-tasking. This laptop has an amazing battery life of more than 15 hours, comfortable and snappy keyboard, lots of ports for connecting external devices and high-resolution display. In my view, this 12.5 inch ThinkPad is a very good laptop for on the go use. If you want to buy a business laptop with solid productivity but can manage a bit heavier laptop, then this Lenovo ThinkPad X250 is a very good laptop for you.
Apple MacBook Air 11-inch (2015)
Apple MacBook Air 11 inch laptop is for those who think that 13-inch is a bit bigger. This system is cheapest and smallest in MacBook lineup. This 11-inch MacBook comes with fifth-generation Intel Core i5 processor, faster flash storage space. The battery life of this system is also quite amazing as it lasted for more than 9 hours on our battery life test. This is a very good portable laptop.
The design of this 11-inch MacBook Air is similar to the first MacBook Air as Apple keeps its design same. This notebook measures 11.8 x 7.56 x 0.11-0.68 inches and weighs 2.38 pounds, which makes it pretty light and small. This 11-inch MacBook Air features a 1366 x 768 pixels resolution 11.6 inch display, which is very good if we consider the size of the system.
This 11-inch MacBook Air comes with a fifth generation 1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-5250U processor with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of Flash memory space, which delivers powerful performance and has enough power to handle your daily tasks like watching movies, streaming videos, working on the documents, browsing the Web etc. On GeeKbench 3 test, which is used to measure overall performance, this MacBook Air scored 5,800 points. The file transfer rate of this 128 GB flash memory is 188.5 MB per second. This MacBook Air comes with an Intel HD Graphics 6000, which is good for casual games and daily tasks such as movie watching and browsing the web.
The battery life of this 11-inch MacBook Air is very good as it lasted for 9 hours and 30 minutes on our battery test.
This Apple MacBook Air 11-inch 2015 is a very good laptop for the students. This ultraportable comes with a fifth generation Core i5 processor, Intel HD Graphics, comfy keyboard, long lasting battery. Its flash memory is also pretty fast in its category. If you want to buy a very portable laptop and an ardent fan Mac, then at $899 this is a very good choice.
We have given the top ultraportable laptops available in the market. You can buy the laptop based on your choice and needs. I hope this article was helpful to you.Keep Visting this space for laptop news and reviews.
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