A light and compact laptop is particularly suitable if you often work in different places. At least since the global pandemic, the home office has established itself as an alternative to the classic office. “Work from home” and remote work are an integral part of many people in Germany. If you often travel with your laptop or change location, you don’t want to carry a heavy and bulky computer with you.
Such notebooks used to be called “Ultrabooks” – this term is a registered trademark of Intel. At that time, PC manufacturers had to meet certain requirements in order to use the term, such as Intel processors, a maximum thickness of 20 millimeters and a battery life of at least six hours. The label is now obsolete, and “Evo” has succeeded Intel. For the Evo certification, notebooks require, among other things, an Intel Core i5 or Core i7, Thunderbolt 4 and Wifi 6. The devices must not be thicker than 15 millimeters. Full HD resolution and a battery life of nine hours are also required.
Laptops are becoming lighter and lighter due to a light aluminum housing and other materials such as carbon fiber or magnesium. You can already get light and small laptops with sufficient performance for working and surfing for less than 1000 euros. In the past, compact netbooks were almost useless in everyday life, today the small notebooks are on the level of a classic 15.6-inch device or desktop computer in terms of performance. Only with gaming laptops (guide) can the devices not keep up due to the lack of a dedicated graphics card.
This guide is part of the Laptop theme world. In this article, we present the most popular notebooks up to a maximum of 1.3 kilograms and explain what you can expect. In this overview, we look at Apple Chromebooks and Macbooks in addition to Windows laptops.
display, weight and size
The laptops usually buy themselves the light weight through their compact size. This affects the displays. More than 14 inches are not to be found in lightweight computers. An exception is the notebook LG Gram 16 (Test report) from 1200 euros. Despite the 16-inch display, it only weighs around 1.3 kilograms. No other laptop this big is lighter right now.
Popular screen diagonals in this class are between 13.3 inches and 14 inches. Sizes of 12.5, 13 or 13.5 inches are more exotic. In addition to the usual 16:9 or 16:10 format, there is also an increasing number of 3:2: This offers more space in height, which is an advantage when working. However, users have to reckon with small black bars at the top and bottom when playing movies.
Resolutions with less than Full HD (1920 × 1080 pixels) are hardly to be found with the exception of Chromebooks and very cheap Windows devices with 11.6 inches. Some models offer higher resolutions of 2560×1600 pixels or even 3000×2000 pixels. There are big differences in the brightness of the display – from 250 cd/m² to 500 cd/m². The brighter a screen, the more suitable it is for outdoor use.
equipment and performance
In order for a lightweight laptop to be fully usable, it needs a minimum level of performance. We recommend at least processors such as the eleventh generation Intel Core i5-1135G7 (Tiger Lake architecture) for Windows. It would be better to grab the twelfth generation right away. We advise against Intel Core i3, Pentium or Celeron as well as Core i5 from older generations. Alternatives from AMD would be the chips from Ryzen 5 5500U or Ryzen 7 5600U.
The Intel Core i7-1260P is used quite often. The chipset is based on the Alder Lake architecture (12th generation), but it is not as powerful as the Intel Core i7-12800H, which is rarely found in lightweight laptops. The Intel Core i7-1165G7 is still widespread, but far beyond the 1000 euro mark. A small drop of bitterness: Small laptops are hardly suitable for gamers due to the lack of powerful graphics chips. Up to 1 kg there are only graphics chips from Intel, a Geforce or AMD Radeon up to 1.3 kg are only available for a lot of money.
The main memory should offer at least 8 GB – 16 GB would be even better. Because a subsequent upgrade is almost impossible with the compact models, since the RAM is usually soldered. Even if more and more data ends up in the cloud and external data carriers no longer cost the earth – it shouldn’t be less than 256 GB of memory for the SSD in a Windows system.
It gets more difficult when it comes to the USB ports. A USB-C port is now standard, but USB-A ports or an HDMI port are becoming increasingly rare – especially in small laptops up to 14 inches. Thunderbolt 4, which looks like USB-C and supports display ports for monitors, is becoming increasingly popular.
Windows, Chrome OS or macOS?
The question of the right system comes close to a question of faith. Comparing the operating systems is like comparing apples to oranges. Ultimately, it remains a matter of personal preference.
The largest selection of laptops and convertible PCs can be found with Windows. Thanks to processors such as the Core i5, Core i7 or Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 from AMD, the compact notebooks already offer a lot of computing power. Apple is also well represented among the light laptops with the Macbook Air. The quality, longevity and stability of the system speak for the computers from the brand with the apple. Chromebooks, on the other hand, are primarily aimed at bargain hunters – there are already devices from 130 euros. This also includes convertibles.
Light as a feather: Notebooks up to 1 kg
Among the laptops with a maximum weight of 1 kg, there are almost exclusively Windows notebooks. The price range goes from 390 euros to over 3400 euros. Most CPUs come from Intel, Core i5 and Core i7 balance each other out. The most common displays are 13.3 inches, followed by 14 inches. This is currently the lightest notebook Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 13. It weighs just 870 grams and is one of the most popular devices up to 1 kilogram.
The 13.3-inch OLED display shines brightly with 500 cd/m² and otherwise offers great picture quality. The notebook is about the size of a sheet of DIN A4 and just under 11 millimeters thick. Compared to LCDs with IPS, OLED is clearly superior in black levels and contrasts. With smartphones, the technology is becoming more and more standard, with notebooks the first devices are currently coming onto the market.
It’s similarly compact HP Pavillon Aero, HP Probook 635 Aero G8, Fujitsu Lifebook as well as Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon (Review). The recommended devices with a 14-inch screen weighing up to 1 kilogram include this Acer Travelmate P6 or that LG Gram 14.
Windows laptops and convertibles up to 1.3 kg
If you are willing to accept a little more weight, you get a much larger selection of laptops with Windows. This is very popular here Asus Zenbook 13 OLED for almost 800 euros with powerful AMD Ryzen 7. It is also well equipped Samsung Galaxy Book2 360, the convertible version of the lightweight notebook. This is also a good choice Lenovo Thinkbook 13s.
As mentioned at the beginning, this takes LG Gram 16 (test report) plays a special role. It’s the only 16-inch notebook that weighs less than 1.3 kilograms. This in particular offers a strong price-performance ratio Acer Swift 3 (test report) with 14 inches, which also convinced us in the test.
Chromebooks bis 1,3 kg
Chromebooks are an extremely inexpensive alternative for anyone who primarily wants to surf or email with the end device and does not need special software for Windows. The devices only work without restrictions with an Internet connection, even if there is an offline mode. What you should pay attention to, we explain in the guide Chromebooks from 145 euros: Inexpensive alternative to the Windows PC.
The only Chromebook under 1 kg is the very cheap one Asus Chromebook C223NA-GJ0077 for 129 euros. You shouldn’t expect much from the hardware: 11.6-inch display with HD resolution, Intel Celeron and 32 GB of flash memory. Chromebooks are interesting as convertible PCs. They are cheaper compared to their Windows counterparts, and most Android apps run on them. A vivid example of this is the Acer Chromebook Spin 513 (review).
Apple Macbook
The Macbook Air is the lightest and most compact model from Apple – even if it weighs almost 1.3 kilograms and is more of a “heavyweight” compared to the other devices presented here.
Thanks to the powerful M1 and M2 processors, the newer models don’t have to hide behind the Macbook Pro or Windows devices. The chipset is based on ARM technology and offers a lot of performance with high energy efficiency. The Macbook Air can even do without a fan and works whisper-quiet, which is a blessing. You can get the 2020 model for less than 1000 euros.
Conclusion
Particularly light and compact laptops have great advantages if they are to be used often in different places. You can get notebooks with a weight of 1 to 1.3 kilograms for less than 1000 euros.
These are mostly devices with 13.3 or 14 inches. The performance is more than sufficient for most requirements. The compact models are just not suitable for gaming, unless you find a variant with Nvidia Geforce. Currently the only large yet light laptop is the LG Gram 16 (Review).
More advice on the subject of laptops can be found here: