The 8 Best Mini Laptops to Get Work Done Anytime, Anywhere

It's annoyingly difficult to shop for a mini laptop. Most small laptops are cheap, made of flimsy parts, and equipped with slower-than-average processors and minuscule amounts of memory. The Surface Laptop Go 2 is the exception to the rule. It packs a zippy 11th Gen Core i5 processor, up to 256GB of storage, and flaunts a premium build quality.

My colleague Stefan Vazharov tested the Surface Laptop Go 2 for several weeks and said he'd opt for it over other Chromebooks and mini laptops for its standout design and dependable performance.

"The 2.5-pound notebook is easy to carry around and makes a compelling option for upgraders seeking a touchscreen ultrabook that won’t break the bank," he said.

Thanks to the Surface display's 3:2 aspect ratio, there's extra real estate for multitasking. The Laptop Go 2 also has an excellent keyboard with keys that are well-spaced, however, it is not backlit. Although we would have liked to see a 1080p webcam on board, Vazharov said overall, the product's webcam and microphones performed well during Zoom calls.

The Surface Laptop Go 2 comes in sage green, ice blue, platinum, and sandstone colors making it the stylish, reliable, and highly portable mini laptop to buy.

Read More: Our Full Review of the Surface Laptop Go 2

The ASUS E210 is an affordable mini laptop that's great for young students, thanks to its affordable price and portable size. It's equipped with dual USB Type-A ports, a USB-C port, a microSD card slot, and an HDMI out port. Its 11.6-inch display is bright with a 1080p resolution.

Since the screen is on a 180-degree hinge, you can lay it flat on a table to share content with friends, classmates, or colleagues.

With up to 8GB of RAM, an Intel Celeron N4020 processor, and 64-128GB of storage, this computer might not be the most powerful on the block, but it weighs only 2 pounds and is more than capable of handling most tasks — from editing photos to watching HD videos.

Plus, it has an all-day battery that should last 10 hours on a single charge — plenty of time to finish that book report or science project! And for those looking for more memory, you can buy a variant with double the storage space for around $50 more.

The IdeaPad Duet 3 is the best cheap Chromebook that you can buy. This two-in-one computer has a detachable keyboard, meaning you can use it as a tablet or a laptop. The cover even features a kickstand, which makes it easy to prop the Duet up to watch YouTube or have video calls.

The IdeaPad Duet’s 11-inch touchscreen is sharp and bright. Although the computer doesn’t feature one of the most powerful or up-to-date processors, it’s still plenty fast enough for web browsing, using social media, responding to email, or doing light photo editing.

Best of all, the device offers users 10 hours of battery life. Our biggest complaint is that the computer only has one USB-C port. Although there isn’t a headphone jack, Lenovo does include an adapter for connecting your wired headphones.

For those who are looking for a cheap Chromebook that's less like a tablet and more like a laptop, consider shopping for the Lenovo Chromebook S330, instead.

The HP Stream is a useful little laptop that's portable and comfortable to use. It is powered by a 1.6 GHz Intel CPU with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Compared to the best-selling HP Chromebook 11a, the Stream runs Windows 11 rather than the ChromeOS operating system. And while it's a basic laptop that isn’t very powerful and doesn’t offer a ton of space to store files, it still offers a wider variety of apps for you to install since it runs Windows. Fortunately, it has a microSD card slot for some additional storage.

You should be able to get around 9 hours of battery life, which is about average in comparison to other mini laptops. Rest assured, though — the HP Stream has a solid design and provides everything you need to accomplish basic tasks, like quick photo editing and internet browsing, for a fair price below $250.

The Surface Go 3 is an ultra-compact, 10.5-inch tablet that's a capable Windows 11 PC. A budget of around $400 will get you the entry-level Surface Go with 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM, but you'll have to pick up the trackpad and keyboard separately.

During my tests with the Surface Go 3, I found that it was powerful enough to handle a steady stream of apps without much slowing down. But I recommend it more so for casual use or light productivity work, not for editing large image and video files.

The Surface Go 3 is also a wonderful video chat companion with twin microphones that help increase clarity and reduce background noise.

Overall, Surface Go 3 is a compact and versatile PC that's perfect for work or play. If you’re looking for a practical, affordable, and stylish mini laptop, you won’t be disappointed.

More: Top-Rated Laptops We Recommend for Kids

Lenovo’s Chromebook Flex 5 is our favorite Chrome OS laptop for less than $500. It has a sleek design, a sharp 360-degree touchscreen, a backlit keyboard, plenty of power for a fast and fluid user experience, and access to Android apps via the Google Play store. Weighing less than 3 pounds, the 13-inch Chromebook is also impressively portable.

The best part? The product’s versatile display hinge allows it to instantly transform from a traditional laptop to a big-screen tablet. An optional Lenovo digital pen makes the Flex 5 a surprisingly capable tool for conquering productivity tasks, as well as creative projects.

Thanks to its dual-core Intel processor, it's a cheap laptop under $500 that's built to last and deliver a reliable performance for years. Its onboard wired and wireless connectivity features are just as dependable, making it as futureproof as possible.

More: The Best Chromebooks Worth Your Attention

This two-in-one hybrid laptop sports an attractive and portable design. It's equipped with a better processor than the similar Lenovo Chromebook C330, weighs only 3 pounds, and is less than an inch thick.

The mini laptop is equipped with an 11.6-inch display that's immersive and bright enough to watch movies and shows. Even better? It’s made with Corning Gorilla Glass, which won't scratch as easily.

Of course, since the laptop is a two-in-one, you can use it like a traditional laptop, a tablet with its touchscreen, rotated for showing presentations, or like a tent (pictured) when space is limited — such as on an airplane tray or when you just want to watch movies.

Despite being a budget laptop, Acer outfitted the laptop with two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, and a MicroSD slot for additional storage. The computer has an impressive 10-hour battery life, making it a great option for those constantly on the go.

The latest MacBook Air features vastly improved hardware specs, headlined by the M2 chip. The M2 has 50% more bandwidth than the M1, has 35% faster graphics performance, and 40% faster processing speeds. Needless to say, it blew us away during our testing.

In addition to the powerful chip, the new MacBook Air also has a better display with super thin bezels. Compared to its predecessor, it's 25% brighter, making it even easier to work outdoors on a workcation. With a resolution of 2,560 by 1,664 pixels, and a pixel density of 224 pixels per inch, the MacBook Air’s screen is roomy, vivid, and reproduces highly detailed visuals. If you frequently edit photos, you’ll be impressed at how true-to-life and colorful its images are.

We also love that Apple improved both the camera and speaker hardware. The MacBook offers twice the resolution as the pervious model, and improved low-light performance. It also has a 4-speaker surround sound system that's able to pump out loud, clean sound.

More: Our Guide to Buying the Right MacBook for You