HP’s Spectre x360 is the best 13-inch notebook you can buy right now

Best 13-Inch Laptop Windows Central 2020

Best Overall: HP Spectre x360 13

The 13-inch HP Spectre x360 has been a favorite of ours for years and has been so close to perfection. HP did what any good manufacturer should do and acted on feedback to make the Spectre x360 even better. Changes like the new Precision-powered touchpad and thinner bezels make it far more appealing to both use and gaze at.

There are a variety of screen choices available that cover both 1080p and 4K. HP still hasn’t departed from using a 16:9 aspect ratio, which could be argued as looking a little dated in modern laptops. Still, performance is right up there with 10th Gen Intel CPUs, 16GB of RAM, and 2TB M.2 PCIe. There’s Wi-Fi 6 available for a better wireless experience.

If you want the best non-convertible laptop, the Dell XPS 13 (9300) would be your best bet. The Spectre x360 13 offers far better value with more modes and optional LTE. It’s a reliable all-around Windows laptop and tops more than one of our round-ups, including the best Windows 10 LTE laptops.

The latest generation of Dell XPS 13 is one of the best laptops Dell has made to-date. As mentioned above, you could easily choose this as the best overall non-convertible 13-inch laptop. There have been notable improvements made to the laptop, including a 16:10 aspect ratio, which removes the chin we’ve all come to know and hate in laptops.

The 192×1200 (FHD+) panel is a joy to use, even if it is the most affordable option. It can hit up to 500 nits for brightness and has an anti-glare finish. You can upgrade to a touch-enabled version for the FHD+ range or a 4K touch display. Intel’s 10th Gen CPUs are used to offer amazing portable performance, combined with up to 32GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 2TB of PCIe SSD storage.

It’s easily good enough to handle most tasks you could throw at the notebook, but for good measure, Dell included Thunderbolt 3, microSD card reader, as well as Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. Lastly, the keyboard and Precision-powered touchpad are a joy to use. It’s just a shame the webcam is a little weak.

If you didn’t find the original Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 appealing, we don’t blame you. The Intel processors weren’t great, but don’t let that leave a sour taste when considering the new 7390 model. It has the latest 10th Gen Intel processors that offer plenty of performance while allowing for a full workday of battery life.

That may not sound like magic when compared to other laptops in its class, but this convertible notebook houses a 13.4-inch panel that can be configured as 1920×1200 or 3840×2400, depending on your preference. Both display options have an aspect ratio of 16:10. Much like the XPS 13, the design is exquisite, but the 2-in-1 has a few party ticks like various modes.

There’s also active pen support and plenty of ports for you to connect all your favorite accessories. You’ll find Thunderbolt 3, microSD card reader, and more. If you’re more about the typing experience, the maglev keyboard here is simply awesome to use. The large Precision touchpad is also excellent.

We appreciated what Microsoft did with the Surface Laptop 2, but the small changes made for the Surface Laptop 3 13 are simply amazing. It’s now available with 10th Gen Intel CPUs and can be configured with up to 16GB of DDR4X RAM. And because we’re using 10th Gen processors, Wi-Fi 6 is included.

Other improvements include faster SSDs with a capacity of up to 1TB. There’s also a USB-C port to let you connect all your modern accessories to the Laptop 3. Finally, the touchpad is larger than the previous generation of Surface Laptop, and Microsoft is still using its fantastic Precision drivers for a brilliant experience.

The design of the Surface Laptop 3 13.5 is a joy to look at. It’s not only available with Alcantara either. Should you not enjoy the feel of the fabric finish, it’s possible to kit out the Surface Laptop 3 with an all-aluminum finish throughout. An IR camera can be used for Windows Hello, and the display is nothing short of sublime with a 3:2 aspect ratio and 2256×1504 resolution.

There are a few drawbacks, however. These include the lack of Thunderbolt 3 and anti-glare for the displays.

The ASUS family of ZenBook laptops have always been head turners due to their striking design, weight, and how thin the chassis is. The ZenBook 13 with 10th Gen Intel processors takes everything to a whole new level. This laptop may be more affordable than other laptops in this collection, but don’t put it down as not being able to keep up with the rest.

Processor choice includes 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 and Core i7-1065G7, which matches what you’d find elsewhere. RAM is up there too at 8GB of LPDDR4X. Storage is solid, with a 256GB PCIe SSD pre-installed. There’s even a number pad next to the full-sized keyboard. And because this is 10th Gen Intel, there’s Thunderbolt 3 and Wi-Fi 6.

Because this is more of a budget-friendly laptop, you won’t find anywhere to select a 4K display. If you want something a little more fancy in the specification department, you’ll need to look elsewhere. For those on a tighter budget, this is a beautiful notebook with plenty going for it.

So you like gaming, do you? There’s only one option in the 13-inch laptop segment, and that’s the Razer Blade Stealth. This is the Ultrabook for gamers. Razer has had the Stealth available for some time, but this latest version is something else.

The latest generation of Blade Stealth laptops can be kitted out with a 120 Hz 1080p display, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti (Max-Q Design) GPU, up to a 25W Intel core i7-1065G7 CPU, and 16GB LPDDR4X RAM at 3733 MHz. There’s a full-sized shift key, and the keyboard as a whole is a joy to use.

It’s the gaming performance that sets this laptop apart from other offerings, however. The GTX 1650 Ti isn’t the most capable GPU from NVIDIA, but it’s more than capable of handling modern PC games. The best part is the battery, allowing you to enjoy some interactive media for longer than five minutes, as was the norm with more bulky gaming laptops.

Just don’t go expecting this machine to set work records in benchmarks.

Bottom line

There are so many 13-inch laptops out there to choose from. Like all notebook choices, you can’t go wrong so long as it ticks all your boxes. For us, the HP Spectre x360 is simply too good to pass up on. It has 10th Gen Intel CPUs, a Precision touchpad, and can be configured with an excellent 4K AMOLED display.

Should you desire something a little, well… more, Microsoft has your back with the Surface Laptop 3. This is one beautiful machine to gaze at, but it also packs a punch on the insides with 10th Gen Intel processors, plenty of RAM and all the storage you’ll ever need.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide