I love the best 2-in-1 laptops because they give you the freedom to use them as a laptop or a tablet, often allowing you to fold the screen over 360 degrees or detach it to more comfortably watch videos, take notes and give presentations.
My team and I review dozens of laptops every year so I regularly get a chance to try the latest and greatest, and we're always looking for the best 2-in-1 laptops that deliver that oh-so-potent combo of portability, power and efficiency.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is one of my favorites to recommend right because it's a capable Windows 11 tablet (with detachable keyboard) that's as fast and long-lasting as any laptop thanks to the Snapdragon chips inside. If you can afford it, spring for the OLED upgrade for a more premium viewing experience.
For creators and artists I generally recommend the Asus ProArt PX13 because it's a 2-in-1 with a lovely screen and enough muscle to run demanding photo/video editing apps, as well as the latest AI creation tools.
But if you want a 2-in-1 that's a little more fun and ready to game, I recommend the Asus ROG Flow Z13 because it's the best tablet for gaming I've ever seen—it's like a Steam Deck and a Windows laptop had a baby.
Read all about why we recommend these and more in this list of the best 2-in-1s to buy right now, based on our hands-on testing and reviews!
The quick list
In a hurry? Here's a brief overview of the laptops on this list, along with quick links that let you jump down the page directly to a review of whichever laptop catches your eye.
The new model of Surface Pro is better than ever thanks to its Snapdragon X chip, making it the most powerful and longest-lasting model yet. Plus, you can upgrade to an OLED display. The detachable keyboard and stylus are too expensive, but if you want the best Windows 2-in-1 for most people this is it.
If you want to play with AI creation apps, the Asus ProArt PX13 is my top 2-in-1 recommendation because of its attractive design, astounding OLED touchscreen and great AI apps. Find a great deal and they'll throw in the Asus Pen for free, too.
This is the 2-in-1 laptop for PC game fans because the AMD Ryzen AI MAX 390 APU delivers far better gaming performance than you'd expect in such a slim tablet. The 13-inch 2.5K Mini-LED display makes games and videos look amazing, to boot.
I love the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 for its power and efficiency, but what really sets it apart is its luscious 16-inch AMOLED touchscreen. If you care about screen quality and real estate, this is the 2-in-1 for you.
The Asus Zenbook Duo is the best dual-screen laptop because it packs mesmerizing 14-inch OLED displays in one fairly easy-to-carry package, along with the best detachable keyboard and touchpad I’ve used.
The best 2-in-1 laptops you can buy right now
Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.
The best 2-in-1 overall
Who is this for?
The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is a Windows 11 tablet that's as fast and long-lasting as any of the best Windows laptops thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon chips which power it. It gives you all the versatility of a modern Windows laptop in a smaller, lighter tablet that's easy to carry, and you can either pair it with your own mouse and keyboard or pay Microsoft inflated prices for a matching Surface Flex Pro detachable keyboard and Surface Slim Pen.
Why is it the best 2-in-1 for most people?
I recommend the Surface Pro 11 as the best 2-in-1 for most people because it's as powerful as a modern laptop while being more versatile and easy to carry. You can spend as much as a modern laptop on it if you want to get one with the detachable Surface Flex Pro keyboard and Surface Slim Pen, but if you just need a tablet for most things you can get by with this slate.
While the Surface Pro line has historically been a bit lackluster, this is the first model to really amaze me thanks to the unbeatable combo of its Snapdragon-powered performance and its optional OLED display.
What do we like?
👍 Thin and lightweight design: At just under 2 pounds and 0.37 inches thick, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is incredibly light (it's the lightest on this list) and easy to carry yet delivers laptop-grade performance.
👍 Excellent performance and battery life: Surface Pro tablets have been lackluster for years, but the Snapdragon X chips in the Pro 11 rocket it to new heights of performance and power efficiency. This slate outpaced many bigger laptops in our performance tests, including the MacBook Air M3.
👍 Vibrant OLED display: The Surface Pro 11 comes with a 13-inch 2.8K LED screen by default, but you can pay $500 more to upgrade to a 13-inch OLED display. This does raise its affordable price up to laptop territory, but in return you get a bright, lovely display that makes everything you do on the device look better.
What don’t we like?
👎 Peripherals are very expensive: Frustratingly, Microsoft knocks some of the shine off this killer Windows 11 tablet by making its detachable keyboard and stylus accessories awfully expensive.
The Surface Slim Pen 2 stylus costs $129, for example, while the Surface Pro keyboard can cost anywhere from $129 to $179 depending on whether you want it with a slot for pen storage. The upgraded Surface Pro Flex detachable keyboard, which debuted with the Surface Pro 11 and features extra useful features (like a built-in battery so you can detach it from the tablet and keep using it), will cost you $379 extra. So if you really want to use this $999 tablet as a good laptop, it's going to cost you closer to $1,500 for peripherals alone.
👎 Snapdragon = x86 app and game issues: One key detail about the new Snapdragon X chips which drive the Surface Pro 11 and many other laptops: they're built on a different type of architecture than the typical Intel and AMD CPUs we usually see in laptops, and that means some apps (mostly games) won't run.
See, Snapdragon runs on Arm, while most Windows laptops run on x86 chips. So while you can still use Windows and many great productivity apps because they're compatible with Windows on Arm, there are some apps (again, mostly games) which don't have Arm-compatible versions. So don't expect to be able to download and run any app you please on the Surface Pro 11.
Bottom line
The Surface Pro 11 is the first Windows tablet that truly feels like a great 2-in-1 thanks to its Snapdragon-powered performance. While upgrading to OLED and outfitting it with the best accessories basically doubles the $999 starting price, what you get is a 2-in-1 that finally realizes the dream of a Windows 11 PC that's powerful, long-lasting and easy to carry, with a touch-friendly interface that makes you actually want to use Windows in tablet mode.
The best for creators
Who is this for?
The Asus ProArt PX13 is a proper powerhouse that is perfect for creative pros who need all the performance they can get for 4K video edits, advanced animation and zippy RAW Photoshop edits — all in a small, sleek package that is extremely portable and versatile.
Why is it the best 2-in-1 for creators?
Beyond it being one of the coolest 2-in-1s you can buy (in our opinion), this is a seriously power-packed machine with a dedicated GPU, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU, and a ton of RAM for running demanding art programs and editing apps.
Pair that with a gorgeous OLED panel and creator-centric ergonomics like the pen support and DialPad, and you’ve got a stellar system that I’d recommend to anyone who needs to get creative on-the-go. Our reviewer also loved playing with the AI apps on the laptop because they were the first he'd tried that actually feel fun to play with and helpful to use.
What do we like?
👍 Gorgeous OLED touchscreen: Yes, it may only be 60Hz, but that doesn’t stop this 3K OLED touchscreen from being an absolute stunner. It’s color-calibrated to ensure a perfect representation of your creative work, and with a 113.1% sRGB color gamut, the vividness is truly mesmerizing.
👍 Power-packed for AI creativity: The combination of RTX 4070 and AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 chip deliver a whopping 321 trillion AI operations per second (TOPS), which guarantees whatever AI processes you may throw at this, such as complex text wrap animations in Adobe Premiere Pro, will be handled at top speed.
👍 Top notch ergonomics: All too often, the keyboard and touchpad can be forgotten on 2-in-1 machines in favor of focusing on a rigid hinge. Asus has really thought of it all here — giving you a tactile keyboard and an ocean of a touchpad with a satisfyingly chunky click.
What don’t we like?
👎 Asus Pen 2.0 is not included: Frustratingly, given this is a creator 2-in-1, Asus is making you cough up an additional $99 for the stylus to really unlock the best of your work. This can be a bit of a kick in the teeth given your spending nearly $2,000 on the machine alone, though sometimes you can find a good deal that bundles the pen in with the laptop for free.
Bottom line
In the sea of 2-in-1s on this list, the Asus ProArt PX13 is just built different. It’s the perfect companion for creative pros who need their workstation in an ultra-portable chassis, as Asus has gone truly OP with the performance to get stuff done fast.
The best 2-in-1 for gaming
Who is this for?
This is the 2-in-1 for gamers. I know many of you will balk at the fact that this thing has an integrated GPU, but this is a breakthrough in raw performance — offering frame rates equivalent to what you may see in an RTX 4070 gaming laptop in something the size of a tablet.
Why is it the best 2-in-1 for gamers?
I’ve already talked about the AMD Ryzen AI Max 390 chip and what it can achieve just above. But that unlocks something special here — this is the missing link between a Steam Deck and a massive gaming laptop. Giving you the best of both worlds in something seriously versatile to however you want to play.
What do we like?
👍 Insane performance: The AMD Ryzen AI Max 390 APU bridges the gap between integrated and dedicated graphics in a way I’ve never seen before. On the train down to London, I was simply stunned by the fact that I could play Cyberpunk 2077 on high graphics settings at well over 90 frames per second (FPS). Of course, this performance extends to crushing even advanced rendering or AI tasks with the greatest of ease too.
👍 Seriously impressive battery life: Battery life is always the bane of gaming laptops. In our testing, it’s rare that we see a machine get over an hour. But to get two hours and 15 minutes on one charge in our gaming battery life test is, simply, bonkers.
👍 Lovely display and ergonomics: That 13-inch 2.5K Mini-LED display is bright, smooth with a 180Hz refresh rate and full of color to make your games look their best. Plus, the keyboard cover on here has a nice tactile typing experience as well!
What don’t we like?
👎 Not many ports: PC gamers will need plenty of ports for any accessories and peripherals, but with just two USB-C sockets and no Type-A to be seen, you’re going to be pretty limited with what you can connect this to.
👎 Ray Tracing is AMD’s enemy: Look, I’ve always through Ray Tracing is a bit of a gimmick when it comes to graphics. But it is very much a way of the gaming world now, and much like a lot of AMD’s GPU tech, the Flow Z13 can struggle with it. I recommend keeping this option turned off in your titles.
Bottom line
I sat with my mind blown about the Asus ROG Flow Z13 — I’ve just seen what I believe to be the future of gaming laptops. A far better balance between raw performance to squeeze out every last frame, and better battery life given it’s coming from an integrated chip. It’s the best of both worlds and easily one of the best 2-in-1s you can buy right now.
The best OLED 2-in-1
Who is this for?
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Pro 360 is a 2-in-1 with a lovely 16-inch AMOLED touchscreen that comes with a stylus, making it a great choice for anyone who wants a Windows 11 laptop that can fold over for use as a tablet without having to worry about springing for accessories. It's fairly light and easy to carry, too, with good battery life, making it a nice choice for students and professionals.
Why is it the best OLED 2-in-1?
If you prize OLED quality in your portable PCs, this is the 2-in-1 for you because it's the cheapest, most effective way to get one with a lovely AMOLED touchscreen at a good price.
I know because when I reviewed this machine the 16-inch (2880 x 1800) AMOLED touchscreen was the first thing that grabbed my attention. When we ran it through our testing lab, our display testing revealed that the display on this laptop is nearly as bright and color-accurate as a Dell XPS 16 or MacBook Pro, yet the Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 generally costs less and offers more for your money (a packed-in stylus and AMOLED touchscreen) than these premium laptops.
What do we like?
👍 Lovely AMOLED touchscreen: The 16-inch (2880 x 1800) 120Hz AMOLED touchscreen on the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 is its best feature, as it ensures everything you do on it (from videos to web browsing to gaming) looks great.
👍Great performance and battery life: The Intel Core Ultra chips inside these laptops give them good performance and battery life, which has been a problem for Galaxy Books for some time. But the Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 easily outpaced its predecessors, and its 12-hour tested battery life will get you through a workday.
👍Thin and light design is easy to carry: At under 4 pounds and 0.5 inches thick this 2-in-1 is a bit heavier than the Surface Pro 11, but not by much. If you need a laptop to carry to work or school all day, this is a great choice that's easy on the back.
What don’t we like?
👎 Frustratingly short power cable: Samsung sells the Book4 Pro 360 with a power cable that's roughly 6 feet long and it can only plug into the USB-C port on the left side of the laptop. So if you're in a meeting room or coffee shop and there's not a power outlet within a few feet, you're going to be annoyed.
👎 Poor gaming performance: This laptop can't be outfitted with a GPU and unlike the Z13, the integrated graphics chipset onboard just can't run games well at all. You can enjoy some oldies and more basic games on this machine, but anything demanding will grind it to a halt.
Bottom line
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 is the best 2-in-1 for someone who wants a full laptop (not a tablet) and prizes display quality and comfort over gaming performance.
Admittedly, the performance and battery life of the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 were a little more impressive before Snapdragon-powered 2-in-1s like the Surface Pro 11 hit the scene, but it's still a great all-around laptop for working, browsing the web and watching movies.
And on that gorgeous 16-inch AMOLED touchscreen everything looks great, plus it's quick to respond to input from your fingers or the packed-in Samsung stylus. It's a good laptop for lots of people, but it's especially great for students, writers, professionals, and anyone who thinks they might like a great 2-in-1 that you can doodle notes on when you want.
The best dual-screen laptop
Who is this for?
The Asus Zenbook Duo is an eye-catching laptop that's for anyone who just doesn't want to have to give up their dual-screen lifestyle, even on the go. What's really amazing about it is that not only does its dual-screen design actually work, it works well if you're willing to put in the effort to master it.
Why is it the best dual-screen 2-in-1?
First and foremost, there just aren't many dual-screen laptops on the market right now, and the ones I have used tend to be handicapped by poor performance and ungainly design. But the 2025 Asus Zenbook Duo is the company's second try at this design, and it's much improved thanks to the fact that its dual 14-inch 3K OLED displays are now powered by Intel Core Ultra 200 series chips, delivering competitive performance.
What do we like?
👍 Beautiful dual OLED panels: Both of the 13-inch OLED touchscreens on the Zenbook Duo are responsive to the touch and easy on the eyes thanks to their 3K resolution and 120Hz refresh rates. Colors also really pop, though like with most OLED laptops these screens don't get quite as bright as many competing LCD panels.
👍 Great performance: Upgrading to the latest Intel Core Ultra chips gives the Zenbook Duo a nice speed boost, and as you'll see from our performance test results below this dual-screen beast runs circles around every other laptop on this list save the ROG Flow Z13.
👍Durable build quality: A major problem with this nascent new field of dual-screen laptops is durability: flimsy hinges and easy-to-bend keyboards are a real issue. Luckily not so with the 2025 Asus Zenbook Duo, as this model is sturdy with a strong hinge that easily supports both screens however you lay them out. Plus, it has the best Bluetooth keyboard we've ever used on a dual-screen laptop.
What don’t we like?
👎 Poor battery life: Unfortunately, the upgrade to Intel Core Ultra 2 chips improved the performance of this laptop over its predecessor but worsened the battery life. In our testing it lasted just over 6 hours on a full charge, giving it the worst battery life of any laptop on this list.
👎 Underwhelming port array: You don't get a ton of ports on this machine, as you're limited to a pair of Thunderbolt ports, a USB-A port, an HDMI out and headphone jack. That's enough to get by, but it would have been nice to see useful additions like an SD card reader and additional USB-A or USB-C ports.
Bottom line
The 2025 Asus Zenbook Duo is a big improvement over its predecessor that not only proves dual-screen laptops are viable, it actually makes me want to use one. While it takes some time to get comfortable spreading the screens out in all the different configurations you can use it in (with the screens tented, stacked atop each other, propped up side by side like a book, etc), once you master this eye-catching laptop you'll be turning heads in the coffee shop with how productive you can be.
Performance test results compared
We run every laptop we test and review through the Geekbench CPU benchmarking utility to get a sense of how capable it is in terms of raw CPU power.
Geekbench assigns the laptop a score for its performance in single-core workloads and multi-core workloads, which we then report to you against similar laptops to help you decide. The single-core workload score is typically a little more meaningful because not all apps are optimized for multi-core performance, but many are so it is important to know.
Laptop | Single-core | Multi-core |
Asus ProArt PX13 | 2847 | 15203 |
Asus ROG Flow Z13 | 2995 | 19457 |
Asus Zenbook Duo | 2952 | 16048 |
Microsoft Surface Pro 11 | 2813 | 14432 |
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Pro 360 | 2308 | 11979 |
Battery life test results compared
Battery life is one of the key things you should look at when deciding which 2-in-1 laptop to buy, which is why we run every laptop we review through a series of battery tests to see how long it lasts on a full charge.
These tests do not reflect real-world use patterns since we have to set every laptop to the same settings in order to do fair comparisons. Thus, while the times listed here are accurate and useful as a comparison point, your own experience with a laptop's battery life will likely vary.
This is because when we run our battery test we set the laptop's display to 150 nits of brightness and have it endlessly browse the web via Wi-Fi until it dies. However, when you use your laptop you're likely adjusting brightness on the fly, doing all sorts of different tasks while perhaps listening to music or watching a video at the same time, and generally putting the machine through more of a workout than it gets in our test.
So while I stand by our testing and the battery life results we compare in the chart below, I want to be clear that your own experience will vary!
Laptop | Battery life (tested) |
Asus ProArt PX13 | 9:28 |
Asus ROG Flow Z13 | 7:30 (web) | 2:15 (gaming) |
Asus Zenbook Duo | 6:05 |
Microsoft Surface Pro 11 | 12:10 |
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Pro 360 | 12:04 |
How to choose the best laptop for you
How to choose the best 2-in-1 laptop for you
Performance: If you only need something basic for surfing the web and checking email, consider a cheap machine like the Surface Pro 11. If you need more power to multi-task, run demanding applications, or edit photos/videos, look for a 2-in-1 packing plenty of RAM and newer CPUs, like the Asus ProArt PX13 or Asus Zenbook Duo.
Graphics and gaming: To function as both tablets and laptops 2-in-1s are typically designed to be as thin and power-efficient as possible, so they don't pack discrete GPUs and thus aren't great at running the latest games. However, there are exceptions, like the game-focused Asus ROG Flow Z13. But any Windows laptop with a decent x86 CPU and enough RAM can probably play older or basic games well, and the Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 and Asus ProArt PX13 have discrete GPUs onboard that help them run games better.
Size: Consider how portable you need your new 2-in-1 to be: is this a laptop you occasionally want to use as a tablet, or vice versa? If you prefer the lighter weight and smaller size (typically) of a tablet, and can live with having a flimsy/detachable keyboard, then something like the Surface Pro 11. If you'd rather have the larger screen and extra power/versatility of a laptop that doubles as a tablet, and don't mind the extra size and weight, consider something like the Asus ProArt PX13 Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360.
Operating system: 2-in-1s mostly come with two varieties of operating system: Windows and ChromeOS. Right now every laptop we have on this list is a Windows machine, but that will likely change since some of the best Chromebooks are 2-in-1s and more launch every year.
Still, Windows 11 is by far the most common operating system among 2-in-1 laptops, but now it's available in two flavors: Arm and x86. Most laptops run on x86 but the Snapdragon chips which power the Surface Pro 11 are Arm-based, so keep in mind that you can't run games on it. If you'd prefer that, go with the Asus ROG Flow Z13 (for pure gaming) or the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 (for a Windows laptop that can also run games on occasion).
How we tested these laptops
How we test the best 2-in-1 laptops
To find the best 2-in-1 laptops we run every machine through a rigorous suite of benchmarks and real-world tests to gauge how it will perform during everyday use.
We measure the average brightness and color quality of each laptop's display using our in-house light meter and colorimeter. For general performance, we run our machines through tests that include Geekbench 5 (CPU performance), as well as various 3DMark tests to measure graphics capabilities. We also run a file transfer test to measure how fast a machine's hard drive is, and a custom battery test that has the machine browse the internet over Wi-Fi until it runs out of juice.
Since these aren't dedicated gaming laptops we don't run benchmarks for popular games (like Far Cry: New Dawn); 2-in-1 laptops don't have discrete GPUs, as a rule, and thus will rarely deliver satisfactory performance in modern 3D games. However, they are capable of running older or less demanding PC games, so we do run a benchmark test to measure their performance in Sid Meier's Civilization 6: Gathering Storm.
For more information on our testing process, check out our guide to how we test.
Alex Wawro is a lifelong journalist who's spent over a decade covering tech, games and entertainment. He helps oversee the computing department at Tom's Guide, which includes managing laptop coverage and reviewing many 2-in-1 laptops himself every year.
