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Finding the best touchscreen laptop on the market can be an overwhelming task. It seems the market is saturated by every top brand and also-ran, making it nearly impossible to actually find the best one for you without busting your budget. The good news is that, while there are dozens to choose from, only a few stand out above the crowd.
In many ways, searching for the best touchscreen laptop is nearly as nerve-wracking as shopping for a brand new vehicle. And it seems that there’s always a trade-off when it comes to features.
Thankfully, there are simple ways to cut through the noise to find the best touchscreen laptop for your life.
Comparison Table
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The Many Faces of the Best Touchscreen Laptop
image via Pixabay
Before we look at some of the best touchscreen laptop models on the market, it’s essential to go over the different categories of touchscreen laptops available.
Some different categories include budget, mainstream, business, 2-in-1 detachable and convertibles, gaming laptops, and Chromebooks.
Budget
Most of us love to save money. However, when searching for the best touchscreen laptop, you won’t find any budget laptops under $1,000 that will topple many of the more expensive options.
When it comes to laptops, the phrase “you get what you pay for” is often accurate. Most budget models under $500 will not offer the handy 2-in-1 feature more expensive models provide, nor will they have more powerful components found in higher-end models.
Mainstream and business
You’ll probably find that the bulk of touchscreen models are designed for mainstream and business users. There are many working professionals who love taking notes on their touchscreen, such as architects, for example. They are also popular choices among many students who use them to take notes.
2-in-1 detachable and convertibles
By their very nature, all 2-in-1 systems must have touch screens. When you’re using 360-degree rotating tablet or tent mode, you won’t have access to the keyboard. Therefore, touch input is the only option.
The same goes for 2-in-1 detachable laptops, and once you remove the keyboard, you’ll need to use your fingers or a stylus for input.
Gaming laptops
Gamers usually don’t have much use for touchscreen laptops. They are more concerned about features such as cooling, memory speed, and processing power.
Furthermore, so far there are not any PC games designed to use this technology. Also, gaming laptops are not the most cost-effective options for business and mainstream users.
Giant-screen laptops
It’s difficult to find many 17-inch laptops that are touchscreens. The touch-panel laptops that size are usually very pricey and not cost-effective options for most consumers.
Chromebooks
Newer Chromebooks are starting to offer touchscreen capability, which wasn’t the case with earlier models. With the emergence of 2-in-1 convertible Chromebooks (most with 360-degree designs), touch is becoming the new standard for these machines.
This feature works exceptionally well with Android apps that run well on these machines.
The Downsides of Even the Best Touchscreen Laptop
image via Pixabay
Before laying down your investment into the best touchscreen laptop, you may want to consider a few essential factors before going all in.
Battery considerations
A touchscreen laptop will zap your battery life much faster than most non-touchscreen models. These machines need a lot of energy to operate the digitizing layer, which will always be on, waiting for your fingertip or stylus.
However, this factor can also be a bit deceiving, because touchscreen models also tend to be higher-end laptops with more features and power-consuming components than lower-end models. As a matter of fact, a laptop with higher screen brightness and better resolution is also a significant drain on battery life.
That said, all things being equal, touchscreen models may not show a significant amount of additional battery drainage in some cases.
The very expensive and losable stylus pen
Aside from simple tap, swipe, and pinch actions on a touchscreen, stylus pen support is vital if sketching or taking hand-written notes. The best touchscreen laptop models will offer stylus pen support. However, know that many models do not include stylus pens and they can be expensive to purchase or replace.
For example, a Microsoft Surface Pro stylus pen can cost around $100.
Do you really need a touchscreen?
Consider how you actually work or play on a day-to-day basi
s before committing to a touchscreen panel.
If your most common PC activity is tackling fine-celled spreadsheets, then jabbing a touchscreen with a finger or stylus pen might not be the most productive use of your time.
There are also ergonomic considerations. If you’re reaching from the keyboard to the screen a lot, this movement could clash with your natural workflow on a regular laptop.
The Stylus Pen
Image Source: Pixabay
Stylus pens can vary from a simple plastic passive stick, which is basically a low-tech surrogate for your fingertip, to a high-tech active pen, which has a built-in battery and will also work as a mouse.
Higher-end stylus pens can also support pressure sensitivity and angle detection, as well as offer a digital “eraser” on its end. The Microsoft Surface Pen is a prime example of a high-end stylus pen.
If you decide to use a stylus pen, be sure to investigate storage options. These pens are no different than their ink-filled ancestors in that they are easy to lose in a bag or leave behind somewhere.
Many of the best touchscreen laptop models offer a built-in stylus pen storage port to hold your pen when not in use. Some even provide a magnetic clip that sticks the pen to the machine.
You may also find specially-designed laptop sleeves that also offer stylus storage.
What Is Inside the Best Touchscreen Laptop?
image via Pixabay
While the best touchscreen laptop will obviously offer touchscreen input, the same hardware considerations should apply when buying any new laptop. Features such as screen size and resolution, CPU, RAM, GPU, Wi-Fi, and Solid State Hard Drive capacity are st
ill things you need to consider carefully before buying a machine.
Screen size and resolution
As mentioned earlier, most touchscreen laptops will have large screen displays. Standard touchscreen laptop size ranges between 12 and 15.6 inches. As for resolution, you don’t want to buy a machine that offers less than 1080p high-definition picture.
By the same token, you may want to consider looking at a 4K model if you want the best picture available. It seems that 4K technology is quickly becoming the new standard for televisions, and soon laptops won’t be far behind.
Wi-Fi, RAM, GPU, and CPU
When searching for the best touchscreen laptop or any new laptop for that matter, most machines should offer 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapters, which offer some of the fastest speeds available.
Random Access Memory (also known as RAM) is measured by capacity and speed. RAM capacity is measured in Gigabytes and speed is measured in Megahertz.
Double Data Rate, or DDR, often references the generation of the RAM module. Right now, DDR4 is the best RAM you can buy. However, many users won’t notice a huge difference between many laptops using DDR3 and DDR4 RAM unless they are heavy users or gamers.
Here’s an example of how a laptop advertisement may describe RAM and how to understand it: “16GB of DDR4 SDRAM-3600MHz” translates to 16 Gigabytes of DDR generation 4 Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory that operates at a speed of 3600 Megahertz.
For most users, 8 Gigabytes of RAM is more than enough, but power users may want to have at least 16 gigabytes.
The GPU or Graphics Processing Unit dictates your laptop’s ability to render graphics smoothly. For most mainstream and business users, the best touchscreen laptop will have a very decent mid-range graphics card.
You can expect to find either an NVIDIA GPU or an integrated Intel GPU in most touchscreen systems, which works just fine for business and mainstream users.
Finally, when looking at the CPU, you’ll find that the best touchscreen laptop models will offer either an 8th Generation Intel Core i5 or i7 CPU. Honestly, you don’t have to worry too much about CPU speed unless you do intensive tasks like graphic design, gaming, or data mining. Most CPUs found in the best touchscreen laptop models are going to speeds between 1.3 and 4 Gigahertz, which is more than enough for most users.
Solid State Hard Drive (SSD)
A Solid State Hard Drive, more commonly known as an SSD, is essentially a large flash drive that houses your operating system and most of your essential files. SSDs are faster and more stable than traditional hard drives because they have no moving parts that can break.
The best touchscreen laptop will have an SSD drive that measures capacity the same way RAM does, in Gigabytes. Most laptops will offer between 256 Gigabytes and one Terabyte of SSD storage capacity with 512 Gigabytes being the most popular option.
How We Found the Best Touchscreen Laptop
In our quest to find the best touchscreen laptop, we reviewed dozens of articles, social media pages, forums, and videos and compiled a list of the top-recommended models.
From there we selected only the best touchscreen laptop models that had the highest user ratings.
These Are the Best Touchscreen Laptop Models on the Market
Our list of the best touchscreen laptop models consists of eight machines. Each product has standard features such as a webcam, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and touchscreen. The screen sizes of these models vary from 13.3 to 15.6-inches. Furthermore, prices for these models range anywhere between $1,000 and $3,000. Additionally, all laptop models offer one-year warranties.
HP Spectre x360 – 15-df0068nr
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The HP Spectre x360 – 15-df0068nr features an Intel Core i7 CPU with a 1.8 Gigahertz base frequency which goes up to 4 Gigahertz if using Intel Turbo Boost technology, 8-Megabyte cache, and four processing cores.
Additionally, the GPU consists of an NVIDIA GeForce MX150 with 2 Gigabytes GDDR5 onboard dedicated RAM. Furthermore, it has 16 Gigabytes of DDR4-2400 RAM (in the form of two 8-Gigabyte sticks) and a 512-Gigabyte Solid State Drive.
Also, this model features a 15.6-inch diagonal 4K IPS eDP micro-edge BrightView WLED-backlit (3840×2160) touchscreen display that supports any stylus compliant with Microsoft Ink. Similarly, it has an HP Imagepad with multi-touch gesture support and Windows 10 pre-installed by HP.
Plus, the Wi-Fi features an 802.11b/g/n/ac (2×2) Wi-fi and Bluetooth 4.2 combo adapter, and for audio, it has Bang & Olufsen dual speakers and has between six to eight hours of battery life.
Ports include the following:
- One Thunderbolt 3 (data transfer up to 40 Gigabytes per second, DisplayPort1.2 (DP1.2), HP Sleep and charge)
- One USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 (Data transfer up to 5 Gigabytes-per-second DisplayPort1.2 (DP1.2), HP Sleep and charge)
- One USB 3.1 Gen 1 (HP Sleep and charge)
- One HDMIOne Headphone-Microphone combo 3.5-Millimeter microphone jack
One reviewer said her laptop worked flawlessly and noted that the touchscreen display was bright, beautiful, and very responsive. That said, another customer complained about a glitchy screen, which was probably a defect.
Dell XPS 13
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The Dell XPS 13 features an Intel Core 8th Gen Quad Core i7-8550U CPU that’s up to 4 Gigahertz with an 8-Megabyte cache.
Coupled with a 13.3-inch 4K Ultra HD (3840×2160) InfinityEdge touch screen display, it also has an Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU. Plus, it offers over 19 hours of battery life on Full HD mode.
Also, installed memory consists of 16 Gigabytes of LPDDR3 2133-Hertz RAM, and for Wi-Fi, it has a Killer 1435 802.ac 2×2 and Bluetooth adapter.
Finally, this system has Windows Professional 64 bit pre-installed, stereo speakers tuned with Waves MaxxAudio Pro, and a 512-Gigabyte Solid State Drive.
Available ports include:
- Two Thunderbolt 3 with PowerShare, DC-In, and DisplayPort support
- One USB-C 3.1 with PowerShare, DC-In, and DisplayPort support
- One card reader
- One 3.5-millimeter headset jack
- One Noble lock slot
A customer raved over the laptop’s stunning 4K display, fast performance, and responsive touch screen. However, another customer noted that the fan did tend to get a bit noisy and expressed concerns about possible overheating.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2
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The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 features an 8th generation Intel Core i7 CPU, 16 Gigabytes of RAM, an Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU, and a 1-Terabyte Solid State Drive.
Not to mention, the screen consists of a 13.5-inch PixelSense touch screen display with 2256×1504 resolution, and the battery life offers up to 14.5 hours of video playback on
one battery charge.
Also, this system includes a Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac adapter that is also compatible with Bluetooth Wireless 4.1 technology.
Available ports include:
- One full-size USB 3.0
- One 3.5-millimeter headphone jack
- One Mini DisplayPort
- One Surface Connect port
There was one customer who described it as sleek and powerful, capable of running demanding apps like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator with no issues. However, another customer complained that the Wi-Fi adapter was too glitchy.
ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX550GE
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The ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX550GE features an 8th Generation i7-8570HK CPU with an 8-Megabyte cache and up to 4.8 Gigahertz of processing power.
Additionally, the system includes Windows 64 Professional pre-installed, has a dual-fan cooling system with three heat pipes and features a Harman Kardon sound system using next-generation ASUS SonicMaster audio technology.
Plus, it has a 15.6-inch UHD 4K touch display with an 83 percent screen to body ratio NanoEdge bezel for more display space and 3840×2160 resolution.
Furthermore, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX1050TI GPU offers seamless 4K video playback, photo editing, and more. On top of that, it supports two separate 4K UHD displays.
Also, it comes with 16 Gigabytes of LPDDR4 2133-Megahertz RAM, a 512-Gigabyte PCI-E NVMe Solid State Drive, and an integrated dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter with 4.1 Bluetooth support.
Its battery life can last up to 9.5 hours with fast charging to 60 percent in 49 minutes.
Ports for this model include:
- One 3.5-millimeter audio jack
- One MicroSD card slot
- Two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports
- One HDMI port
- Two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports
One consumer praised the laptop’s superb build quality and said it delivered outstanding performance. He also enjoyed the system’s powerful audio. Meanwhile, another customer complained that the machine ran too hot for long gaming sessions and the power bar was very big, making it difficult for travel.
LG gram 15.6-Inch Ultra-Lightweight Touchscreen Laptop w/ Intel® Core™ i7 processor and Thunderbolt™ 3
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The LG gram 15.6-inch Ultra-Lightweight Touchscreen Laptop w/ Intel® Core™ i7 processor and Thunderbolt™ 3 features an 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8565U 1.8 Gigahertz CPU.
Additionally, the laptop has a 15.6-inch touch screen display with a max screen resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. Plus, it has a 1-Terabyte Solid State Drive, Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU, and 16 Gigabytes of DDR4 SDRAM.
Coupled with, an 801.11ac standard Wi-Fi adapter, it also comes with Windows 10 Home pre-installed and offers 18.5 hours of battery life.
Port connections on this model include:
- One HDMI port
- Three USB 3.1 ports
- One USB 3.1 Type-C port (Thunderbolt 3)
- One 3.5-millimeter audio jack
- USB Type-C port (with RJ45 gender for ethernet use)
One self-described 12-hour power user described the system as very fast with outstanding battery life. That said, another customer complained that they didn’t like the glossy touchscreen and that it wasn’t great for gaming.
Additionally, it comes with a one-year warranty.
Microsoft Surface Pro 6
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The Surface Pro 6 features an Intel 8th Generation i7-3960X 1.3 Gigahertz CPU, 16 Gigabytes of LPDDR3 1866-Megahertz RAM, an Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU, and a 1-Terabyte Solid State Drive.
Furthermore, the average battery life lasts 13.5 hours, and it has a 15.3-inch touch screen display with 2736×1824 resolution and an 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter with Bluetooth 4.1 support. Plus, the system includes Windows 10 Home pre-installed.
Also, the laptop configures into three modes: laptop, tablet, and studio mode.
Connections include:
- One full-size USB 3.0
- One 3.5-millimeter headphone jack
- One Mini DisplayPort
- One Surface Connect port
- One MicroSDXC card reader
- One Surface Type Cover port
This system is described as a great hybrid laptop by one customer, who also states that it works very fast when multi-tasking applications. On the other hand, another customer complained that the keyboard felt awkward and of poor quality.
It has a one-year warranty.
Google Pixelbook
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The Google Pixelbook is a high-performance Chromebook featuring Google Assistant built in. It has a 7th Generation Intel-Core i7 CPU, 16 Gigabytes of RAM, an 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter with Bluetooth, and a 512 Gigabyte Solid State Drive.
Equally important, the battery delivers up to 10 hours of use and features fast charging, which gives you 2 hours of use in 15 minutes. Also, the laptop has a four-in-one design that features four modes: tablet, tent, entertainment, and laptop.
Additionally, the screen display is a 12.3-inch 360-degree touchscreen display featuring Corning Gorilla Glass and a backlit keyboard.
Plus, this Chromebook runs Chrome OS with automatic updates for virus protection.
Ports include:
- Two USB-C ports
- One 3.5-millimeter headphone jack
The Google Pixelbook rates 4.0 out of 5 stars from buyers on Amazon. One customer said he loved the quick and responsive keyboard and its ability to run thousands of Andriod apps. Then again, another customer complained that the Bluetooth was very buggy.
It includes a one-year warranty.
HUAWEI MateBook X Pro
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The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro features an 8th Generation Intel. Core i7-8550U 1.8-1.8 Gigahertz CPU, 512-Gigabyte Solid State Drive, 16 Gigabytes of DDR3 SDRAM, an 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter, and an NVIDIA GeForce MX150 GPU.
Not to mention, it has a 13.9-inch 3K touchscreen display offering 3000x 2000 resolution and 2nd Generation Dolby ATMOS audio.
Plus, battery life lasts up to 15 hours. It comes with Windows 10 Home Signature pre-installed, and ports include:
- One 3.5-millimeter headset jack
- One USB-C port
- One USB-C Thunderbolt 3 port
- One USB 3.0 port
The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro received 4.4 out of 5 stars from buyers on Amazon. An Amazon customer praised the laptop’s battery life, bright display, audio, and comfortable keyboard design. However, the same customer criticized the fragile build quality, port arrangement, and webcam.
Plus, it includes a one-year warranty.
Getting All Handsy with the Best Touchscreen Laptop
Image Via: Pixabay
Our pick for the best touchscreen laptop is the ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX550GE. This laptop is one of the few models that offer 4K resolution, an 8th Generation Intel Core CPU, and DDR4 RAM, all in a very impressive package.
Plus, this model’s fast-charging feature more than makes up for its relatively short 9.5-hour battery life.
We hope this guide for the best touchscreen laptop models proves useful in your search in finding the right laptop for your needs.
Featured Image Source: Pexels
