Windows laptop touch screen

The best touchscreen laptops have responsive, accurate screens that make swiping and tapping your way through work or play feel natural. Their displays are bright and vibrant, and they're often mounted on a 360-degree hinge that lets them flip over for use as tablets.

Touchscreen laptops have improved by leaps and bounds in recent years as Windows and Chrome OS have been refined for touch input. Now there's a bumper crop of options available to you when you're in the market for a new portable PC with a touchscreen, and many of them rank among the best laptops you can buy.

• Want more power? Check out thebest gaming laptops
• Need something small? Take a look at the best 13-inch laptops

What are the best touchscreen laptops?

Right now the best touchscreen laptop overall is the Dell XPS 13, which packs speedy components and a gorgeous 13-inch touchscreen with nearly non-existent bezels into a svelte, lightweight design. Plus, it has great battery life.If you can afford the more expensive model with a 3.5K OLED touchscreen, it's well worth the expense because of its superb color reproduction and contrast.

If you love the idea of an OLED touchscreen laptop but want something that can convert into a big tablet, you'd be happier with the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360. It has a beautiful 15-inch 1080p AMOLED touchscreen, great battery life and enough computing muscle to handle all your daily tasks. Plus, it comes with a stylus that's great for doodling on the screen -- though sadly there's no handy compartment on the laptop to hold it when not in use.

If your budget is tight, we recommend considering either the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 or the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. Both are surprisingly capable touchscreen Chromebooks that cost less than $500; the former is a bit more expensive but packs a powerful Intel Core i5 CPU and a great screen, while the latter is a less powerful Chrome tablet that's much cheaper [often under $300] and ships with a decent keyboard cover included.

The best touchscreen laptops you can buy today

The Dell XPS 13 is a popular machine here at Tom's Guide, and it's the best touchscreen laptop because it's a strong performer that packs a beautiful display into a slim, lightweight design.

The 1,920 x 1,200 touchscreen on the 2020 model we tested felt accurate and easy to use. Plus, in 2021 Dell began offering the XPS 13 with an optional 3.5K OLED touchscreen that's just as accurate and a lot more beautiful. If you can afford it [it's usually a couple hundred bucks extra, around the same price as the non-OLED 4K touchscreen configuration] it's well worth the investment, as the OLED's deep, inky blacks, vibrant colors, and high contrast ratios really shine when mounted in the XPS 13's thin-bezelled InfinityEdge design. We like it so much we gave the XPS 13 the awards for best laptop display and best laptop overall in ourTom's Guide Awards 2021.

Read our full Dell XPS 13 OLED review.

Not interested in OLED? Don't miss our Dell XPS 13 [2020] review.

With its beautiful AMOLED touchscreen, excellent battery life, and comfortable S Pen stylus, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is the best 2-in-1 touchscreen laptop for creatives, students, and professionals who like to take notes or doodle.

While the webcam is disappointing, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 unites some of the latest and greatest Windows ultraportable components with the Super AMOLED display tech and Galaxy device ecosystem Samsung is known for though that last part may be more hassle than help if you're not already a Galaxy device owner.If you're in the market for a new touchscreen laptop that can convert into [a slightly large and unwieldy] tablet, this is currently our top recommendation.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 review.

Microsoft's Surface Laptop Studio is a reimagined Surface Book with a more MacBook Pro-like design and an eye-catching hinged touchscreen you can pull towards yourself for easier access. This is Microsofts flagship device forWindows 11, which promises to make Windows a more inviting place for both work and play. Like Windows 11, the Surface Laptop Studio is advertised as a one-stop shop for productivity, entertainment and creative work.

And for the most part, it is all that: its 11th Gen Intel CPU and 16+ GB of RAM gives you enough power to tackle most work, and if you splurge for a model with the discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU the Surface Laptop Studio also doubles as a decent machine for gaming or video editing on the go.

However, it's a bit pricey when you kit it out, and despite its great components the Surface Laptop Studio delivers subpar performance compared to similarly-priced machines. But few other laptops can match its intriguing sliding hinged display, which can be tented over the keys like an easel or slid all the way flat to turn the Studio into a heavy tablet.

Read our full Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio review.

If you're looking for a premium Windows touchscreen laptop to get work done from anywhere, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 is the way to go. It has a nice responsive touchscreen and a comfy keyboard with well-sized, satisfying keys. Plus, it packs competent components into a thin, light chassis, and it comes with a clean bloatware-free Windows 10 install.

Add in its respectable 10-plus hour battery life and the touchscreen's tall 3:2 display ratio, which can help you read and edit documents more comfortably, and you have a great notebook for getting things done on the go. The speakers are pretty good, too; in fact, this is one of the best-sounding laptops around.

Read our full Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 review.

The Asus ZenBook Duo 14 is great for anyone who needs two touchscreens on their laptop, because Asus has embedded a 12-inch touchscreen above the keyboard. It might seem like a gimmick, but in our hands-on testing we found it's actually a great home for secondary applications like as Spotify, Slack, Discord and more. It can also be used by creative apps from the likes of Adobe, who put touch controls there.

On top of that, its performance is speedy and competitive with the XPS 13, which it trades rounds with in head-to-head comparison. Plus, its battery life is long especially when you realize it's got two screens to light up.

The big downside, though, is that there's almost no room on the keyboard deck for you to rest your wrists, making the ZenBook Duo 14 a bit ergonomically unfriendly. But if you invest in an external wrist rest, you should be good.

Read our full Asus ZenBook Duo 14 review.

We love the Lenovo Chromebook Duet because it's a surprisingly competent Chrome tablet given its remarkably affordable $279 price tag, and it comes with a free detachable keyboard that you can use to turn it into a totally serviceable Chromebook.

The touchscreen is accurate and responsive no matter how you use it, and it looks nice and sharp to boot. Plus, it's got great battery life, lasting nearly 13 hours in our in-house battery tests.

Read our full Lenovo Chromebook Duet review.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano is one of the best touchscreen laptops when weight is key, because it manages to pack highly performant components into a slim, 2-pound chassis. The touchscreen feels comfortable to use, as does the snappy keyboard, and its 12-hour battery life [based on our in-house battery testing] helps you carry it all day without worrying about bringing a charger.

You can get the ThinkPad X1 Nano for around $1,500 too, which is a pretty good price for what you get. You just might need to pack a USB-C hub, though, as the X1 Nano's a little light on ports.

Read our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano review.

The Dell XPS 15 offers all the virtues of the XPS 13, but with a larger 4K touchscreen that feels responsive to the touch and makes navigating Windows via touch feel fluid and natural.

Dont let its slim and stylish design fool you, either the Dell XPS 15 2020 is an absolute workhorse. Its 10th Gen Intel Core processors are no longer cutting-edge but the XPS 15 can still juggle multiple tasks with ease, and its optional Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti GPU gives it some serious gaming muscle. Factor in a pair of impressively loud speakers and solid battery life for a 4K laptop, and the new XPS 15 is one of the best 15-inch laptops you can buy.

Read our full Dell XPS 15 [2020] review.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 8 is the latest in the companys line of 2-in-1 Surface Pro tablets. This iteration includes an 11th generation Intel CPU, a 13-inch 120Hz display, two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a removable SSD. Just as important, you'll getWindows 11right out of the box with this 2-in-1.

Its small size and lightweight design make the Surface Pro 8 ideal to use at home or on the road. The front-facing and rear cameras are also fantastic, providing clean detailed images. Unfortunately, the Surface Pro 8 disappoints as a gaming device and didn't live up to the promised 16 hours of battery life in our testing. Despite some of those qualms, the Surface 8 Pro is arguably the best Surface Pro yet.

Read our full Microsoft Surface Pro 8 review.

The highly portable Google Pixelbook Go is a touchscreen Chromebook with a slim, lightweight design that weighs just over 2 pounds and a rubberized, easy-to-grip chassis that comes in sleek Just Black and Not Pink paint jobs. The quiet, comfortable keyboard is pretty nice, too.

The Pixelbook Go is a great touchscreen laptop for students who need a Chromebook because it offers long battery life [11+ hours], solid performance, a bright, colorful display and a responsive touchscreen. If you've got over $600 to spend, this is one of the best Chromebooks yet for those willing to dip into the premium range. Just be aware that the Pixelbook Go is a bit short on ports, and doesn't fold into tablet mode like its bigger Pixelbook brother does.

Read our full Google Pixelbook Go review.

The HP Elite Dragonfly is a touchscreen 2-in-1 with one of the most stunning designs we've ever seen on a laptop, sporting incredibly thin edges that measure just 0.6 inches in thickness and a deep blue coat of paint that looks refreshing, mesmerizing and professional all at once. And while the Dragonfly is wonderfully light at 2.5 pounds, it also feels impressively sturdy, has an oleophobic coating to prevent fingerprints and uses recycled ocean-bound plastics to help the environment.

Performance and features-wise, this beauty is a beast. Its stunning 13.3-inch touchscreen crushed our color and brightness tests, and it helps make TV and movies look great. Its Intel CPUs are beefy enough to handle business-grade workloads without issues, and its keyboard is one of the most pleasant we've ever typed on. HP Elite Dragonfly also offers over 12 hours of battery life, so you can carry it through a day of meetings without needing to worry about running dry. The Dragonfly is on the expensive side with a starting price of $1,629, but those who are willing to pay a premium will be rewarded with one of the best touchscreen laptops on the market.

Read our full HP Elite Dragonfly review.

The Lenovo Yoga 9i entered a crowded field of 2-in-1s and made a splash with a competitive price. Not only does it have latest 11th Gen Core i7 processor, a built-in stylus and long battery life, but its display is plenty colorful and its neat rotating speaker packs a ton of punch.

And, yes, its port selection may be a little thin, and its display could stand to be slightly brighter. But when it's often on sale for hundreds of dollars less than similarly-specced laptop from HP and Dell, the Lenovo Yoga 9i is a serious competitor for your investment. If you need a well-rounded touchscreen laptop with great speakers that converts into a tablet, the Yoga 9i is an excellent choice.

Read our full Lenovo Yoga 9i review.

From its bright 15-inch touchscreen to its strong performance and even more striking color, the Galaxy Book Flex is a great 2-in-1 touchscreen laptop, and its nifty Qi-charging touchpad offers the kind of unique functionality wed like to see other laptop makers attempt.

We also love the Galaxy Book Flex's fantastic endurance and solid performance, but there are some asterisks getting in the way. Specifically, its keyboard takes some getting used to, thanks to a questionably-placed fingerprint reader and shallow keys. Still, if you need a great touchscreen 2-in-1 with the longest battery life on the market [the Flex lasted an amazing 15 hours and 44 minutes in our battery test] this is the laptop for you.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Book Flex review.

Acer serves up the trifecta of fast, long-lasting and affordable with the Chromebook Spin 713. This sleek silver touchscreen laptop weighs just 3 pounds, and it offers incredible performance for a Chromebook thanks to its Intel Core i5 CPU. Plus, it has a surprisingly bright and colorful display.

We'd rank it higher were its speakers a bit stronger, or its keyboard a little larger. Still, the Chromebook Spin 713 is more than deserving of a spot on this list of the best laptops around. It delivers great value for its $629 asking price and it often gets put on sale at lower prices.

Read our full Acer Chromebook Spin 713 review.

How we test the best touchscreen laptops

To find the best touchscreen laptop, we run every machine we review through a rigorous suite of benchmarks and real-world tests to gauge how it will perform during everyday use.

When they arrive at our lab 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.

After we've run our suite of lab tests the laptop is delivered to one of our crack reviewers for hands-on testing. This involves at least a week of daily use, during which the reviewer tests how well the laptop stands up to everything from working remotely to watching movies, playing games, listening to music, and creating content. Each reviewer also tests how effective and comfortable the laptop is during daily use, evaluating the design and accuracy of the keyboard, touchpad, and touchscreen.

• Here are thebest computersyou can buy
• Need more power? Check out the best gaming PCs
• One of thebest microphonescan enhance your setup