This is Lenovo Yoga 9, a 2-in-1 convertible touchscreen laptop that supports an active
stylus pen.
I can flip its screen and take handwritten notes using the included active pen.
So if you are a student or a working professional looking for a similar laptop, here are my
picks of the best 2-in-1 convertible touchscreen laptops that you can buy in the market today.
Let's start with Acer’s offering.
There is Acer Spin 3, the budget model and Acer Spin 5, the more premium model.
Both these include an active stylus pen that can be stored and charged in a convenient
pen slot on its side.
Acer Spin 3 comes in 13.3” and 14” screen size.
You have a choice of going with either Full-HD resolution or a higher 2560 by 1600 resolution
screen.
Acer Spin 5 on the other hand comes in a taller 3:2 aspect ratio with a resolution of 2256
by 1504.
Both these laptops have a responsive touchscreen that works great with the included active
stylus pen.
The pen offers decent latency and palm rejection when jotting down quick notes, doodling or
making sketches.
Unfortunately this pen is too thin and small for my hands, and I find it rather inconvenient
when using for a long period of time.
I would recommend upgrading to a better third party pen that is more ergonomic.
Regarding build quality, Acer Spin 3 is made from plastic while Spin 5 uses more premium
magnesium/aluminum alloy.
Their 360 degree hinge isn't the best, but does a fine job holding the laptop in tablet
as well as clamshell mode.
Although you have a choice of picking either Intel or AMD, I would stick with Intel because
Acer’s AMD offering is horribly outdated.
If you are on a tight budget, checkout this $530 Acer Spin 3.
Although it uses an older 10th gen Intel Core-i5 processor, it's performance is pretty good
and the included active pen is a nice bonus
Next let's talk about Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 convertible laptop.
Dell laptops have superior build quality and they come in a sand-blasted metallic finish
which feels very grippy while holding.
The top lid, the palm rest under the keyboard and the 360 degree hinge is made from aluminum
giving this laptop a premium look and feel.
You get a 14” Full HD touch screen display that supports an active stylus pen.
Dell’s active stylus pen is often not included with the laptop, so please make sure that
you are getting one when you purchase it.
Some third party active pens like lazarite and Wacom also work great with this laptop
and I have linked them in the video description below.
These pens provide various levels of pressure sensitivity and palm rejection.
This coupled with low latency, results in excellent note taking and sketching experience.
Regarding CPU choices, Dell offers 11th and 12th generation Intel CPUs as well as AMD
Ryzen 5000 series CPUs.
The cheapest model that I could find was selling for only $650 at Dell’s website.
For this price you get an 11th gen intel core i5-1155G7 processor, 8 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD
storage.
These are pretty good specs for the price.
But if you want more horsepower, I would recommend picking either the 12th gen intel Alderlake
core-i7 or core-i5 processors or AMD Ryzen 5000 series processor.
These offer far more cores and threads and will deliver significant performance improvements.
Overall, Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 laptops offer excellent build quality, great keyboard, class
leading CPU and integrated GPU performance and a nice display with active pen support.
Next let's talk about Lenovo Flex 5.
You can get this laptop in both AMD Ryzen 5000 series as well as 11th gen Intel CPUs.
But if you are interested in the 12th generation Intel alderlake CPU, you will have to wait
because those are not yet available.
But the good news is that Lenovo is heavily discounting the existing Intel and AMD models.
In fact the Ryzen 5 5500U based model with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD is only selling for
550 bucks which is a steal in my opinion.
Lenovo Flex 5’s top half is made from aluminum while the bottom half is made from 30% fiber
glass reinforced polycarbonate material.
This results in superior strength, rigidity, and dimensional stability than a typical ABS
polymer budget laptop.
Flex 5 uses a Full HD LED backlit IPS panel with a maximum brightness of 250 nits and
it supports multi-touch and active stylus pens.
The included Lenovo Active pen trumps both Acer Spin 3 and Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 pens
in the writing department.
It offers better latency and palm rejection when using Microsoft OneNote app and Windows
Ink Workspace.
As a result students and working professionals who take a lot of notes, make diagrams and
write equations will find this laptop a joy to use.
Next let's talk about HP Envy x360.
This is a premium 2-in-1 convertible laptop that comes in both 13.3 and 15.6 inch screen
sizes.
You have the option of going with either 12th gen Intel or an AMD Ryzen 5000 series processor.
HP Envy x360’s entire body is made from aluminum and rocks a sandblasted anodized
finish.
Its 360 degree metallic hinge is top quality and delivers consistent torque when opening
and closing the laptop.
The display is Full HD and it's screen digitizer uses the same “N-trig” technology that
Microsoft employs in their latest Surface Pro devices.
The included pen boasts high accuracy and offers decent palm rejection.
Using this pen with Microsoft OneNote app and Windows Ink Workspace, I was able to take
notes, write equations and make diagrams without any issues.
Overall HP Envy x360 delivers class leading performance and comes with a wide array of
choices when it comes to screen sizes.
This is definitely one of my top pics when it comes to 2-in-1 touchscreen laptops.
Next up is the Asus Vivobook Flip 14.
It comes in both 12th gen intel alderlake as well as Ryzen 5000 series CPU configuration.
You get a 1080p touchscreen display that supports an active stylus pen and the pen is included
with the laptop.
The writing experience on Asus Vivobook Flip 14 is comparable to other 2-in-1 windows laptops
from Dell, HP and Lenovo.
You get good palm rejection and multiple levels of pressure sensitivity.
Regarding build quality, Asus Vivobook Flip 14 is made of plastic.
But it does not feel cheap and I do like its 3.3 pound lightweight design.
Between the Intel Core i7-12700H and Ryzen 7 5700u models, I would pick intel.
The New 12th gen intel chips offer more cores and superior multi-threaded performance.
The pricing of these laptops is all over the place, so it's best to check out the links
that I have put in the video description below.
If you can find Asus Vivobook Flip 14 at a competitive price, then go for it.
Else I would skip it in favor of other laptops from Dell, HP and Lenovo
Next let's talk about Lenovo Yoga 7i and its cousin Yoga 9i.
Both these are premium looking laptops sporting an all metal construction.
Their top and the bottom half are made from Aluminum giving them plenty of structural
rigidity and dimensional stability.
Their 360 degree metallic hinge is built like a tank and provides ample stability when you
transform from laptop to tablet mode and vise-versa.
Yoga 7i comes with a 14” Full HD multi-touch screen that supports an active stylus pen
while Yoga 9i offers an additional 4K model.
These are LED backlit IPS panels with 300 nits of brightness and great color reproduction.
Their screens are built using Dragontrail glass which is light-weight, flexible, and
scratch resistant.
Both these laptops offer excellent writing experience with the included active Pen.
The included Lenovo Active pen provides over 4000 levels of pressure sensitivity that creates
very natural brush strokes while sketching, painting or writing.
Their screen digitizer offers low latency resulting in an excellent note-taking experience.
Both these laptops are a part of Intel’s EVO branding which promise a thin and light
body, great CPU and GPU performance, and a long battery life.
The newer 12th generation Intel Alderlake models deliver around 12 hours of battery
life and kickass performance making Yoga 7i and 9i the best 14” thin and light 2-in-1
convertible laptop in the market right now.
So these were my recommendations for the best 2-in-1 convertible touchscreen laptops that
support an active stylus pen.
I have put country specific purchase links for all these laptops if you are interested
in checking out their latest price and availability information.
But none of these laptops are suitable for gaming.
So if you are looking for a gaming laptop, checkout this video over here.
BTW do you prefer a 2-in-1 laptop or a traditional laptop + a tablet?
Let me know in the comment section below.