Laptop computer formfactors: A whole information to each form, use case, and particular characteristic

Till about 15 years in the past, the time period “laptop computer” meant one factor: a transportable PC that unfolds to disclose a display screen on one half and a keyboard on the opposite.

However with the launch of Apple’s iPad in 2010, PC distributors’ subsequent push into touchscreen designs, and the continued maturation of the PC market, the definition of “laptop computer” has broadened. Selecting a laptop computer isn’t nearly tech specs and construct high quality. It’s now concerning the basic form of the factor.

Let’s attempt to break all of it down with a taxonomy for each type of laptop computer you should buy as we speak.

Additional studying: PCWorld’s top laptop recommendations

Clamshell laptops

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Probably the most standard class of all of them, clamshells don’t flip, bend, or rework. They merely deal with letting you’re employed with a keyboard and trackpad (or mouse) with probably the most environment friendly designs attainable.

Even right here, although, we are able to outline a handful of subcategories:

• Touchscreen laptops: These assist you to manipulate the display screen instantly whereas nonetheless resembling an everyday laptop computer. Some common laptops supply a touchscreen as an non-obligatory improve.
• Ultraportable laptops: Excessive-end shopper laptops with premium designs targeted on portability. These could also be informally often called “Ultrabooks” — stemming from Intel’s early-2010s advertising and marketing push in opposition to the MacBook Air — or simply “thin-and-light” laptops. HP’s Dragonfly G4 is our present high choose on this subcategory.
• Gaming laptops: Clamshells with devoted graphics playing cards and different gaming-centric options, comparable to customizable keyboard lighting, distinctive cooling options, and flashy designs. You recognize them while you see them. Alienware’s m16 R2 is our high choose proper now for a gaming laptop computer.
• Desktop replacements: Heavier laptops with bigger screens and highly effective CPUs, with battery life and portability as afterthoughts. These are inclined to have some overlap with gaming laptops, as seen in our greatest laptops for video modifying.

2-in-1 laptops

Past the essential clamshell, many PC makers supply laptops that may rework into tablets for drawing, taking notes, studying ebooks, and enjoying touchscreen video games. Whereas there are lots of sorts of 2-in-1 laptops, they primarily fall into two camps: convertibles and detachables.

Convertibles

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

With convertible laptops, the keyboard part is completely linked to the display screen, but it surely folds out of the way in which so you’ll be able to lay the display screen flat in your lap or on a desk. Whereas convertibles are heavier and bulkier than removable laptops, they really feel extra like conventional clamshells when utilized in laptop computer mode. (They do, nevertheless, are usually bulkier than non-convertible laptops.)

Inside the convertible subgenre, there are a few subtypes:

• 360-degree hinge convertibles have screens that fold all the way in which round beneath the keyboard — a kind made well-known by Lenovo’s Yoga line.
• Easel-style convertibles have pivoting screens that lay down on high of the keyboard. These are rarer, however Microsoft’s Floor Laptop computer Studio and HP’s Elite Folio are notable examples.

Detachables

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

With removable laptops, the display screen portion pulls aside from the keyboard and turns into a standalone pill. This provides you an uncompromised pill expertise, however with some trade-offs on the laptop computer entrance: As a result of all of the computing elements should sit behind the display screen, it may be top-heavy and might have its personal kickstand, so it’s extra cumbersome to maintain in your lap. Detachables might also be much less performant than commonplace clamshells, whose elements can use all of the house below the keyboard to dissipate warmth.

Detachables themselves fall into just a few subcategories:

Exotics

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Need one thing a bit of extra uncommon? Laptop computer makers have began experimenting with new sorts of laptops that contain a number of screens or foldable show tech.

These gadgets are usually a lot pricier than conventional laptops, they usually can typically really feel like options searching for an issue. It’s common for laptop computer makers to desert or overhaul their concepts after a technology or two, so these experimental laptops are best-suited for folk who don’t thoughts residing on the bleeding edge.

Let’s break down the different sorts:

• Foldable laptops include a single, versatile show, whose two halves supply a laptop-like floor when partially folded or a bigger, freestanding show when unfolded. A separate keyboard and trackpad deck permits for interplay with out counting on the touchscreen. HP’s Spectre Foldable and Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold are current examples.
• Twin-screen laptops exchange the same old keyboard part with a second display screen, maybe with an attachable keyboard and trackpad deck for enter. Standing the screens up and utilizing the keyboard individually approximates the texture of getting two displays. Asus did an amazing job on this idea with the 2024 ZenBook Duo.
• Laptops with additional screens can complement the primary display screen with additional data, as seen with Asus’ ROG Zephyrus Duo 16.
• Twistable laptops have a display screen that rotates round to supply additional performance on the opposite aspect. An instance is the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 4, which has an OLED display screen on one aspect and E-ink on the opposite, with the latter aimed toward notetaking, studying, and targeted writing.