We’ve come a long way since the days when computers were large, bulky, and exceptionally difficult to move around. A laptop with long battery life and lightweight is a lifesaver for professionals and college students alike, especially those who travel quite often.
Today’s laptops are made of powerful components and designed to be easily portable without compromising their performance. Moreover, they are more energy efficient than their predecessors, giving them extended battery life.
You are in the right place if you are in the market for a lightweight laptop with long battery life to last you through the day. In this analysis, we explore the select laptops that weigh below 4 pounds and have over 10 hours of battery life.
Here is a list of our top picks.
- 2020 Apple MacBook Air Laptop- Editor’s Pick
- Acer Chromebook 315- Best Budget
- 2020 HP Envy x360 2-in-1 13.3” FHD IPS Touchscreen Laptop- Best Value
Best Laptop with Long Battery Life and Lightweight Analysis- Top Picks
1. 2020 Apple MacBook Air Laptop
- Battery life: About 18 hours
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: 256 GB SSD
- Screen Size: 13.3 Inches
- Processor: Apple M1 Chip
- Graphics: Integrated 7-core – 8-core
You will never go wrong with a MacBook or MacBook Pro laptop if you are looking for excellent battery life and portability, and the 2020 MacBook Air doesn’t fail. This laptop offers up to 18 hours of battery life and is lightweight, weighing 2.8 pounds or 1.25 kg.
This laptop is a favorite to many when it comes to super-thin ultraportables. While it’s made of high-quality, sturdy all-metal design, it embodies a sleek design that easily slides into any bag.
You can perform a wide array of activities on this laptop, from light ones, like typing, to intense tasks like podcasting, gaming, and professional editing. This is made possible by the Apple M1 chip, which has an 8-core CPU.
Moreover, it has a 13.3-inch Retina display equipped to offer a stunning display featuring a 16:10 aspect ratio and 2560 x 1600 pixels. The images are brilliant, the colors more vibrant, and the texts clear and sharp.
However, the port selection comprises 2 USB Type-C only.
Pros
- Portable, sleek metal design
- Excellent battery life
- Powerful performance
- Superfast memory
Cons
- No touchscreen
2. Acer Chromebook 315
- Battery life: About 12.5 hours
- RAM: 4 GB LPDDR4
- Storage: 32 GB eMMC
- Screen Size: 15.6 Inches
- Processor: Intel Celeron N4000
- Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 600
While the battery life and price are the stand-out aspects of the Chromebook 315, this laptop has plenty more to offer, including stylish support and a convertible design. Moreover, its robust build quality, featuring an aluminum body, rivals a MacBook.
Chromebook 315 weighs 3.96 pounds, the heaviest on our list but highly portable, nonetheless. When it comes to battery life, you get 12.5 hours, allowing you to do your day’s work without interruptions and even a few hours to spare, so you can choose to leave your power adapter at home.
While this laptop offers an OK performance, it compensates for extended battery life and lets you operate multiple tabs simultaneously and even stream videos. Also, it doesn’t feel underpowered or sluggish.
It also offers tough security, ease of use, swift boot times (about 8 seconds), and a simplified interface. Additionally, like every other Chromebook, it comes with all Google applications.
Pros
- Colorful, roomy, bright screen
- Fantastic battery
- Lightweight
- 1080p touchscreen display
- Beautiful, fanless design
Cons
- The trackpad feels clumsy
Related: How to find what battery your laptop has
3. 2020 HP Envy x360 2-in-1 13.3” FHD IPS Touchscreen Laptop
- Battery life: About 11 hours
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: 512 GB SSD
- Screen Size: 13.3 Inches
- Processor: 11th Gen Core i7-1165G7
- Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
With 11 hours and 45 minutes of battery life, this portable workstation is ideal for the professional on the go. Although it’s mainly marketed for graphic designers, the 2020 HP Envy is suitable for any professional looking for a high-performing, stylish, and lightweight laptop (it weighs 2.87 pounds).
Creative work like software development and graphic, audio, or video design needs powerful graphics and plenty of memory. This HP laptop has 8 GB of RAM and Intel Iris Xe graphics, so you can work and also play your favorite games, but don’t expect the performance to match MSI gaming laptops.
In terms of display, the laptop has a 13.3-inch diagonal, IPS, FHD, multitouch-enabled screen. In addition, it’s Corning Gorilla Glass NBT, BrightView, edge-to-edge glass, HP Sure View integrated privacy screen.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a full-size slot for an SD card.
Pros
- Solid build quality
- Strong performance
- Impressive battery life
- Excellent touchpad and keyboard
- Color-accurate, beautiful AMOLED display
Cons
- It doesn’t have a full-size SD card slot
4. Lenovo Yoga 6
- Battery life: About 19 hours
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: 256 GB SSD
- Screen Size: 13.3 Inches
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5700U
- Graphics: AMD Radeon
Lenovo Yoga 6 is a highly portable 13.3-inch laptop, weighing 2.9 pounds with a light chassis, thanks to the plastic build. The slim, light convertible laptop has a fabric lid that resembles denim and is unique with a pleasant texture.
Lenovo Yoga 6 has a stellar battery life of more than 19 hours, making it an all-day battery, so you can use this laptop even when you are not close to a power source. It’s powerful enough to support advanced multitasking.
While the touchpad and keyboard aren’t the most luxurious, they are above average, considering the laptop’s price. It has a slick, responsive touchpad, and it feels comfortable to type on the keyboard.
Additionally, it has above-average speakers, with the tiny system getting quite loud and the audio a high note. However, the fabric lid might not be to everyone’s taste, and the cooling fans rev up in a split second.
Pros
- Long battery life
- Lightweight
- Beneficial port selection
- Solid touchpad and keyboard
- Fast performance
Cons
- Fans rev up sometimes
- Some keyboard flex
Conclusion
The laptops analyzed above are lightweight and offer extended battery life, lasting for a whole day and even longer. However, while battery life and portability are important features in a laptop, don’t overlook performance, price, and display.