If you're looking for a laptop to take on the go, size and weight should be at the top of your priority list. A lightweight laptop is able to disappear into your bag and won't leave you with a sore shoulder at the end of the day. And unlike past years, opting for a thin and light design doesn't necessarily mean that you're trading-off on performance. These are the best lightweight laptops of 2025 so far I'd recommend you buy.
TL;DR - The Best Lightweight Laptops:
While it used to be true that opting for a lightweight laptop meant sacrificing performance and limiting the types of tasks you were able to accomplish, laptop hardware has advanced to the point where that just isn't the case anymore. It's still true that if you're working on high-intensity tasks like video editing or gaming, thicker designs can offer better ventilation and overall performance. But thanks to more advanced hardware and assistive technologies like frame generation and neural processing units (NPUs), lightweight laptops are better than ever before.
1. Apple MacBook Air (M4, 2025)
The Best Lightweight Laptop
The Apple MacBook Air might be a familiar pick for this category, but that's because it's so well-rounded and satisying that it soars to the top spot as the best choice for most people. The MacBook Air blends portability with performance and a minimalist sense of style to deliver an excellent all-around experience, whether you're getting work done or binging the latest season of Squid Game with your feet up.
Weighing in at only 2.7lbs, it's one of the lightest laptops in its class. But that doesn't mean it makes sacrifices on performance. While professionals will still want to turn to the MacBook Pro, the M4 processor in this notebook is more than up to the task for everything from productivity to creative apps like Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro. While most of its competitors will have audible fan noise, especially when taking on such tasks, the MacBook Air remains blissfully quiet. It uses a completely fanless setup that leverages its metal body to silently dissipate heat. This design also means that there are no vents to break up its elegantly minimalist aesthetic.
I'm mainly a Windows user, but our own Jackie Thomas reviewed the MacBook Air and praised how Apple has refined its classic design. I did spend some time with the MacBook Air and have been tempted to switch ever since this version's release this year. Its blend of fantastic portability and impressive performance are simply hard to match with a Windows laptop.
Its other major selling point is its multi-day battery life. If you're taking on productivity apps, it can easily last upwards of 12 hours depending on your settings. For mixed use that includes video, it can extend well beyond that. If you're only using it for a few hours a day, a single charge has the potential to get you through almost an entire week of use.
Just... don't expect it to be particularly cheap if you venture above the introductory spec. Apple offers a base model with limited storage (256GB) and slightly pared back graphics (8-core instead of 10-core) for $1,000. If you store most of your files with cloud storage, it probably won't matter, but I'd personally go for the 512GB version (which also upgrades the processor) for $1,199 for peace of mind.
No matter which version you choose, the Apple MacBook Air continues a legacy of excellence in lightweight computing and is an even better fit if you already have an iPhone and live in that Apple ecosystem.
2. Acer Aspire 14 AI (2025)
The Best Budget Lightweight Laptop
If you're looking for a lightweight laptop but find yourself limited on how much you can spend, look no further than the Acer Aspire 14 AI. This compact computer offers impressive specs for the price and a form factor that's perfect for students and anyone anyone else looking for svelte and savings in one.
Affordable laptops have a reputation for coming with low-spec hardware and underwhelming performance, but with the Aspire 14 AI, it's clear that Acer aimed to impress with how capable it is. While it won't top any performance charts – this is still a budget laptop, after all – it's a great pick for work and school where you'll mainly be focusing on productivity and maybe some light entertainment tasks.
Unlike lots of similar-priced laptops (I found it at $550 as of this writing), the Aspire 14 AI comes with a potent combination of AI-enabled Intel CPU and 16GB of fast LPDDR5X memory. Its processor comes with eight cores equally split between performance and efficiency, so it's ready to take on moderate creativity tasks like photo editing without getting bogged down. The integrated GPU is also capable enough for some light gaming, if you don't mind dialing down the graphics or using Intel's XeSS upscaling.
When it comes to battery life, it outperforms many far more expensive laptops for mixed use (which is how most people will actually be using it). It offers around 15 hours of battery life. Drop the brightness to about halfway and mix in some video, and that pushes closer to 20 hours. That a budget laptop falls in the same neighborhood as the Apple MacBook Air is beyond impressive.
You're not getting an uber-high resolution here, just standard 1920x1200, or a fancy OLED screen, but you wouldn't expect either at this price. For its meager asking price, however, the Acer Aspire 14 AI over-delivers in just about every other way.
3. Razer Blade 14 (2025)
The Best Lightweight Gaming Laptop
When I reviewed the larger 16-inch version of this laptop, I was more than a little impressed by how thin and light Razer was able to make it for the level of gaming performance it offered. Now that I've spent time with the Blade 14, I'm happy to say that it continues that trend and offers plenty of power for modern, high-spec gaming and access to all of Nvidia's latest gaming features.
Weighing in at only 3.6lbs and measuring only 16mm thick, the Razer Blade 14 can be equipped with your choice of Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 or 5070 and an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU. Add in up to 64GB of incredibly fast 8,000MHz memory and up to a full 2TB of onboard storage, and you have a recipe for a portable gaming powerhouse.
I was also pleased to find that the Blade 14 features an equally impressive display. It's an OLED – sadly, not a touchscreen – with a crisp 3K (2880x1800) resolution. Simply put, it looks fantastic, and, like the Blade 16, is one of my absolute favorite laptop screens available right now. It also clocks all the way up to 120Hz for ultra-smooth, ultra-responsive gameplay.
This sleek little rig doesn't come cheap with a price that starts at $2,000 and extends to $2,600 fully kitted out. Innovation has a cost, however, and that was definitely necessary to offer this kind of performance in such a thin, light form factor. If you can brace yourself against the inevitable sticker shock, this killer compact packs serious portable gaming power. And it's a great MacBook alternative for gamers looking to play PC games on the go.
4. Microsoft Surface Pro 11
The BestLightweight 2-in-1 Laptop
If you're looking for a laptop that can double as a tablet, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 should be at the top of your list. It offers a potent blend of high-spec hardware and a great screen that make this the best Surface Pro yet. You'll need to pick up the Surface Pro Keyboard and Surface Pen separately, but as a full kit, it's a veritable transformer of a lightweight laptop.
I confess, for years I wasn't the biggest fan of Microsoft's Surface 2-in-1 laptops. Their hardware and displays just weren't the best and quickly became outdated. With the Surface Pro 11, however, it's the exact opposite.
With this release, Microsoft has outfitted the Surface Pro 11 with some truly impressive specs. It comes with your choice of Snapdragon X Plus or Snapdragon X Elite processors, up to 64GB of DDR5 memory, and a full terabyte of storage. Even at its lowest hardware configuration, you can count on a usage experience that's fast, responsive, and should remain so for years into the future.
You can also pick either an LCD or OLED display. If your budget can stretch to afford it, I highly recommend going for the OLED display, especially if you plan to use the Surface Pro 11 for entertainment. For movies and streaming games online, it's stunning with deep blacks, vibrant colors, and enjoyable HDR.
There are two important things to know about this generation of Surface Pro. First, the Snapdragon processors are built on a different architecture than either Intel or AMD currently offer with their laptop CPUs, called ARM. Because of this, program support isn't universal (although it is very good and supports the vast majority of popular programs most people will use for productivity, creativity, and entertainment). To be sure your specific apps are supported, I recommend checking out the Windows on ARM compatibility list before pulling the trigger on a purchase.
Second, as I remarked upon in my review, it just doesn't work well for local gaming. In fact, many of the games we use for benchmarking laptops wouldn't run at all. That doesn't mean you can't play games on it, however. Though it may not have the horsepower to run most games locally, it works well with streaming services like Nvidia GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Gaming.
For a versatile all-in-one solution, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is a great option. It's easily Microsoft's best yet and, at only 1.97lbs, also so light you might even forget you're carrying it!
5. Asus TUF Gaming A14 (2025)
The Best Lightweight Laptop for Gaming and Productivity (All-Arounder)
What should you pick if you need a lightweight laptop that does a little bit of everything? The Asus TUF Gaming A14. At 3.2lbs, this laptop blends excellent portability with impressive performance and quieter-than-average operation, even while running games. It's well-priced and well-equipped to take on all but the most intense tasks.
I reviewed the 2024 version of this laptop, and it's the same design with a couple of component changes worth highlighting. First, the A14 has received a graphics upgrade and now comes equipped with Nvidia RTX 50-series graphics instead of the 40-series. The processor has also been changed, swapping from the AMD Ryzen 9 HX 370 to the Ryzen 7 350. While this is a downgrade, it remains plenty powerful for most tasks you'll take on during the day and should allow the laptop to run cooler and even quieter than last generation's model.
Its RTX 5060 graphics card is enough to drive most games on its 1,600p IPS display at high settings. This is doubly true if you take advantage of performance-enhancing features like DLSS and frame generation, though isn't a requirement. If you do run into an issue where performance isn't where you'd like, stepping down to 1080p provides big gains while still looking great on its 14-inch display.
Whether you're typing a report, playing a game, or watching a movie, the TUF Gaming A14 offers an enjoyable experience. The speakers are surprisingly full and even though it doesn't have an OLED display, it still gets plenty bright. It also runs at a brisk 165Hz refresh rate for smooth motion during games.
The A14 does a little bit of everything and while, yes, there are laptops out there able to do productivity or gaming better, few do it as well as this single fantastic laptop.
How to Pick a Lightweight Laptop
Like shopping for any laptop, there are many different things to consider when looking for the lightweight machine of your dreams. Here are the most important things to keep in mind:
Processor: A laptop's processor is like its brain and controls how quickly and efficiently it can take on different tasks. The two main brands of processor are Intel and AMD. However, Qualcomm has recently entered the field with its power-efficient Snapdragon Plus and Snapdragon Elite processors. For productivity use, I recommend looking for at least six cores, regardless of which brand you're considering. For gaming, I suggest looking to eight cores or higher, and a clock speed of at least 4.5GHz, and preferably higher than 5GHz.
Memory: Memory, or RAM, refers to your system's capacity to rapidly access important information for programs to run smoothly, as well as it's ability to run multiple applications or tasks at one time (such as rendering a video in the background while using a web browsing at the same time). Heavier programs, like Adobe Premiere Pro, require more memory than simpler applications like Microsoft Word, but it's possible to use a surprising amount of memory simply by keeping lots of tabs open in your browser of choice. Lower cost laptops (and especially those from third-party sellers on Amazon Marketplace), often skimp on memory capacity. While Windows 11 will technically run with 8GB of memory, it's just not enough to have a great experience, so I recommend looking for a laptop with at least 16GB of memory for productivity and 32GB for gaming.
Storage: Storage refers to how much data your laptop is able to store locally at any given time. Try to find a laptop with a minimum of 512GB of storage and preferably more. This is less important if you plan on storing most of your data to the cloud or won't be doing more than creating documents and web browsing, which both have a very low storage footprint.
Display: Laptop screens come in a number of different forms, but the two to look out for here are IPS LCD displays and OLEDs. OLED displays work on an entirely different principle and offer the best picture quality thanks to their improved contrast but are often much more expensive. LCD screens are more affordable and can still look very good. If you'll be taking in a lot of media, such watching movies or playing games, an OLED can be a great choice. If you're mainly working on productivity, IPS LCDs are a good bet.
Battery Life: Battery life can be difficult to get a bead on through product listings alone. Manufacturers often quote battery life using settings scenarios that aren't true to how most people use their laptops (50% brightness, constantly looping video, performance limitations, etc.). Instead, I recommend reading a mix of professional and user reviews to get an idea of what real people are seeing and choose a lightweight laptop that offers enough life to meet your needs. It can also be wise to overshoot your needs a bit, as lithium batteries decrease in lifespan over time. Aiming higher than what you need right now can help ensure the battery is able to last as long as you need it to, even several years into the future.
Best Lightweight Laptop FAQ
Are lightweight laptops good for gaming?
While it's true that thin and light designs often demand trade-offs in gaming performance, that doesn't mean you can't have a great experience. Mobile gaming hardware and supportive technologies like DLSS and frame generation have advanced to the point where even very thin laptops are still able to offer great gaming experiences. As is always the case with gaming laptops, however, this will depend on the specs of the specific system you choose.
Are MacBooks better than Windows laptops for weight and portability?
The latest Apple MacBooks are well known for being lightweight and portable, but it's not like Apple has a monopoly on lightweight laptop designs. Many Windows laptops are as light or even lighter than the latest MacBook Air, but you may need to search to find one with comparable specs and battery life. MacBooks excel at balancing processing power, battery life, and in the case of the MacBook Air, silent operation alongside their fantastic portability.
How long do lightweight laptops last?
With proper care and maintenance, there's simply no reason that a lightweight laptop should last any less than a less portable laptop. It's all about how well you take care of it and the type of conditions it's used in. A laptop that's allowed to run hotter for extended periods of time likely won't last as long as one that has ample ventilation during heavy workloads. Be sure to give your laptop space around its intake and exhaust vents (easily accomplished with one of the best laptop cooling pads), take the time to clean dust buildup, and treat it with care, and a lightweight laptop can easily last many years.
Christopher Coke has been a regular contributor to IGN since 2019 and has been covering games and technology since 2013. He has covered tech ranging from gaming controllers to graphics cards, gaming chairs and gaming monitors, headphones, IEMs, and more for sites such as MMORPG.com, Tom’s Hardware, Popular Science, USA Today’s Reviewed, and Popular Mechanics. Find Chris on Twitter @gamebynight.
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