Best 13 Inch Laptop 2024

First off: 13 inch laptops are the smallest laptops that still come with desktop PC level hardware. Whether it's internal memory or hard drive size: you'll find mid-range quality components in most 13 inch laptops. 

That's good news. It's also one reason why it's a better idea to buy a 13 inch laptop than a netbook (which is any laptop smaller than 13 inch). 

Even though 13 inch is the size of laptop that's manufactured least, there is still plenty of choice. So how do you pick the best one? Well, I personally went with weight. Or rather:

Lightweight 13 inch laptops

When it comes to being lightweight, Samsung is the new winner. The 13.3 inch 5 series weighs only  3.2 pounds. The Asus Zenbook is even lighter: only 2.9 pounds, but then it's WAY more expensive.  Where the Samsung has 500GB Hard Drive, the Zenbook comes with only 258GB. If the hard drive doesn't have to be big and money is an issue, the HP Folio should be considered: it weighs only 3.3 pounds and has a 128 GB drive. 

The price you pay for lightweight laptops is that they do NOT come with an optical drive (aka: no DVD or CD drive). That's it. 

I went with the Samsung 5 series 13.3 inch laptop. It has only about 5 hours of battery life, but is otherwise just what I need. I haven't used my laptop on the road much anyhow, so battery life is not as important to me as I thought it would be. Having an iPad probably has a lot to do with that.

It has a slightly sunk touchpad, so that accidental mouse movements are not an issue. It has a decent mat screen, 3 USB ports and HDMI as well as VGA connections for external screens. 

Full Feature 13 inch laptops

If you want a laptop with everything in - optical drive (DVD and CD) as well, you'll have to pay the price in carrying it. However, you will have a very decent desktop PC out of it as well. 

In this case I would recommend the 13 inch Acer or Apple laptops. You can use them to watch DVDs as well as do your work at home, in the work place and of course on the road.