While especially appealing for creatives who want to use their laptops for art, touchscreen computers are a fine machine for anyone to use, especially if you’re someone who’d rather use your fingers or a stylus over a mouse. And with crystal clear displays, they also serve as entertainment hubs–ideal for cozy winter evenings. In a crowded market of computers, it can be stressful to figure out which laptop is the right one for you. To make your choice easier, we’ve organized our selections into categories so you can choose which might be best for you based on what you need it for (or what your budget is) and narrow it down from there. These are our top five best touchscreen laptops on the market right now. For the top options on the market overall, check out our research on the best laptop. Also: Best 2-in-1 laptops: Top hybrid, convertible notebooks
15.6-inch OLED display12th generation Intel core processor16GB, 32GB, or 64GB RAM512GB, 1TB, or 2TB SSDPrice: $1,800+
The New Dell XPS 15 is a great pick if you’re looking for a touchscreen laptop. Though it is a pricey machine at more than $2,000, it comes with specs that make it worth it. The 15.6-inch display provides plenty of room for whatever you’re working on, and it’s made even better with the OLED display. The 3456 x 2160 display has a 400-nit capacity as well, which means the color quality is excellent, with the blackest blacks and high contrast between shades. Check out: Dell XPS 15 review The display also includes infinity edge, so again, you’re getting a lot of real estate on the display. The machine can also be configured to suit the memory and storage you need. While not all the specs work with the OLED touchscreen model, you can configure it with anywhere from 16-64GB of RAM and anywhere from 512GB to 2TB SSD storage. It is a little bit heavy, at 4.31 lbs, but for a machine with a 15.6-inch screen, that’s to be expected.
13.3-inch OLED display4GB memory256GB storage1.5 lbsPrice: $391+
Whether you’re a student or just want a compact computer that doubles as a Chromebook, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 is a great pick. This small machine weighs less than 2 lbs, making it easy to grab and go at home, at the office, or at school. Because it’s a budget-friendly machine that will cost you less than $400, it’s not going to have all the bells and whistles that some of the more expensive computers have, but it does come with 4 GB of memory and 256 GB of storage all hardwired into the machine. Similar models have slightly different specs, though none of them includes much more than this. If you don’t need a lot of space and don’t plan to use your touchscreen laptop for large projects or intense things like photo editing or video editing, you can easily get by with the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. It’s designed for simple things like surfing the web, doing homework, showing off ideas in meetings, and similar business tasks that require a compact machine in your hands to show around. Also: The 6 best laptops for college
Intel Core i5 or i7 processor512GB, 1TB, or 2TB SSD8GB, 16GB, or 32GB memoryPrice: $864+
The HP Spectre x360 is a good choice if you want your touchscreen computer to also be convertible. While you’ll find plenty of convertible laptops, this HP model outperforms the competition and has a somewhat reasonable price tag as well. It’s fully customizable, allowing you to choose the processor, memory, storage, and display options. The more customizations you make, the higher the price tag, but even the base model is a reliable machine for work or school. This computer also comes in a couple different colors, so if a boring silver or black aren’t your thing, you can opt for blue. It also comes equipped with security measures that include an IR camera for facial recognition and the option to get a privacy screen and shutter to block the screen and camera. This would do well to be carted around the office if you need to use your machine as a tablet and a laptop in the same day (though it’s heavy) and has a battery life to last you that long as well.
14.4-inch display256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB SSD16GB or 32GB LPDDR4x RAMPrice: $1,600
For creative professionals and creative students who need a touchscreen laptop that can keep up, opt for the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio. This convertible touchscreen has a 14.4-inch PixelSense Flow Display, which is very responsive to your fingers and to a stylus. It’s also customizable with different storage and memory options, so you can opt up to get plenty of room to stash your projects onboard. There are two options for the graphics card, based on which processor you get: the Intel Iris Xe Graphics GPU or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX3050 Ti laptop GPU. Both of these can handle photo editing or video editing if that’s what you plan to use the laptop for, though the Nvidia graphics card is paired with the Intel Core i7 models, so you’ll get a slightly faster, smoother performance.
13.3-inch LCD display8GB or 16GB RAM 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB SSDPrice: $649+
The Google Pixelbook Go is an all-around great touchscreen computer if you’re shopping on a budget. It’s customizable in terms of memory and storage, but the base model is equipped with enough of both to get you through schoolwork or standard business tasks. It runs with a Chrome OS, so if you’re a Google devotee, you’ll be a fan of this. The computer is lightweight as well – just over 2 lbs – which makes it easy to carry around to school or work, and with a battery life up to 12 hours, you don’t have to worry about being tethered to your desk. This is a great little laptop to drop in your work bag or schoolbag to use on the go. Plus, it charges extra fast, so you don’t have to stay plugged in very long before getting up and moving around again. You could easily use this in a meeting to go through a presentation or take it with you to art class to doodle your next masterpiece. Our ratings here were based on looking at all these factors. We looked at the tech specs of the touchscreen computers on the market and weighed lifestyle choices alongside them. Budget is also a factor for something like a computer. Some laptops will have a higher price tag but don’t necessarily have the performance to match. That’s why we looked at the specs in comparison to the price. There are so many laptops on the market and it can be difficult to wade through all of them while you’re shopping. We weeded out most computers that were really expensive, as well as those that were so cheap that they compromised on performance. We also took a close look at how much each machine weighs, as many touchscreen laptops are intended to be portable. While we did include some heavier options, we felt the performance made the size worth it. Also: The best cheap laptops If you use one of these for a while and decide it’s the right type of laptop for you, you could upgrade to a higher-quality computer with more storage or memory and a faster processor. Check out: The 5 best stylus pens Some touchscreen laptops come equipped with a stylus, whereas some brands will make you purchase one separately.
