5 Best Slim Laptops With Long Battery Life

When it comes to laptops, battery life is perhaps one of the most important aspects, next to the processor and performance. A long battery life means you will be able to carry on your work without worrying about the power left on your laptop. This is especially true if you travel a lot. At the same time, the form factor also plays an important part. After all, you wouldn’t want to haul a laptop that weighs like a bundle of bricks.

One of the primary advantages of slim laptops is portability. You can either carry it on your hands like a stack of books or slip it into your sling bag. The only limitation is that slim laptops often lose out on connection ports. But then, you can always get dongles and adapters to get the party going.

So, if you are looking for some slim laptops with long battery life, here are some of our recommendations. But first,

• Take a look at these laptop docking stations with Power Delivery
• Looking for a vertical stand for your laptop? Check our recommendations.

1. Apple MacBook Air (2020)

• Battery life: Up to 15 hours of web browsing | Screen Size: 13.3-inch
• Screen resolution: 1680×1050 | Laptop weight: 2.84lbs

Apple MacBook Air with M1 Chip

Buy

Apple’s Macbook lineup popular for its long battery life and the new MacBook Air with M1 chip is no exception. This one ticks all the right boxes. It has an all-day battery life and the slim form factor makes it easy and convenient to carry. More importantly, the M1 chip in the new MacBook Air pushes through everyday work without complaint, whether it’s regular or intensive work like photo and video editing.

Do note that the battery life may differ with the kind of work you are doing. For example, web-browsing is not as intensive as a continuous 5-hour steak of photo editing. That said, the folks at the Verge still managed to eke out 18 hours of video playback.

There aren’t many ports to boast about. There are two Thunderbolt USB-C ports on the right side. The Thunderbolt ports afford you the flexibility of using the ports for charging as well as for data transfer.

The Apple MacBook Air comes with a handful of dedicated buttons. This means you can kickstart Spotlight Search or toggle the Do Not Disturb mode with a tap of a button.

If you are already an iPhone user and want to explore the Apple ecosystem for seamless connectivity, the MacBook Air makes for a sensible pick.

2. Lenovo ThinkPad X390 Yoga

• Battery life: Up to 14.5 hours | Screen Size: 13.3-inch
• Screen resolution: 1920 x 1080 | Laptop weight: 2.93lbs

Lenovo ThinkPad X390 Yoga

Buy

Lenovo’s ThinkPad series is well known for its performance and long battery life, and the ThinkPad X390 is one of the new laptops to join this lineup. This slim laptop weighs just about 2.8lbs which makes it convenient to carry around, especially if you travel a lot. More importantly, it is powered by Intel’s 14nm mobile processor.

The ThinkPad X390 Yoga’s performance translates well into real-world scenarios and can handle everyday tasks without breaking a sweat. It’s backed by a powerful battery and can last up to 14 hours.

Similar to most Thinkpads, you will find the TrackPoint in the middle of the keyboard. The little orange button between the keys will help you move the pointer around during presentations.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X390 Yoga is quite flexible. The screen can bend all the way to 180-degree thereby letting you fix the screen as per your preference. If you must know, some laptops have fixed hinge opening, which tends to limit the functionality.

The ThinkPad X390 has several connections. For one, it has a Thunderbolt 3 port, HDMI, and a USB-A port. However, the feature that sets it apart is its inclusion of a docking-station connector. So if you want to connect your laptop to an extended setup of external monitors and drives, it is easily possible.

3. Asus Zenbook 14 UX425EA

• Battery life: Up to 22 hours | Screen Size: 14-inch
• Screen resolution: 1920 x 1080 | Laptop weight: 2.57lbs

Asus Zenbook 14 UX425EA

Buy

The highlight of the Asus Zenbook 14 UX425EA is that it is one of the first laptops to be powered by an Intel quad-core Core i7-1165G7 processor. And as you may have expected, it delivers a solid performance. It packs a slim look and just measures 0.54 inches in width. This form factor makes it easy to fit inside a backpack or carry it on your hands.

The Zenbook 14 UX425EA lasts up to 7 hours when pushed to its maximum potential. This includes browsing through web-pages, multi-tasking, and running multiple apps together. On the bright side, this laptop also comes with a 1W screen, which helps extend battery life. As per Asus, it consumes 63.6 percent less power compared to its peers.

Asus bundles ample ports in this one. You will get your hands on dual Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, a single HDMI 2.0, USB-A ports as well as a microSD card reader. This ensures that you can leave behind your USB-C adapter.

However, all’s not hale and hearty. For one, this Asus laptop doesn’t have an audio jack. So yeah, at times, you will need to rely on Bluetooth wireless earphones.

4. HP Spectre x360

• Battery life: Up to 22.5 hours | Screen Size: 13.3-inch
• Screen resolution: 1920 x 1080 | Laptop weight: 2.9lbs

HP Spectre x360

Buy

The HP Spectre x360 is not your average conventional laptop. Instead, this is a 2-in-1 laptop, and this design allows you to switch between laptop-mode and tablet mode easily. It’s both powerful and looks stylish and is powered by Intel’s 10th-generation Core i7 processor. Regular tasks like web-browsing or opening apps and software feel smooth and are lag-free.

The best part is that you can power through all these without losing out the battery life. On a single charge, the battery can last around 10 hours on average, which is enough to get you through the day. Of course, a lot depends on the type of work.

One of the highlights of this laptop is that it comes with a dedicated switch to kill off the camera. This is an added plus from the security point of view since it is likely to prevent any untoward incident.

For connectivity, this one packs plenty of ports. While you won’t get the Thunderbolt 4 ports like the one above, you do get a duo of USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, a single USB-A port, a microSD card reader. And guess what, the Spectre x360 packs an audio jack as well.

The slim form factor, connectivity ports, and other things make the HP Spectre x360 expensive. However, if you want to go all-in, this one is definitely worth considering.

5. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7

• Battery life: Up to 17.5 hours | Screen Size: 14-inch
• Screen resolution: 1920 x 1080 | Laptop weight: 2.9lbs

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7

Buy

We have another Lenovo laptop on this list – IdeaPad Slim 7. As suggestive of its name, this one a slim and lightweight laptop. It’s powered by an Intel Core i5 Ice Lake family processor and is coupled with a NVIDIA’s GeForce MX350 GPU. This dual combo gives it the power to push through intensive work like video editing. And that’s not all. This laptop handles casual games just as fine.

The most significant aspect of this laptop is its battery life. It’s powered by a 60W battery and can last more than 10 hours at a single go. The folks at The Verge found the Slim 7 lasting about 13 hours during one of their tests.

The number of ports is sufficient though you won’t find Thunderbolt ports in this one. This means you will have to make-do with USB-C speed for data transfer (see USB-C vs Thunderbolt). That said, the Slim 7 bundles two USB-C ports, an HDMI port, two USB-A ports, and a microSD card slot.

Again, the support for Dolby Atmos 6 means that you will be able to watch movies and TV shows or listen to your favorite tracks in all their glory.

Hello, Ultra Portability

One of the primary advantages of having a slim laptop with longer battery life is that you will be able to carry on your work from just about anywhere without worrying about the battery dying in the middle of it.

At the same time, most of these are premium laptops which means you do not have to worry about trivial (but important) attributes like screen brightness, keyboard performance, or the number of ports.