Best make & model of small Windows lap-top ?

[Uplinker]

As per the thread title; I am looking for a small Windows lap-top. This needs to be very portable - to carry in a small back-pack, and I am wondering which makes and models are the best these days.

I am defining best in terms of reliability, stability, quality of design and construction - keyboard and battery etc. and best performance.

I will need it to have an Ethernet, RJ45 connector to programme equipment that I use for work.

Please let me have your recommendations from your own experience - rather than adverts you might have seen or a bloke down the pub told you ! As above, I am not necessarily interested in the cheapest, but would like to know and consider the best and most robust.

Many thanks :ok:

[Thrust Augmentation]

Thinkpad P series (down to 14"), magnesium chassis, ISV certified blah blah - tough, reliable & fast.

[Saab Dastard]

I'm out of the game now, but have used and specified laptops for corporate environments, from 13 - 16" and I would not want to try to work on anything smaller than a 14" screen. 15" and above tend to also have a full numeric keypad alongside the QWERTY, which is a godsend if you do a lot of number crunching.

I always seemed to end up with HP kit - Elitebooks - which I always found solid and reliable. It was generally a shoot-out between HP and Lenovo, and HP generally won. Having said that, my personal laptop is a 16" Lenovo Thinkpad (with aforementioned numeric keypad). It's nowhere near as light and portable as the newer Elitebooks though - even taking the larger size into account. However, HP stopped providing built-in RJ45 ports a while ago - you have to make do with a USB-C to Ethernet converter.

[Equivocal]

Another vote from me for Lenovo - mine is a Yoga. Keyboard is pretty good although there is a bit of key bounce occasionally, battery lasts about 6 hours if I'm not using any heavy applications (and it's fairly hight-end processor). Certainly light and portable. Can handle graphics/video/publishing tasks without difficulty. Haven't seen built-in Ethernet for years, my model has 2x USB-C and that's it - plenty of nifty little hubs available now, I have one with a couple more USB sockets, card slot, HDMI (and, I think, RJ45).

Having said all that, and I hope this doesn't fall into the bloke down the pub category, a friend swears by his MS Surface which offers tablet portability and pairs with a keyboard base which turns it into a very competent laptop - I haven't used it myself (although I've shared an office with him and there's no doubt that he's productive with it) but he's quite discriminating when it comes to such things and he's very happy with it.

[judyjudy]

FWIW, I’ve been using various Surfaces since about 2015 and have been very satisfied with them. Current incarnation is a Surface Pro 9.

Biggest downside is you can’t change the battery

[Uplinker]

Many thanks for the replies so far, please keep them coming.

I really do need small; so probably 11" max, (iPad size); as I also carry other electronic test gear, so I need to limit the weight and volume.

I will use it to talk to equipment via GUIs so I don't need to watch movies, look at photos or work on spreadsheets.

I also now know that I don't need a built-in physical RJ45 socket because there are many USB-RJ45 adaptors available.

I saw this tiny thing which looks quite good for my purposes, but might actually be too small, so I would need to see it in the flesh before buying. Also I have never heard of the manufacturer, so no idea about the quality.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/e4f108b3_30a5_4432_9ec0_714fcdca723d_acab16b35a1d03fa4539d65 67accfb351ccdf0a6.jpeg

[magyar_flyer]

I'd be surprised you'll find any 11' with built in rj45.

Most recent Surface, although arm based, seem promising.

[Prop swinger]

That looks to be very good value.

I had an original GPD Pocket, didn't like the nub "mouse", so I upgraded to a Pocket 2 with an actual (tiny) mousepad & buttons, which I still use. They now do a Pocket 3, tech specs here (https://gpd.hk/gpdpocket3techspecs), UK-based Amazon shop here, GPD Amazon page here..

The basic version is twice the price of the UDKED but slightly bigger & better screen, similar CPU, slightly less RAM, more storage, actual mousepad & buttons, built-in RJ45 & longer-lasting battery. The Pocket 2 can be charged over USB-C, the Pocket 3 comes with a power brick but perhaps can also be charged via USB-C. The Pocket 2 is well built, feels solid; the screen is no good in direct sunlight but fine if shaded. It certainly feels like a quality product and can fit inside a Chino's type hip pocket.

Edit: The UDKED appears to be a generic AliExpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/i/1005002788339300.html) notebook & has several names, NWNLAP, Topo, Pipo.

[Specaircrew]

I can recommend the Microsoft Surface Pro range, with the Surface Pro 9 being the latest model. Ethernet connectivity is handled by a USB C dongle on anything small and light these days so don't get hung up on something with a built in port.

[Asturias56]

I have as small HP which is "sacrifical" but its extremely slow

I use a larger HP laptop for serious trips

[Jhieminga]

With these things, you get what you pay for. If you need the small size and will go for that 7" model, you'll probably sacrifice something performance-wise as well as quality-wise. Make sure that it is not a locked down system on which you cannot install the software you will need to do your work. Silly thought, but on such a small/cheap model, you might be better off installing a linux distribution as that will make the most of the limited hardware that's in it. I know you asked for Windows... but the way I see it a laptop that cheap will soon struggle to run Windows smoothly. That's just a hunch of course...

[Saab Dastard]

CPU model: Celeron - that would be a red flag for me!

[Asturias56]

"I see it a laptop that cheap will soon struggle to run Windows smoothly."

Correct - but it was cheap and I can afford to lose it plus its much easier to carry around on short trips when all I really need is comms

[421dog]

Recently replaced my old (windows 7) laptop with a Lenovo touch screen model. It really seems to do a good job. My only complaint is the usual software garbage that comes pre-installed and periodically blocks up the otherwise pretty flawless, works.

[Uplinker]

Thanks for the further suggestions.

I don't need it as a laptop - only to communicate with equipment that uses Ethernet/RJ45 for comms for all its functions via GUIs No gaming, no videos, no spreadsheets, no big or high resolution screen. Speed doesn't matter either.

Other than that, just basic emailing and reading PDFs would be useful, but I do not need a full all-singing, all-dancing machine. And really 11" or smaller - I don't want too much extra bulk or volume to carry around.

@Saab; why not a Celeron CPU ? Is it slow or not secure ?

I have just remembered that I have an old company HP ElitePad. I have bought a RJ45 adaptor for it, now I just need to find a way to get it working - it is loaded with Windows 8.1 and I don't think I can reactivate that because I can't find a product key, and the only option seems to be to go all the way up to Windows 11 which I don't need - and which probably won't run on this tablet.

I only need the most basic Windows platform. The ElitePad license was a company one, and that company went bust 5 years ago, so I cannot get a product key from them.

[stevef]

Thanks for the further suggestions.

I don't need it as a laptop - only to communicate with equipment that uses Ethernet/RJ45 for comms for all its functions via GUIs No gaming, no videos, no spreadsheets, no big or high resolution screen. Speed doesn't matter either.

Other than that, just basic emailing and reading PDFs would be useful, but I do not need a full all-singing, all-dancing machine. And really 11" or smaller - I don't want too much extra bulk or volume to carry around.

@Saab; why not a Celeron CPU ? Is it slow or not secure ?

I have just remembered that I have an old company HP ElitePad. I have bought a RJ45 adaptor for it, now I just need to find a way to get it working - it is loaded with Windows 8.1 and I don't think I can reactivate that because I can't find a product key, and the only option seems to be to go all the way up to Windows 11 which I don't need - and which probably won't run on this tablet.

I only need the most basic Windows platform. The ElitePad license was a company one, and that company went bust 5 years ago, so I cannot get a product key from them.

I could be mistaken but I seem to remember that if it's a standard OEM operating system, the product keys are stored in the motherboard firmware and will automatically activate.

(For general info, there's usually a product key sticker under a laptop or somewhere on a desktop case :) )

[Saab Dastard]

@Saab; why not a Celeron CPU ? Is it slow or not secure ?

It's not insecure, just crippled. Celeron has fewer cores (usually just 2), lower clock speeds and less cache memory than it's non-crippled brethren, and often lacks support for multi-threading, turbo boost and other performance increasing technologies. This degrades multi-tasking performance, not just limits single-task capability. So it's slow, but if that isn't important - and it appears not to be - then it may well be more than adequate for your needs.

The problem may well be that a Windows OS will weigh it down so much that it will be sluggish even for the basic tasks you want it to perform - as Jhieminga suggested, you might get better performance from a lighter Linux OS.