A lightweight laptop can be carried all day without a second thought; a heavy one often ends up staying on the desk. Since late September, Picksly rates laptop weight from the manufacturer’s spec sheet, along with battery capacity. Here is what these records show, and the right pick for your profile.
The scores are from 9 October 2026, for France; every price quoted carries the date it was recorded. Prices change: always check the price shown by the shop before buying.
How Picksly measures weight and battery
Picksly tracks 186 laptop configurations (range, processor, memory). Until late September 2026, it rated neither weight nor battery: the weights shown on shop listings were too often wrong (packaging weight, rounding). Since 30 September, both criteria come from the manufacturer’s official spec sheet (Lenovo, Apple, Asus, Acer, Dell, HP, MSI), recorded by hand with the page address.
- Weight: 73 of the 186 configurations have one. When the manufacturer lists several weights depending on the screen or chassis, Picksly keeps the lightest (“starting at”). The score is 100 at 1.22 kg or less and 0 at 1.77 kg or more, in a straight line in between: 55 extra grams cost about 10 points.
- Battery: 41 configurations, all among the 73. This is the capacity in watt-hours (Wh), scored from 0 at 47.5 Wh to 100 at 60.3 Wh, and only when the model comes with a single battery option. It is not measured battery life: the site labels it “Battery”.
- The others have no weight score: a name like “HP Laptop” or “ROG” covers several chassis, and a single weight would not be right.
Weight counts for 15% of the overall score, 10% of the Smart and Premium scores and 5% of the Budget score; battery for 30% of the overall score, 25% of the Budget and Smart scores and 20% of the Premium score. Full details are in the scoring method.
How much the rated laptops weigh
Across the 73 configurations with a known weight, the median weight is about 1.58 kg. 35 weigh under 1.5 kg; 25 weigh 1.77 kg or more, mostly gaming laptops (Legion, TUF, Katana, Nitro, Victus) and 15- or 16-inch models.
Here is weight by price band, for the 30 configurations that also have a verified price (new or refurbished, whichever is lower):
| Lowest price | Configurations | Weight | What you find there |
|---|---|---|---|
| €500 or less | 18 | median 1.46 kg | former business laptops, refurbished (ThinkPad, Latitude, EliteBook); 17 of 18 under 1.6 kg |
| €501 to €700 | 2 | 1.29 and 1.40 kg | MacBook Air M1 and MacBook Pro M1, refurbished |
| €701 to €1,000 | 1 | 1.40 kg | Asus Vivobook 14, new |
| over €1,000 | 9 | 1.22 to 1.77 kg or more | gaming laptops, 16-inch models and a few recent ultraportables |
A word of caution: 30 configurations is not many (only three between €501 and €1,000), and this table describes Picksly’s catalogue, not the whole market. One thing is clear: under €500, a light laptop is mostly a refurbished one, with a processor several generations old.
What lightness costs in performance
Let’s compare the 25 lightest configurations (1.40 kg or less) with the 25 heaviest (1.77 kg or more):
- Processor: median score of 52 out of 100 for the light ones, 88 for the heavy ones (PassMark CPU Mark score scaled to 100). Only 3 light ones reach 85, against 15 heavy ones.
- Graphics: the 5 configurations whose graphics score is above 0 (measured dedicated card) all weigh 1.77 kg or more. No light laptop in the catalogue has a rated graphics card.
- Battery: the heavy ones often have the bigger one (median score 100 for 11, against 11 for 18 light ones), but it powers hungrier components.
Lightness does not rule out power: three laptops at 1.32 kg or less get the top processor score (table below), but they are recent and the only one with a verified price costs over €1,500. In practice, a light laptop is paid for either in price or with an older processor, and in every case by going without a gaming graphics card.
The best-rated light laptops
| Model | Weight | Processor | Profile score | Verified price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asus Zenbook 14 (Core Ultra 7 255H, 16 GB) | 1.22 kg or less | 100 | Smart 91.3 · Premium 75 | €1,542.47 new (Amazon, 21 September) |
| Acer Swift Go 14 (Core Ultra 7 155H, 16 GB) | 1.32 kg | 100 | Smart 91.5 · Premium 73.2 | none on 9 October |
| Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (16 GB) | 1.23 kg | 100 | Smart 77.7 · Premium 64.7 | none on 9 October |
| Apple MacBook Air 15 M5 (16 GB) | 1.51 kg | 100 | Smart 79.7 · Premium 69.7 | €1,879 new (Amazon, 21 September) |
| Apple MacBook Pro M1 (16 GB) | 1.40 kg | 59 | Budget 69.9 | €699 refurbished (Amazon, 21 September) |
| HP EliteBook 840 (i5-10210U, 16 GB) | 1.41 kg | 21 | Budget 67.2 | €308.99 refurbished (Refurbed.fr, 7 October) |
| Dell Latitude 7400 (i5-8365U, 16 GB) | 1.35 kg | 21 | Budget 58.5 | €325.12 refurbished (Refurbed.fr, 7 October) |
Weight of the lightest version according to the manufacturer; the 15-inch MacBook Air is the lightest 15-inch model with a verified price.
The right pick for your profile
Weight only counts for 5 to 10% of the profile scores: the lightest laptop is not always the best rated.
🟢 Budget: €700 at most, new or refurbished
The Budget profile picks the best Budget score among laptops at €700 or less, new or refurbished. Among the weighed laptops, the MacBook Pro M1 with 16 GB comes first (69.9, 1.40 kg), just under the cap, ahead of the EliteBook 840. The lightest in this band, the ThinkPad X13 (i7-10510U, 8 GB), weighs 1.22 kg or less for €259 refurbished (Amazon, 21 September), but its Budget score is only 41.1: 8 GB of memory and a small battery (score 4). See laptops at €700 or less ranked by Budget score.
🟣 Smart: new, Smart score of at least 50
The Smart profile sets no price band: it only looks at new offers whose Smart score reaches 50, and picks the best. Among light laptops with a verified price, the Zenbook 14 scores 91.3. The Asus Vivobook 14 (i5-1334U, 12 GB), 1.40 kg for €742.99 new (Amazon, 21 September), stays at 42.7: its battery scores 0. See laptops ranked by Smart score.
🔵 Premium: new, Premium score of at least 60, never refurbished
The Premium profile ignores price, only keeps new devices and requires a Premium score of at least 60. The Zenbook 14 (75) and the MacBook Air 15 M5 (69.7) qualify; so do the Swift Go 14 and the MacBook Air 13 M5, but without a verified price on that date. The 24-months-since-release condition rules out no laptop: Picksly does not know their release dates yet. See laptops ranked by Premium score.
What the score does not see
- Real battery life: Picksly rates battery capacity, not hours of use. An efficient chip lasts longer on fewer watt-hours: the MacBook Air M1 (49.9 Wh, 15 to 18 hours announced by Apple) only gets 19 out of 100 for battery.
- The weight of your version: a touchscreen or a bigger battery can add weight; the charger is not counted.
- A refurbished battery: the rated capacity is that of a new battery.
- Screen, keyboard, build quality: none of these is rated.
Going further
Every configuration, with its weight and battery scores, is on our laptop ratings page. To see at a glance where the price shown on Amazon stands, install the Picksly extension: it compares the page you are looking at with the offers we track. And for the best-ranked products, see our Top 10 laptops. Picksly may earn a commission on purchases made through its links, at no extra cost to you (how we rank products).
FAQ
From what weight is a laptop considered light?
There is no official threshold. On Picksly’s scale, 1.22 kg or less scores 100 for weight, 1.40 kg about 67, and 1.77 kg or more 0.
Can a lightweight laptop be used for gaming?
Not in Picksly’s catalogue on 9 October 2026: the 5 configurations whose graphics card scores above 0 all weigh 1.77 kg or more.
Can you find a lightweight laptop under €500?
Yes, refurbished: on 9 October 2026, 17 configurations at €500 or less weigh under 1.6 kg, all former business laptops with an 8th- or 10th-generation Intel processor.
