Have you been forced to turn your old laptop that was previously used primarily for checking email and watching Netflix into an honest-to-goodness work computer? Is it straining to keep up with its new and expanded role as you work from home to help stop the spread of the coronavirus? If your laptop sounds like a jet engine when you hop on yet another Zoom meeting, you've got two options: switch to using your phone (maybe with a tripod) or upgrade your laptop.
If you choose to go the latter route, a 2-in-1 laptop that acts as both a traditional laptop and tablet can deliver some much needed versatility while quarantined. It can serve as a laptop during the workday with the muscle needed to handle Zoom meetings without forcing you to talk over loud cooling fans while also letting you multitask without freezing up or crashing. And when the workday is done, you can rotate the display 360 degrees and pop it into tablet mode to draw or play games. There's also tent mode for watching Netflix or your streaming service of choice.
Read more: Best laptops of 2020
Best Buy has a number of 2-in-1 laptops currently marked down. Here are four that caught my eye. And Best Buy is doing its part with social distancing -- it is offering free shipping on orders of $35 or more as well as curbside pickup.
Sarah Tew/CNETYou can run Zoom Meeting on a Chrome OS device, and this Chromebook features the previous-generation Core i5-8250 CPU along with 8GB of memory, 128GB of eMMC flash storage and a 720p HD webcam. Missing out on a tenth-gen Core processor is less of an issue on a machine running the lightweight Chrome OS rather than big, bad Windows 10. In fact, this Lenovo Yoga is about as high powered as a Chromebook gets. Its 15.6-inch display has a 1,920x1,080 resolution, which is finer than the 1,366x768 resolution other Chromebooks offer. It also eschews the plastic chassis found on most Chromebooks in favor of a sleek and sturdy aluminum enclosure.
Sarah Tew/CNETThis 2-in-1 from Samsung laptop runs Windows 10 and uses the previous-generation Core i5-8250 CPU, but it should offer enough oomph to handle basic office tasks, including Zoom. The webcam records only a 480p image, so you'll likely be a bit fuzzy to your video-conference mates. The best part of this discounted model is its 512GB SSD; most laptops at this price offer only 256GB of storage. The 13.3-inch display features a crisp 1,920x1,080 resolution, and there's also a fingerprint reader for easy, secure logins. Read our Samsung Notebook 7 Spin review.
Sarah Tew/CNETSitting at the top of Dell's Inspiron line, this Inspiron 7000 2-in-1 model features a tenth-gen Core i7-10510U CPU, an ample 12GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD with 32GB of fast Optane memory. The 15.6-inch touch display features a 1,080p resolution, the webcam features a 720p resolution, and it all comes wrapped in a durable, all-metal chassis.
Sarah Tew/CNETThis 2-in-1 is high powered with a high resolution. It features the tenth-gen Core i7-1065G7 CPU with Intel Iris graphics, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD with 32GB of Optane memory. The 14-inch touch display delivers a 4K resolution, and the HD webcam delivers a 720p picture. Its all-metal chassis is rugged and supplies a fingerprint reader for easy, secure logins.
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