It’s 2023 and there’s this constant and undying obsession with minimalistic and thin bezels. After all, a thin bezel is often indicative of how far screen technology has come, and laptops are no exception. Laptops with a large bezel tend to look outdated or even wasteful with the screen space.
A good way to measure the thinness of the bezel– apart from eyeballing it, would be through the screen-to-body ratio or STB. Laptops with a higher STB mean they’re best at making the most of their screen sizes, with the bezels as thin as possible to ensure maximum viewing pleasure.
They’re not necessarily expensive too, just don’t expect some heavy gaming laptops to have an outstanding STB (88 percent and higher) because gaming screens need to be more sturdy and thicker or bulkier.
Regardless, these following work and presentation laptops have thin bezels with an excellent STB (88 percent or above) for that undeniable modern or even futuristic look.
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Dell XPS 13 Plus Business Laptop
PROS
- Elegant and minimalist design
- Zero-lattice keyboard for a more even typing feel
- Gorgeous OLED screen
- Touchscreen display
- 4K resolution
- Thin and light
- 5200 MHz RAM speed
CONS
- Refresh rate is only 60Hz
- Poor battery life
- OLED is prone to burn-in
- 720p webcam
Specs:
- CPU / Processor: Intel Core i7-1260P
- GPU / Graphics Card: Integrated
- RAM / Memory: 16GB DDR5
- Storage: 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD
- Display: 13.4″ OLED (3456 x 2160) Touch Display, 400 nits, 60Hz 16:10
With a miniscule bezel and a beautiful OLED screen, the Dell XPS 13 Plus leads the pack. Its design is overall elegant and is oozing with class, complete with its zero-lattice keyboard to its glossy chassis.
Of course, all that bezel minimizing would have gone to waste if they hadn’t made it a touchscreen display. This 4K OLED screen is stylus-ready. XPS are also marketed as business laptops, so if you really want something formal to match your business attire, this sharp and stylish laptop is right up there.
Dell XPS 13 Plus Business Laptop
ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 OLED
PROS
- Vivid OLED screen
- Stylish and minimalist chassis
- Touchscreen display
- Comes with a Ryzen 9 processor
- Can handle a bit of ray tracing in games
- Thin and light
CONS
- Refresh rate is only 60Hz
- OLED screen is prone to burn-in
Specs:
- CPU / Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX
- GPU / Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti
- RAM / Memory: 16GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6” FHD OLED Touch Display 60Hz
If you really want something with which you can play games on while also retaining its impressive screen-to-body ratio, Asus and its ZenBook Pro 15 OLED is quite hard to pass up. It comes with an NVIDIA RTX GPU (though a meager one) and is paired with a previous-gen Ryzen 9 5900HX which is still plenty powerful for today’s demanding applications.
As an added bonus, you get an OLED touchscreen. So while the refresh rate is low and the GPU is a bit humble, you at least get something you can game on while also having a work laptop with a thin bezel and a presentable chassis.
ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 OLED
Acer Swift Edge 16" OLED
PROS
- 1080p webcam
- Slim and light chassis
- AMD Ryzen 7 6800U
- Beautiful OLED screen
- Minimalist build
CONS
- Poor battery life
- 16:10 aspect ratio
- A bit pricey
- OLED is prone to burn-in
Specs:
- CPU / Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 6800U
- GPU / Graphics Card: AMD Radeon Graphics (Integrated)
- RAM / Memory: 16 GB LPDDR5 4800MHz
- Storage: 1TB PCIe SSD
- Display: 16″ 16:10 OLED WQUXGA (3840 x 2400)
OLED and budget don’t usually mesh well together, but the Acer Swift Edge 16 OLED managed to make it work. Granted, there were some major compromises. There’s no dedicated GPU and the price is comparable with a lot of other budget gaming laptops.
Still, you’re mainly going to be buying this for the 4K OLED screen and the slim bezels. Combined with the slim chassis, which is almost as slim as the bezel, you’ve got yourself an elegant budget OLED laptop that’s viable for work and professional meetings.
It’s also worth noting that you can still game on this machine; the integrated AMD Radeon Graphics GPU is powerful enough for some old games.
Acer Swift Edge 16" OLED
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 9i 14"
PROS
- Slim and light
- Cheap price
- 4K resolution
- 16GB of RAM for its price
- Touchscreen display
- Good DDR4 RAM speed
CONS
- Poor battery life
Specs:
- CPU / Processor: Intel EVO Core i7-1195G7
- GPU / Graphics Card: Intel Iris Xe Graphics (Integrated)
- RAM / Memory: 16GB LPDDR4x 4266 MHz
- Storage: 512GB NVMe SSD
- Display: 14.0″ 4K UHD IPS Touchscreen (3840×2160) Display
Just as there’s a budget OLED laptop, there’s also a budget 4K laptop, though it’s not OLED. However, it still shows off that strong resolution with minimal bezels, introducing the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 9i.
It’s another laptop whose chassis is almost as thin as its bezels, and that’s an impressive feat for its price along with the 4K resolution screen. Granted, you might get a bit of difficulty operating at 4K with such a small screen, but it’s touchscreen anyway and this device is perfect for those looking for an affordable 4K device.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 9i 14"
Frequently Asked Questions
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What are you sacrificing for a thin bezel?
Usually, screens or devices with thin bezels have low refresh rates and are more prone to backlight bleed or IPS bleed due to their smaller space for LCD backlights. Moreover, the webcam might also suffer in quality since it has less space. -
Are thin bezels better?
Aesthetically-speaking, they are better. It makes the display feel less cramped even though screen size is usually measured without the bezel. For some people, bezels can also be distracting.