The best 4G LTE laptops in 2024

The best 4G LTE laptops are essential if you’re a mobile professional and your job has you traveling frequently. However, not everywhere you go will have a stable internet connection, so purchasing a laptop with 4G LTE capabilities is a great feature to consider if you’re in the market for a new laptop. 

We’ve identified some of the best 4G LTE laptops out there, each of which strikes a balance between solid performance, a vivid display and affordable pricing. 

An important thing to remember is that 4G LTE isn’t the default option for many laptops, so you have to configure your potential system with the feature. Certain companies will advertise 4G support as if it's a stock feature, but you’ll have to add it to your purchase for an additional hundred or so dollars. For example, the page for the HP Spectre x360 says it has “Gigabit-class 4G LTE,” but to actually add this onto the product, you’ll need to complete a set of convoluted steps and spend an additional $130.

5G is also at the forefront and is being more commonly integrated into laptops. For example, the Dell Latitude 9510 is the first business laptop with 5G support, and it's still the best 5G laptop we've tested. Check out our best 5G laptops page for more information.

Samsung is even preparing for its vision of 6G by 2028, which includes holograms, digital replicas and extended reality.

The Quick List

Best Overall

The HP Elite Dragonfly sports an excellent midnight blue magnesium chassis coupled with a vivid display that accentuates colorful imagery. It’s a great choice for business use with nearly 13 hours of battery life, making it a long-lasting powerhouse. If you’re looking for a great laptop with 4G LTE capabilities, the Dragonfly is our number one choice. It comes with an Intel XMM 7360 LTE-Advanced chip, which allows users to connect to the internet using 4G. 

Due to its Intel UHD 620 GPU, it’s not made for gaming and shouldn't be used as such. However, it’s perfect for getting work done thanks to its 8th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU. It’s also really nice to look at, although it’s not as nice to listen to; the Dragonfly provides underwhelming audio quality. It can also be a bit expensive, as this version of the Dragonfly costs $2,169. 

See our full HP Elite Dragonfly review

Most Rugged

The Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon is a great choice thanks to its lightweight and durable design. The battery life may not be as impressive as the Dragonfly, but it lasted 9 hours and 30 minutes in our battery test, which is still quite impressive. The Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon’s Intel UHD 620 GPU makes it a poor choice for gaming, but with a quick 8th generation processor and excellent keyboard that feels tactile and weighty, it’s perfect for work and business.

The laptop can come with a Fibocom L850-GL 4G LTE CAT9 chip, which allows users to connect to the internet via a 4G LTE connection. However, this is an optional accessory that must be added onto the purchase for $149.99. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with a microSD card slot, which means it might not be the best choice for photographers and videographers.

See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (7th Gen, 2019) review 

Best Value

Thanks to a combination of fast processing power and a low price, the HP Spectre x360 provides the best value of any 4G LTE laptop you can buy. The model we reviewed goes for $1,299 and has an Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor that can easily handle plenty of multitasking like crunching numbers in a big spreadsheet with a collection of tabs open in the background. On top of that, you get a gorgeously designed silver chassis, and a bright and vivid display, all of which  results in a great value for its price.

The laptop can be equipped with an Intel XMM 7560 LTE-Advanced Pro chip, which is what will allow consumers to connect to the internet using 4G LTE. However, the process of adding this onto your purchase is a bit complicated. While customizing the HP Spectre x360, your color needs to be set to “Nightfall Black” and you must select the processor with “(WWAN)” at the end. Then, you’ll be able to select a wireless carrier. This adds an additional $130 onto the purchase.

See our full HP Spectre x360 (13-inch, Late 2019) review 

Best Swappable SSD

Microsoft's Surface Pro 7+ boasts fast processing and graphics performance, and although it possesses drawbacks, it manages to improve upon its predecessor in a number of ways. The Pro 7+ adds a swappable SSD in particular, which makes it stand out in this list.

It does have issues, including a battery life (8:49) that lagged over an hour behind our premium laptop average (10:05). Additionally, we would have liked if it had a Thunderbolt port, and the omittance of 5G is a bit surprising considering it's such a recent release. We're still not fans of the thick display bezels, which has carried over from the original Pro 7.

However, if you're looking for a 4G LTE laptop with a solid webcam, colorful display and great thermals, the Surface Pro 7+ is a worthwhile investment.

See our full Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ review

Best Budget Laptop

The Samsung Chromebook Plus is the cheapest standard 4G LTE laptop, which makes it a great value option for those needing mobile data while working away from home. It starts at $599.99, which means you shouldn’t expect much from its 32GB of eMMC storage and Intel Core m3-6Y30 processor, but its clear and radiant display is bound to charm you.

Additionally, it comes with Verizon 4G LTE automatically installed in its $599.99 base model, which means you won’t have to spend additional money to get access to this function. However, the spongy keys on its keyboard are frustrating because they are mushier than we’d like. Its Android app functionality isn’t particularly impressive, either, but if this isn’t much of a dealbreaker for you, the Samsung Chromebook Plus is a good choice for those in need of a cheap 4G LTE laptop.

See our full Samsung Chromebook Plus review 

Best All-Around Performance

The Dell Latitude 7400 2-in-1 is a well-rounded system thanks to its 13 hours of battery life, nice aluminum chassis, and great performance delivered by its Intel Core i7-8665U and 16GB of RAM. It's not cheap, with prices starting at $1,679, but it's a powerful business laptop that is well worth it for those looking to invest in something that will last.

However, it does possess a few issues, including a display that could be far brighter. Since it’s a laptop that might often be used in bright places away from home, it’s dark screen could prove to be frustrating. Additionally, its speakers sound distorted, muffled and hollow. If you’re looking to purchase the Dell Latitude 7400 2-in-1 with 4G LTE capabilities, you have to customize it with a $139.30 Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE modem that supports Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T.

See our Dell Latitude 7400 2-in-1 review 

Best 2-in-1 laptop

The Microsoft Surface Go 2 can be purchased at an incredibly low price, which is well worth it considering its 10.5-inch display is vibrant and vivid. And even though its Intel Core m3-8100Y processor isn’t particularly powerful, it more than makes up for it with 11 hours and 39 minutes of battery life. 

The Microsoft Surface Go sports an excellent webcam which provides crisp image and video quality. The display is also detachable, making it usable as both a tablet or laptop. The laptop also has its 4G LTE automatically included within the purchase, which means you won’t have to spend more than the standard price of $729 for the tablet. However, unfortunately, its keyboard and stylus are sold separately, which means you’ll have to spend at least an additional $130 for these accessories.

See our Microsoft Surface Go 2 review 

How to choose the best 4G LTE laptop for you

Do your intensive daily workloads require more RAM than the average Joe? Are you a video editor who needs extra storage? Are you a gamer who wants a powerful GPU? Sorting through the best laptops to fit your lifestyle is a tricky business.

To make your shopping process a little easier, our Editor-in-Chief Sherri L. Smith has put together some tried-and-true guidelines to help you choose the best laptop.

Budget: What you get for the money.

You can find decent Windows laptops and high-quality Chromebooks for under $500. However, better mainstream laptops usually cost more than $700 and premium Ultrabooks can run over $1,000. The best gaming laptops can cost $2.000 and up, but you can play the latest titles at decent frame rates on gaming laptops under $1,000.

Screen Size: 12 to 14 inches for Portability

Knowing a laptop's screen size tells you a lot about its portability overall. If you want to use your computer on your lap or carry it around a lot, go for one with a 12, 13 or 14-inch display. If you want to use the computer on tables and desks and won't carry it around much, a 15-inch model may give you more value. Some gaming rigs, media machines and workstations even have 17 or 18-inch screens, but those are hardest to carry.

2-in-1 or Clamshell?

More and more of today's laptops are 2-in-1s with screens that either bend back 360 degrees or detach so you can use them as tablets. If you like the idea of using your laptop in slate mode for drawing, media consumption or just using it standing up, a 2-in-1 could be for you. However, you can often get better features or a lower price by going with a traditional clamshell-style laptop.

Battery Life: 8+ Hours for Portability

Unless you only plan to use your laptop on your desk, battery life matters. Even within the home or office, having plenty of juice enables you to work on the couch or at the conference table, without being chained to the nearest outlet. For the best portability, we recommend getting a laptop that lasted over 8 hours on the Laptop Mag Battery Test. The longest-lasting laptops endure for over 10 hours.

Specs: 1080p / Core i5 / 8GB Are Best Bets

You can spend a lot of time delving into specs, but here are the key components to think about. If you just want really good mainstream performance, go for a Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 1080p screen.

How we test the best 4G LTE laptops

We put each laptop through extensive benchmark testing — both synthetic and real-world — before they end up in the hands of our reviewers. We evaluate each aspect of the laptop, including its performance, battery life, display, speakers and heat management.

In our benchmark testing, we use a Klein K10 colorimeter to detect the brightness and sRGB color gamut of the laptop's display. For performance testing, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 4.3 and 5.0 and 3DMark professional graphics tests. 

To determine real-world performance, we task the laptop to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution and to duplicate a 4.97GB multimedia file. Our real-world graphics test is the Dirt 3 benchmark with medium settings at 1080p resolution.

We also run heat tests by playing a 15-minute full-screen video and measuring temperatures in different areas of the laptop. Last but not least, our battery test consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. For MacBooks and premium Windows 10 laptops, a runtime of over 9 hours is considered a good result whereas gaming laptops and workstations that can stay powered for longer than 5 hours deserve praise. 

These tests are complemented with extensive hands-on testing from our reviewers who critique everything from the laptop's materials to the feel of its touchpad.

See this page on How We Test Laptops for more details on our benchmarking procedures.

Why Trust Laptop Mag

Laptop Mag reviews over one hundred different laptops every year, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming. 

We are 100% independent and have decades of experience to help you buy with confidence. In fact, Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing products for three decades, and we continue to deliver trustworthy reviews you can rely on. 

Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it. 

Our editorial trustworthiness is enforced by one of the world's largest technology publishers, Future Publishing. As a company, we have unrivaled experience across every tech sector — and we're the group's specialist for all things mobile tech.