Help what laptop should i buy

It isn't cheap, but it justifies its price with excellent build quality, fast performance, a great screen and excellent speakers. Even the battery life is good, which is rare on a large laptop. This absolute cracker of a Windows laptop sets the standard for devices running on Microsoft's software.

Its excellent screen, lovely speakers and fast performance mean it ticks practically every box you can imagine, and starts from under a grand.

For the money, there are very few laptops as good as this one. This mid-range laptop delivers fast performance in a very compact and lightweight shell. That should make it ideal for anyone who needs a laptop for taking out and about. It includes a fingerprint reader, a Full HD screen and a half decent processor, along with excellent battery life.

Ready to shop right now? Browse and compare laptop reviews from our tests. Table updated November Cheap but not cheerful, and packed with slow processors, limited Ram, unpleasant keyboards and screens that are hard to make out. These are laptops to avoid. Steer clear. This brand is apparently popular on Amazon, but our tests reveal this budget laptop is a complete false economy. This sub-standard laptop isn't terribly slow, but it lacks skills in any other area, with poor battery life, fiddly keyboard and touchpad, dull screen and terrible speakers.

This giant laptop is also a giant pain in the neck, thanks to poor battery life, slow performance and a dire screen. Short on time? Watch our two-minute video for the most important laptop buying tips. Before you start shopping for a laptop, it will help to know the answers to the following five key questions. On a budget? Skip straight to our round-up of the best cheap laptops.

There are three major players when it comes to the software operating system your computer runs on. Buy a Windows 10 laptop if…. Before you buy, particularly if you're buying an older model, check it's going to be compatible with Windows See our free Windows 11 requirements checker. Buy a MacBook if…. See our Macbook reviews. Buy a Chromebook if….

Check out our expert Chromebook reviews. Take our quiz to help you decide! You're best suited to a Chromebook. These lightweight machines are typically very cheap and very simple to use. As long as you don't mind using web-based applications, you'll be off and working in no time at all. Your best option is a MacBook.

These premium laptops are silky smooth to use and offer great performance for all sorts of tasks. Looks like your best fit is a new Windows laptop.

With such a wide variety to choose from, there's something for all tastes in the world of Microsoft-powered laptops. In a nutshell:. Think of clock speed as the speed limit on a road and the number of cores as the number of lanes.

As on a road, depending on traffic conditions — the tasks being done on your computer — a road might see a greater benefit from more lanes or a higher speed limit. In the simplest way possible, more of both is better, and each of our laptop reviews will help you out by making it clear what sort of tasks a laptop is good for.

Since its launch in July , Windows 10 has also added a host of improvements, including the ability to use follow-up questions with Cortana , search your email using natural language and use your stylus to scribble almost anywhere. Windows 10 laptops are great for students, researchers and business users, and they're the only machines gamers should consider. Overall, the operating system offers similar functionality to Windows 10, but with a different take on the interface that substitutes an apps dock at the bottom of the screen for Microsoft's Start menu and taskbar.

Instead of the Cortana digital assistant, Mac users get Siri. They can also perform transactions with Apple Pay, take calls or texts from their phones and unlock their laptops with an Apple Watch. However, macOS isn't made for touch, because no MacBook comes with a touch screen.

Found on inexpensive Chromebooks such as the Samsung Chromebook 3. The user interface looks a lot like Windows with an application menu, a desktop and the ability to drag windows around, but the main app you use is the Chrome browser. The downside is that many of the "web apps" you use don't work particularly well offline.

However, that's changing as all new Chromebooks, including the high-end, Google PixelBook , can now run Android apps. If you need a device to surf the Web and check email, navigate social networks and chat online, Chromebooks are highly portable and tend to offer good battery life at low prices.

They are also extremely popular with schools and parents because they are hard for kids to infect with malware and more functional than most tablets. A x resolution preferred and 4K is better but very uncommon. Pay extra to get a 2-in-1 if you plan to use Android apps. Many PC laptops fall into the category of 2-in-1 laptops , hybrid devices that can switch between traditional clamshell mode, tablet mode and other positions in between such as tent or stand modes.

Most of these systems are much better at serving one purpose than the other, with bend-backs being laptops first and detachables offering a superior tablet experience.

However, if you don't see the need to use your notebook as a slate, you'll usually get more performance for your money with a traditional clamshell laptop.

Before you look at specs or pricing, you need to figure out just how portable you need your laptop to be. Laptops are usually categorized by their display sizes :. The most impressive specs in the world don't mean diddly if the laptop you're shopping for doesn't have good ergonomics. If you plan to do a lot of work on your computer, make sure the keyboard offers solid tactile feedback, plenty of key travel the distance the key goes down when pressed, usually 1 to 2mm and enough space between the keys.

If you're buying a Windows laptop, be sure it has Precision touchpad drivers. Look for an accurate touchpad that doesn't give you a jumpy cursor and responds consistently to multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom. If you're buying a business laptop, consider getting one with a pointing stick aka nub between the G and H keys so you can navigate around the desktop without lifting your fingers off the keyboard's home row.

Notebook components such as processor, hard drive, RAM and graphics chip can confuse even notebook aficionados, so don't feel bad if spec sheets look like alphabet soup to you. CPU: The "brains" of your computer, the processor has a huge influence on performance, but depending on what you want to do, even the least-expensive model may be good enough. Here's a rundown:. When a laptop has better specs, it will likely perform faster, and for longer.

But with improved performance, of course, comes a higher price tag. The processor, or central processing unit CPU , is the brain of the computer. Everything you do on a computer is processed either by the CPU or, should the task demand heavy real-time image rendering, the graphics processing unit GPU. All this to say, it's critical to buy a laptop with a decent processor.

With four, it can process four things. And so on. Laptops generally do away with GPUs simply because of the fact that most CPUs have basic built-in graphics processing capabilities and because discrete GPUs take up a lot of room. Still, the likes of Nvidia and AMD have put a lot of resources into developing mobile GPUs over the past few years, and these days you can find some laptops with dedicated graphics processing.

RAM, or Random Access Memory , essentially determines how much space the computer has to store files for immediate use. Apps and services that are open on your computer are being stored in RAM, where the processor can quickly get to them if it needs to. By and large, more RAM is better, but there are caveats. Faster RAM, for instance, can have an adverse effect on battery life, not to mention pricing.

The sweet spot for most people seems to be around 8GB of RAM, though opinions vary depending on your use case and profession. Any less than 8GB makes sense for budget computers focused on web browsing and passive media consumption. More intense activities like gaming and video editing might necessitate more RAM. When it comes to storing files like photos and documents, there is an endless list of alternatives to the traditional hard drive see: The Cloud. But that's not to say local storage is no longer important, as you can probably tell from the thriving SSD market.

These new flash storage devices are quieter, smaller, and more resilient than their spinning disk-based predecessors. If it sounds too good to be true well then it probably is. Sort of. Although SSDs are objectively better than hard drives, they cost significantly more.

Be that as it may, with time their prices are getting more reasonable, and we still think it's worth the premium to buy a laptop with an SSD built-in.

If you want to cut down the cost, you can opt for a laptop with just enough local storage and purchase a cloud storage subscription for iCloud, OneDrive, or Dropbox to offset the deficit.

While specs under the hood determine a laptop's performance, its design can make or break your workflow. Design isn't just about fashion, it encapsulates your display, ports, keyboard, trackpad, and pretty much everything else that's visible without cracking open the chassis.

Here are a few design elements to consider as you shop for a new laptop. You might not think your laptop display is important, but it is a meaningful piece. Computers generally have up to a inch display, down to as little as 11 inches, but the sweet spot for most seems to be in the inch range. The higher the resolution, the clearer the image. Though Apple will tell you the ideal resolution is around x for a inch panel, many laptop makers have ventured into 4K Ultra HD x territory. Despite our increasingly wire-free world, the ports on your laptop are far from extinct.

In either case, there's a good chance you'll need an adapter if you plan on using a second display or connecting your computer to your TV from time to time. There are a few other ports to check on as well. Webcam placement does change a little depending on the model—most laptops have their webcam above the display, while some have it beneath the display.

Some newer models even have a pop-up camera built into the keyboard. In recent years, laptops have done away with the optical disc drive since streaming has hit the mainstream. We feel most people can get away without a disc drive built into their laptops, and even those who really need one can still buy an external one.

Still, laptops with disc drives built right in do still exist, albeit in rare form. The main features to consider when buying a new laptop are outlined above, but there are a few other things to keep in mind. A inch laptop, on the other hand, might weigh between 1. Lastly, inch models range from around 2.

Because laptops are supposed to be portable, a lot hinges on their battery life. Battery size is measured in milliampere-hours mAh , but longevity is based on a number of factors. For example, a small battery in a device with a low-resolution screen at low brightness might last longer than a device with a larger battery and a sharper, brighter display. Of course, your own personal usage habits affect battery life the most. Of course, there are downsides to these capacitive displays.

Touch-screen computers are generally more expensive, for starters. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content.