You can get confused looking at the many models presented. The cost is not a determining factor - it is possible to choose the right device, taking into account any budget. Therefore, you need to decide on your preferences. Without sufficient experience, it is difficult to understand what qualities and functions should be paid attention to in the first place. Let's see what you need to consider in order for the purchase to be as useful and effective as possible.

Frame

The appearance of a laptop is its calling card. A beautiful model may be less technologically advanced, but it looks impressive in any setting and pleases the eye of the owner. However, design is usually given far less attention than performance, for good reason. The buyer wants to get maximum opportunities with minimum investment. Therefore, often available models are made of plastic, have an impressive weight and a modest finish. Glossy cases look more effective than utilitarian shells with a matte finish. However, the delicate finish is easily scratched and loses its gloss. In addition, fingerprints easily appear on the surface from the touch of fingers. This is a problem not only of gloss, but also of the metal finish of laptops in a class above.

Models in higher price categories usually flaunt unibody cases. This is a monolithic and non-separable design, which deprives the user of any chance to upgrade or repair on their own. The case of such laptops most often consists of aluminum or alloy.

For example, Lenovo is actively developing a line of carbon fiber laptops. It is a very durable yet lightweight material. There are other options: Acer uses Gorilla Glass 3 on some of its models. The option is beautiful, but you should be very careful with it. Although a fall on the pavement will end sadly for any laptop, regardless of the finish material.

In recent years, the class has been actively developing. These are models that can easily turn from a tablet to a laptop or take some intermediate state. The advantage of this model is that it also has a flexible mechanism that will help you choose a comfortable position for the laptop, depending on the current task. Similar devices can now be found in most manufacturers:, or they will offer enough options. Prices for such devices are comparable to conventional models without a swivel screen mechanism.

The convenience of a keyboard often depends not on a specific manufacturer, but on the model chosen. Given the variety of devices on the market, the user can determine the type that is comfortable for him. The length of the stroke of the buttons, their response varies.

Having decided on the size, you need to look at the display resolution. The higher the pixel density, the clearer and better the picture will be. If we are talking about, in this case, a Full HD screen will be enough (that is, a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels). But even a similar aspect ratio will also look very decent.

The vast majority of entry-level models now come with HD screens. The resolution may vary depending on the aspect ratio, but most often it will be a picture of 1366 × 768 pixels. In an inexpensive device, this is normal. When a similar screen is in a multimedia laptop, it is better to look towards other models.

Now there are mostly models where the aspect ratio of the screen is 16:9 or 16:10. The first option will be convenient if the laptop is often used to watch movies. In this case, the video on the display is played without black bars at the top and bottom.

Another very important aspect is the type of matrix used. Screens are and. The first are good because they glare less. They are considered more convenient for professional use. However, glossy matrices of the latest generations, thanks to effective anti-reflective coatings, began to behave much better than older displays of this type. With their help, you can get a more spectacular picture, while not losing quality.

Sound

Usually the quality of a sound system directly depends on the size of the device and its price. From a thin ultrabook, you should not expect powerful bass and a wide stage; it is not intended for the role of a home media center. But a larger 15- or 17-inch model can offer a more advanced system. Typically, such gadgets are developed in collaboration with a well-known manufacturer: JBL, Beats, Harman / Kardon, Bang & Olufsen and others. To create a comfortable acoustic environment, a number of models are equipped with built-in or external subwoofers.

Battery

A lot of third-party parameters affect the operating time of a laptop. Even a balanced system with a capacious battery will not be able to work for a long time in game mode. Do not demand the impossible from the device. Increased heat transfer and high screen brightness can quickly discharge an 8-cell battery, not to mention a 4-cell battery.

It is worth considering that when buying a Unibody model, the possibility of further battery replacement in the future automatically disappears.

A number of devices have replaceable high-capacity power supplies that significantly increase the operating time of the laptop. Now Apple is considered the champion in terms of work time, which are able to stay away from the outlet for about 12-14 hours.

Operating system

Currently, most of the new models on sale are running. If necessary, this system can be upgraded to a more recent version free of charge. For the corporate market, they still release devices with Windows 7 inside, but their number is very small. However, not only Microsoft develops its own versions of operating systems for customers.

Laptops were invented so that computers can be used mobile, that is, it is as simple and easy as possible to move them in space. The mobility of any device imposes restrictions on its size and weight. The limitation in size forces laptops to be made with a much higher density of elements than conventional computers.

It is the high density of the layout that creates the main difficulty in the manufacture of laptops. The fact is that all the elements used in modern computers emit heat during operation. At the same time, the stability of the operation of all components directly depends on the temperature regime - the stronger the element is heated, the less stable it works and the shorter its life.

In addition to heating, each element creates electromagnetic radiation, which also negatively affects the stability of neighboring elements. And the denser the arrangement of computer elements, the higher their mutual negative influence. Everything is aggravated by the fact that the current level of production of computer elements does not allow the production of products with exactly the same heat release and thermal stability. For example, central processing units, even within the same production batch, have different heat dissipation rates.

Therefore, laptop manufacturers have to solve very difficult problems. It is necessary not only to properly design a laptop, but also carefully select microcircuits for their heat dissipation and ability to work stably in high temperature conditions. Therefore, the production of laptops is not only more expensive than conventional computers, but is only available to a limited number of manufacturers. Of course, we are talking about good laptops.

Not everyone who sells laptops makes them themselves. For example, HP orders its laptops from OEM manufacturers. In order to buy a good laptop, you need to know two things:

1. Not all laptop vendors make them themselves.
2. Not everyone who makes laptops makes good laptops.

The ideal option is to buy a laptop from a seller (the company under whose label the laptop is sold), who makes them himself. Or from a retailer who orders laptops from a good OEM manufacturer.

Notebook Specifications

Since a laptop is a mobile computer, its most important characteristics are as follows:

1. Dimensions (size) - width, length, thickness (height). Smaller sizes make it easier to carry a laptop, for example, mini laptops with a screen of 11.6 - 12 inches can be carried in an ordinary women's or men's bag. A large laptop will have to be carried in a separate, special bag.
2. Weight. The lighter the laptop, the easier it is to carry.
3. Autonomy. This is the time that the laptop can operate on battery power without being connected to the mains. If the laptop can withstand 4, 5 or even 6 hours without recharging, this greatly simplifies its use outside the home or office.

Thus, the defining parameters of a laptop are the size, weight and battery capacity. All other characteristics, in the general case, can be neglected.

However, in order to buy the best laptop, you need to start from the usage model of this laptop. If you plan to use a laptop for intensive work with documents, for example, you are an accountant, then, in addition to the three main parameters, you also need to consider the screen size. Since the size of the point of the image depends on the physical size of the screen. The smaller the screen size, the smaller the dot size.

What does small screen dot mean?

All elements of the image on the monitor screen will be very small. And if you need to do a lot of paperwork, it will be harder on the eyes on a small-screen laptop than on a large-screen laptop.

Example. The Lenovo S205 laptop has a screen size of 11.6" (11.6 inches - the physical diagonal of the screen). And the Sony VPCEK2S1R laptop has a screen size of 15.5 inches. That is almost 4 inches (10 cm) more. However, they have the same screen resolution - 1366 x 768 They have the same amount of information on their screens, but the size of all elements (buttons, icons, letters) on the Sony VPCEK2S1R screen will be larger. 17 inches, at the same resolution, the image will be even larger, although more often on 17-inch screens a higher resolution is used, and the dot size is the same as on 15-inch screens.

And in the event that intensive work is expected on a laptop, then it may make sense to sacrifice a small size in exchange for a more comfortable screen.

If you are going to type a lot on a laptop, then you need to carefully look at such an option as a keyboard. Today there are two types of laptop keyboards:

• "Old", traditional - on it the keys are located close and between them there are gaps directly "inside" the laptop. There is a large rectangular cutout in the top panel of the laptop case, into which the entire keyboard is inserted.
• "Island" in the last couple of years, increasingly appear on laptops. In the top panel of the laptop case, there are small cutouts for each key. In this case, the keys are located at intervals from each other.

"Island" keyboards are more convenient because it is more difficult to "miss", that is, to press the adjacent key along with the desired key. And such a keyboard lets less dust into the laptop. And yes, she looks prettier. In addition, it is more difficult to tear off the keys on an island keyboard, since their bottom edges are inside the case.

Notebook performance

Notebook performance (speed) depends on the following characteristics:

• CPU frequency. The higher the frequency of the processor, the faster the laptop will work.
• RAM size and frequency of RAM. The more RAM, the faster the laptop will run. However, increasing the size of RAM affects the speed non-linearly. The greatest tangible effect is the increase in memory size from 1 GB to 2 GB. But the increase from 2 GB to 4 GB already feels much weaker.
• Disk read and write speed. It affects the speed of the laptop as much as the frequency of the processor. The hard drive, today, is the bottleneck in the computer. On mechanical hard drives, linear read speeds are slightly over 100 MB per second. And the write speed is much lower. In real, working conditions, the read and write speed is only tens of megabytes per second. Good SSD (electronic) drives have read and write speeds two to three times faster than mechanical ones.

However, you need to understand that high performance is reflected in the autonomy of the laptop. The more powerful the laptop, the less time it can run on battery power.

Inexpensive laptops

If there are strong financial constraints, then Acer and Lenovo laptops should be considered first. At the same time, it is better to buy a less stuffed Lenovo than an Acer with more "tasty" stuffing, if they have a close price. With equal filling, Lenovo will cost more than Acer.

Myths related to laptops

Gaming laptop

Often sellers in stores offer to buy a "gaming laptop". In fact, there are no gaming laptops. There are powerful laptops on which many games are called "do not slow down". These are models with processors in 2 or 4 cores, with 4 or 8 gigabytes of RAM and a discrete ATI-AMD or nVidia graphics card.

You need to understand that a gaming computer is not so much the amount of RAM as its frequency. Not so much the number of cores as the frequency of those cores. 2 GB of RAM at 1.3 GHz and two cores at 3 GHz is better than 4 GB at 800 MHz and four cores at 2.4 GHz.

And for a gaming computer, a video card is very important, not by company, but by performance. Also important is the sound card. And the screen.

Due to design limitations of laptops, it is not possible to install memory, processor and graphics card that meet the requirements of true gaming. So, if someone tells you - this is a "gaming laptop", then either he does not understand the issue or deceives you.

Powerful laptop is good

There are laptop models with a quad-core processor, an nVidia (or ATI) video card, and 8 gigabytes of RAM. This laptop runs Windows 7. It's certainly nice. However, you need to understand that the price for this is cruel:

• Large weight - usually these laptops weigh more than 3 kilograms.
• Large size - usually these laptops are larger than 17 inches in diagonal. It is over 40 centimeters long and about 30 centimeters wide.
• Short battery life. If such a monster lasts three hours on the battery, it's still good. Forget about going anywhere with it without a charger.

Big laptops are bad

By large laptops, I mean not powerful laptops, and specifically large ones, that is, 17 inch laptops. With a 17 inch screen. Not all laptops of this format are powerful monsters. There are also sane models, with integrated graphics and economical cool processors. The autonomy of such a sane model can reach up to 4 hours. But the size and weight of course you can’t get anywhere, it remains. However, a laptop with a larger screen also has the advantage of a larger image. And if the same matrix is ​​used as on 15-inch screens, then there is more resolution and, accordingly, more information on the screen.

There are situations when a large screen is more important than size and weight. For example, if you need to work a lot with documents on a laptop. So a big laptop is not always a bad laptop.

Cooling laptop stand

When buying a laptop, sellers try to sell a bunch of other rubbish in addition to the load. To "improve" the performance of the laptop. One such useless gadget is a laptop cooler. Indeed, the laptop heats up and the heat generated by its components must be removed. But the stand will not help here.

The body of a laptop is usually plastic. The stands are also plastic. Plastic is a poor conductor of heat. In order for the temperature of the laptop to change through the stand, it must be made from something very cold. From ice for example. If you put the laptop on a piece of ice, it will cool even through the plastic case.

However, the very idea of ​​a laptop stand makes sense in some situations. If you put the laptop on some kind of soft surface - a thick tablecloth on the table, a blanket on the bed, in this case it is better to put something flat and hard under it. To ensure that the ventilation holes in the laptop case are not blocked by a cloth. But in such a situation, any solid, even object of a suitable size will do - a large book, a piece of plywood, a wooden cutting board from the kitchen, a piece of thick cardboard. There is no need to buy anything special.

Notebooks by manufacturers

Personally, I divide all laptop manufacturers into two categories - the big four and everyone else. The big four are Lenovo, Sony, Asus, Samsung - companies that sell great laptops. Each of them has its own advantages, for example, Sony is beautiful laptops, and Lenovo is the cheapest of the four. But in principle, you can buy any laptop from any of these four companies without going into details.

All the rest is a pretty big list. Some of these "everyone else" make very good laptops, like Toshiba, but from a pragmatic point of view, I personally see no reason to buy laptops from any label other than the top four.

I put Acer a little apart from "everyone else", there is a very serious argument in its favor - low price. But it makes sense to buy Acer only if the issue of price is primary and there is not enough money even for the cheapest laptop from the top four.

Laptops Lenovo (Lenovo)

Although Lenovo is a Chinese company, it makes good laptops. The fact is that in the early 2000s, Lenovo bought the production of laptops from IBM. Factories, laboratories, personnel. So you can think of Lenovo laptops as IBM laptops, and they were good laptops. Discreet, not pretentious, maybe even unprepossessing in appearance, but reliable and productive. And the Ideapad and Thinkpad trademarks have survived since the days of IBM.

Notebooks

A line of laptop models aimed primarily at home users and small businesses (SOHO sector). Price range from cheap to inexpensive. Almost all models in this line are priced under $1,000. Most models are priced under $700-800.

Thinkpad laptops

A line of laptop models focused primarily on the corporate market. More expensive and fancy than the Ideapad line. On models, these lines can be, for example, carbon fiber cases, fingerprint scanners, etc.

In general, a Lenovo laptop (Lenovo) is a very good choice. In terms of price, consumer characteristics and workmanship, probably no one else can argue with Lenovo. With equal filling, Lenovo will be cheaper than Sony or Asus. And although it is more expensive than Acer, but the quality of design and assembly is higher than that of Acer. In general, Lenovo is a laptop for those who are more important to "go" and not "checkered".

Laptops Sony (Sony)

Although Sony itself does not make laptops, it does not order them from just anyone - for Sony it makes laptops for example Samsung, and this is a high level of laptop production. So, buying a Sony laptop is an almost risk-free option.

Laptops Vaio (Vaio)

The Sony Vaio laptop is one of the best options in terms of workmanship and warranty period. And perhaps the best option in terms of appearance. Sony pays a lot of attention to the appearance of the devices it sells. Sony is not only about the workmanship, but also the visual and tactile pleasure of use. To the greatest extent, this applies to white laptops. In fact, today only Sony offers a large selection of white laptops.

Black laptops do everything, but as good as a black laptop is, having a white one in your hands is a slightly different experience. But the extra charge "for the name" in this case is the highest.

However, Sony has a budget line of Sony Vaio models - the E series. These are models with prefixes VPC-E (VPCE) And SVE. For example VPCEH2E1R, VPCEG1S1R, SVE1512D1RW. These models have a cost in the region of 550 - 700 dollars with a 24 month warranty. The Sony Vaio E series is a very good option - high quality at an affordable price. However, with a caveat - it is better to look for white models. Black ones are not worse, you can just buy a black one from Lenovo, and it will either be a little cheaper or a little more stuffing for the same money.

Note 2015. Sony has sold its notebook business to another Japanese company. And while the release of new models is suspended. But Sony laptops are still on sale and Sony will fulfill all warranty and service obligations.

Notebooks Asus (Asus)

Asus is a company that makes its own laptops. Moreover, she makes them not only for herself, but also for other companies - it is also an OEM manufacturer. Asus laptop (Asus) is one of the best options in terms of workmanship and warranty period. Buying an Asus laptop means, with a probability close to 100%, the possibility of using it for years and years without knowing the hassle and without encountering any problems.

Asus laptops (Asus) are of high quality design, manufacturing, and perhaps the second, after Sony, extra charge "for the name." I believe that Asus is worth the money and I advise you to buy Asus laptops - it's safe. But I myself, for myself, maybe buy a Lenovo :)

Samsung laptops (Samsung)

Another manufacturer from the big four - Lenovo, Sony, Asus, Samsung - companies that sell great laptops. Samsung makes laptops not only for itself, but also for others - it is also an OEM manufacturer. The Samsung laptop (Samsung) is one of the best options in terms of workmanship and warranty period. You can buy a Samsung laptop just as safely as Asus Lenovo, Sony.

A Samsung laptop can also be attractive for the price - Samsung is averaged approximately between Lenovo and Asus.

Notebooks Acer (Acer, Eiser)

Acer is another company that makes its own laptops. She makes them not only for herself, but also for other companies - she is also an OEM manufacturer. And in general, she makes good laptops, but this is already the second tier. An Acer laptop is an option only if the primary selection criterion is price, if there are very strict conditions on the amount that can be spent on a laptop.

You can run into troubles like Windows Vista pre-installed on a model with 1 gigabyte of RAM - Sony and Asus put at least 2 gigabytes in this situation. This increases the price, but allows you to use a laptop. Acer saves on everything, often going too far. A node or part of a laptop that died after a couple of years can also happen to an Acer laptop.

But cheap. There are hardly any laptops cheaper than Acer at the sight of which you don’t want to cry.

Notebooks eMachines

A cheap computer label created in the USA in the late 90s. Gateway was bought out, then Gateway itself was bought by Acer. Today eMachines laptops are Acer laptops.

Packard Bell laptops

On the Russian website of the company, they write about 1926 as the year the company was founded, about the fact that the company was one of the first manufacturers of personal computers back in the 80s. But this is all marketing slyness. In fact, Packard Bell is a resold trade name several times. Initially, it belonged to the Americans, then the Israelis bought it, then the Japanese.

The marketing ploy with this name is that many people confuse it with such giants as Hewlett-Packard, Pacific Bell, Bell Lab. And they believe that they are buying equipment from one of these giant firms.

It is now owned by Acer. Accordingly, Packard Bell laptops are Acer laptops.

MSI Notebooks

In general, good laptops. But more expensive than Acer and no better than Lenovo - Samsung - Asus - Sony. I don't see the point in buying MSI. Unless you really like a particular model, and the big four do not have a similar model.

Notebooks Toshiba (Toshiba)

Toshiba (Toshiba) is one of the few companies that makes laptops itself and it makes good laptops. But there are two arguments against:

• In Russia, there are few authorized Toshiba laptop repair centers (Toshiba) and this can greatly increase the cost of repairs, if any. And it will complicate the exchange or repair under warranty.
• Price. With equal stuffing and workmanship, the price will be higher than, for example, Lenovo or Samsung.

The Toshiba laptop is an option only for the big fan of this firm.

Notebook HP (Newlett-Packard)

The corporation is very serious. Makes very good printers. Laptops are ordered from OEM manufacturers, but the choice of manufacturers is careless. Weird with construction and design. As a result, the quality is from very average to below average. The price is low, but in general the money is not worth it. If you need a cheap laptop, it is better to buy Acer - there is a higher chance of getting a normal copy. At least it will be a first-hand laptop, from the manufacturer, and not from an intermediary.

Not an option under any circumstances. No way as the Americans say.

Apple laptops (Apple)

There is such a marginal company specializing in the production of pontoon techno stuff. Image markup to the price, Apple is simply shameless :) while the consumer characteristics of Apple laptops are below average.

A laptop macbook Air or macbook Pro is an option for those who are "checkers, not to go" and "show-offs are more expensive than money" :). And I don’t care that you will have half as much as the owner of Lenovo or Samsung, for twice the price :). Moreover, your macbook with a high degree of probability can be manufactured by Samsung :)

Moreover, the owner of an Apple laptop also gets permanent "hemorrhoids" for his money. Any little thing, easily achievable with a regular laptop, can lead to hysterical dancing with tambourines in the case of an Apple macbook.

They are beautiful, I do not argue. However, a laptop is not needed in order to admire it - I think so. And from the point of view of use, any technique under the Apple label is a pitchfork to the side :)

Notebooks DNS

It is important to understand that DNS laptops are laptops sold under the DNS label. Because in general, laptops of all major manufacturers are sold on the DNS network.

It's even worse than HP. They also order from OEM manufacturers, but it seems that they are somewhere in the fourth or fifth echelon. A normal laptop in terms of workmanship is impossible at the prices at which they are sold in the DNS. A DNS laptop can be extremely tempting for the price, but the owner is very likely to run into problems with it.

How to extend the life of a laptop

It is important to understand that repairing a laptop is much more expensive than repairing a regular computer. Therefore, the more carefully you use a laptop, the longer it will serve you without repair and thus cost you less.

Laptop connectors

The standard set of connectors for a modern laptop includes:

HDMI- digital video and audio output. You can connect a TV or a large monitor through this connector. The connector is designed for frequent use and for connecting / disconnecting while the laptop is running. However, keep in mind that HDMI cables are usually very rigid, and if the HDMI cable is not parallel to the connector, but at an angle, then it will "turn out" the connector. If this happens frequently, the HDMI connector will become loose and may have a bad connection. Therefore, before plugging the HDMI cable into the laptop connector, position it so that it continues in line with the connector.

VGA- analog video output. You can connect a TV or an external monitor through this jack. This connector is not intended for frequent use and for connection while the laptop is running. As with the HDMI cable, the correct placement of the VGA cable relative to the connector is important. Angular mechanical loads on the connector must be avoided.

USB- A large number of external devices can be connected through this connector. From a mouse or keyboard to a TV tuner. The connector is designed for frequent use and for connecting / disconnecting while the laptop is running. Some devices are connected to the connector via a cable, and this cable can be quite rigid. So, as with the HDMI cable, it is important that the USB cable is properly positioned relative to the connector. In addition, you cannot connect multiple USB devices through an external USB hub that does not have its own power supply. The fact is that not only the signal is transmitted via USB, but also power for the USB device. And if you plug a hub into the USB connector, and plug several USB devices into the hub, this can lead to damage to the USB connector or even the entire controller due to overload in the power circuit. Of course, you can connect two or three flash drives through a hub. Or a mouse and flash drive. But it will be risky to connect an external HDD and, for example, a WiFi adapter at the same time.

RJ-45 (ethernet)- A network cable is connected through this connector. Connecting a cable to this connector is possible while the laptop is running. But the connector is not designed for frequent use. If you stick a cable into it every day, it won't last long.

Laptop case

Laptop cover (screen). The laptop screen is usually attached to the body with two hinges. These hinges have limited mechanical strength, so you need to open and close the screen carefully, without much effort. You need to open and close the laptop screen by the middle, and not by the corner. When you pull the screen around the corner, the load on the hinges is transferred unevenly - more on one hinge, less on the other.

Laptop case. On most laptops, the case is plastic, which means that it has little mechanical strength. If you do not want to damage your laptop, you need to avoid shock loads on the case. As well as bending loads - for example, putting a laptop on an uneven surface. Put something heavy on the laptop. You need to be careful about placing the laptop along with other items during transportation - so that neighboring items do not press on the laptop case and do not bend it.

Moisture protection. Notebook cases are not protected from moisture in any way (with the exception of special models). Therefore, you need to carefully ensure that liquid does not get inside the laptop. Moisture inside the laptop can lead to failure of the motherboard, and replacing it is expensive.

Laptop temperature. Notebook components operate in a harsh temperature regime. To extend their lifespan, you need to avoid overheating the laptop. The most common causes of overheating laptops:

• The laptop lies on the bed (sofa) directly on the blanket (plaid, etc.). Under its own weight, the laptop sinks into a soft fabric and this fabric blocks the ventilation holes in the case.
• Cooling in laptops is active - the fan draws air through the internal volume of the case. This causes dust to enter the case. Gradually, it deposits on all internal elements of the laptop. And this degrades heat transfer. Accordingly, the elements of the laptop begin to overheat.

If you need to place your laptop on a soft surface, place something flat and firm under it, such as a piece of thick cardboard.

Check the inside of the cabinet for dust from time to time.

Laptop disks

laptop hard drive. This is the most vulnerable component. This is due to the fact that the disk is a rotating mechanical device with a very high density of the rotating and stationary parts of the disk. Even not very strong vibration of the laptop case or shaking it, hitting the case can lead to mechanical failure of the disk. Do not place a working laptop on a highly vibrating surface. Do not place a working laptop on a shaking surface (for example, in a moving vehicle). A working laptop should not be abruptly moved, pushed, shaken, or turned over.

However, instead of a mechanical drive, you can install an electronic SSD drive. It has no mechanical moving parts and therefore cannot be damaged as easily as a mechanical one.

Summary

The main parameters of laptops

The characteristics of laptops that most affect the consumer quality of laptops:

• Notebook manufacturer. The best laptops are sold by Lenovo, Sony, Asus, Samsung and Toshiba. But if you want to buy a Toshiba laptop, please make sure that there is an authorized Toshiba service center in your city before buying.
• Notebook dimensions. The right laptop should fit in a regular men's or women's bag. That is, to have a size slightly larger than a regular hardcover book.
• Notebook weight. A proper laptop should weigh less than two kilograms.
• Laptop autonomy (battery life). A good laptop should have at least four hours of battery life.

Secondary parameters of laptops

Notebook characteristics improve the consumer quality of notebooks:

• Laptop connectors. A proper laptop should have at least USB and HDMI ports. The presence of HDMI will allow you to connect a TV through a laptop using a laptop as a media player. You can also connect a large external monitor via HDMI.
• Physical screen size (diagonal in inches). The smaller the screen size, the smaller the laptop, but also the smaller the image on the screen.
• Laptop screen resolution(in dots horizontally and vertically). A good laptop should have a resolution of at least 1366 x 768 dots (pixels).
• SSD drive. An electronic disk instead of a mechanical one greatly improves the consumer quality of a laptop. Firstly, such a laptop can be safely used in a moving vehicle and carried around the room without turning it off. Secondly, SSD drives have a higher read and write speed, and this is reflected in the speed of the laptop. Thirdly, SSD drives have less power consumption, which means that the laptop will last longer on battery power.
• RAM. A good laptop should have at least 2 gigabytes of RAM. This is due to the fact that modern Windows operating systems (Vista, 7, 8) "devour" hundreds of megabytes of RAM for their own needs. And many application programs are no less voracious, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla FireFox browsers, can take up more than a hundred megabytes of RAM. In general, the more RAM, the faster the laptop.
• UEFI Secure Boot. If the laptop is sold with Windows 8 preinstalled, be sure to find out if it is possible to disable the UEFI Secure Boot option. If this option is not disabled, then there will be problems installing other operating systems on the laptop.

Which laptop to choose

Choosing a laptop is not easy. The main thing is to clearly understand what you need from a laptop. How will you use it. Determine your priorities - which laptop features are important to you and which are not. Therefore, it is necessary to raise the question not in the abstract - which laptop is better? Specifically, which laptop is best for me?

If you are an accountant and do not often need to use a laptop outside the home or office, then you can buy a 17 inch laptop. It will have a large size and weight, but a large screen and keyboard. It will not be difficult to work on it for a long time.

If you are on the road every day and you need to use a laptop during the day, in different places and in different conditions, then the main selection criteria are size, weight and autonomy.

If you plan to install Windows XP on your new laptop, then before buying, find out if there are drivers for this model under Windows XP. The fact is that now hardware manufacturers have already stopped writing drivers for Windows XP. In particular, Intel stopped making Windows XP drivers for its latest GMA 3600 integrated graphics controller.

If you plan to install a Linux operating system on your new laptop, then, before buying, find out if there are any "contraindications" for this laptop model. Not all laptops are compatible with Linux.

It will be very difficult if you plan to install the Mac OS operating system on your new laptop. In this case, you will have to choose the model very carefully.

If you are buying a laptop for a student, then it might be better to buy a laptop cheap. Children are not very careful with technology, and if your child "kills" a laptop, it will not cost you so much. If a kid kills a $400 Acer it won't be as bad as an $800 Sony.

In general, buying a cheap laptop is not a bad idea. You just need to understand some marginal possible prices regarding the consumer parameters of the laptop. And if the price is below this limit, then the laptop has poor workmanship. For example, for an 11-12 inch laptop, the price of $ 400 means at least very decent workmanship. And the same price for a 15 or 17 inch laptop means the workmanship is below average or even bad.

The least risky option is to buy a laptop from one of the four companies - Asus, Lenovo, Sony, Samsung. If you buy a laptop from any of these companies, there is a very high chance that it will serve you for a very long time without creating any problems.

Touchscreen laptops (with touchscreen)

Do not confuse a touchscreen with a touchpad! The touchpad is a mouse replacement, a touch-sensitive rectangle next to the keyboard. A touchscreen is a touch-sensitive laptop screen.

There are interesting laptop models on which the screen is equipped with a touch panel. Such screens are called touch screens or, more briefly, touchscreens. Touch screens are familiar to all of us from devices such as smartphones. For portable devices without a keyboard and mouse, a touchscreen is a must.

However, a touchscreen can be handy on a laptop too. Especially if the laptop uses a GUI optimized for use on touchscreens - Windows 8 Metro, Linux GNOME 3, Linux Unity. Or it may be convenient when using some specialized application program. But even in the usual case, the touchscreen can be more convenient than the touchpad.

In general, the idea is interesting. Of course, such models are more expensive, but perhaps the convenience of using a touch screen compensates for the higher price.

Here are some models of laptops with a touch screen (touchscreen):

• Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 15
• ASUS X550CA and ZENBOOK UX302LG
• HP Specter 13 Pro
• Dell Inspiron 7737
• Acer Aspire V5 15

Update 2015

Sony has sold its notebook business to another Japanese company. And while the release of new models is suspended. But Sony laptops are still on sale and Sony will fulfill all warranty and service obligations.

Today there are new, interesting options in this area. These are convertible laptops (with a detachable screen) and tablets with a full-fledged computer platform.

Microsoft Surface Pro- a tablet, but we can say that this is a completely full-fledged laptop only without the lower half (keyboard). A laptop display inside which is all the computer stuffing. Based on the Intel hardware platform. Windows 8 operating system. The keyboard is wireless and is mounted together with a tablet stand.

Transformer laptops

This is a laptop with a detachable screen and this screen can be used as a tablet. There are two types of such laptops:

1. The main hardware (computer), Intel or AMD platform, is located in the lower half of the laptop. And in the screen half, the AWP platform and Android OS. That is, in tablet mode, this is a regular Android tablet. And in the full version, this is a laptop with a full-fledged OS - Linux or Windows.
2. The main hardware (computer), Intel or AMD platform, is located in the screen half of the laptop. And the bottom contains only the keyboard, additional batteries and connectors. Such a laptop is a full-fledged computer, both fully assembled and in a tablet version.

Note. Do not confuse convertible laptops with Android tablets that have a docking station with extra batteries and a keyboard. So far, the AWP hardware platform cannot be called a computer platform because it is not supported by full-fledged operating systems such as Linux or Windows.

Microsoft Surface Pro tablets and convertible laptops are a very interesting option to buy. They have an important advantage over traditional laptops - the ability to work in tablet mode, which gives serious advantages to mobility. You can work on a tablet in conditions in which you cannot use a laptop.

But there is also a minus. Screen and keyboard size. All these laptops have a screen no larger than 10 - 11 inches diagonally. Yes, and the size of the keyboard, including the size of the buttons is also small. This makes them uncomfortable for long, serious work. However, this drawback can be compensated by connecting an external monitor (or TV) and an external (USB or Bluetooth) mouse and keyboard.

Update 2017

In Russia, the trend towards cheaper models on the market continues. Washing out expensive high-quality models from the market. Disappeared from the sale of laptops from another good manufacturer - Samsung.

In fact, today the choice comes down to three labels:

• Lenovo

Another trend is an exception to the design among the cheapest models:

• Hatches for replacing the disk and RAM.
• Removable battery.

Now the battery is stuffed inside the case. And to replace the disk, you need to remove the entire lower or upper half of the case.

In general, it's not fun. It also adds an almost complete absence, in the budget segment, of some variety in design and filling.

If you review 20-30 models in the price range between 20 and 30 thousand rubles (approximately 300 - 500 dollars), then almost everyone will be like twins. Both outside and inside.

Almost all laptops in the region of 20 tr. dollars is worth processor Pentium N3710.

Almost all laptops in the region of 30 tr. dollars is the processor Core i3 5005U or 6006U.

In all total - 4 GB of RAM. Many have only 1 memory slot. Moreover, the memory can generally be soldered to the motherboard.

Closer to 30 tr. There are models with a discrete graphics card. And in this, too, everything is the same - usually it's GeForce 920M.

Batteries are set to the bare minimum. Already close to 2000 mAh. Although you can still find a laptop with a battery in the region of 3000 mAh.

On the other hand, if you look. Today, in 2017, you can buy a fully functional laptop for just $250. Five years ago, this was impossible - the cheapest cost around $ 500.

A couple of models that I would recommend to buy:

Around 20 tr.

• Acer Extensa EX2519-P0BD- in August 2017 exactly 20 tr. Pentium N3710, 4 GB RAM. Sad black case, but the battery is more fun - 3500 mAh.
• ASUS X541SA, 90NB0CH2-M05440- in August 2017 exactly 23 tr. Pentium N3710, 4 GB of RAM, soldered on the board! Sad battery. But a cheerful white body and good (for this segment) acoustics. And a FullHD display. It also has a USB 3 type C connector.

Around 30 tr.

• ASUS X540LJ, 90NB0B12-M11240- in August 2017 exactly 30 tr. Core i3-5005U, 6 GB RAM. So-so battery (2600 mAh). But a cheerful white case, a discrete graphics card, a USB 3 type C connector.

Apple laptop alternatives around $1,000:

• Microsoft Surface Laptop. Outwardly, it looks no worse than Apple. Even the skin is glued near the touchpad. 4 GB RAM and 128 GB SSD. A screen with a resolution similar to that of an apple "Retina". No PWM in the display.
• Dell XPS 13 9360 FHD i5. The screen is only FullHD, but 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD NVMe drive. No PWM in the display.

Ivan Sukhov, 2013, 2015, 2017

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In the modern world it is difficult to imagine a working person without technology. A good laptop for work can do multiple tasks. For example, serve for processing textual information (documents, counting, tables) and suitable for graphics (special programs, editors and drawing elements). In the rating, according to the version of the Mark.guru portal, the best models, the advantages and disadvantages of each are indicated - you can find all the information for a quality purchase. It also provides recommendations and important criteria to consider when choosing devices.

First of all, you need to decide for what tasks the device is purchased. The best laptops for work always meet the basic requirements. When choosing, you can focus on technical indicators.

Should be adopted:

1. Hard disk size- an important point for specialists in creative professions. When working exclusively with textual information, a large indicator is not needed. This criterion can be divided into 3 categories: from 20 to 160 GB - a volume that is suitable for document work, 165 - 550 GB - for simple audio and video editors, 550 - 3100 GB - due to these numbers, you can create complex drawings and programs.
2. RAM indicator- affects the speed of information processing. The "RAM" contains all the information that is used at the "current moment". The optimal indicator for fast work is 4 GB.
3. Process frequency– the larger the criterion, the more the device can simultaneously perform actions per second. The minimum frequency is 1400 MHz.
4. Video game map- it can be built-in or discrete. The quality of the graphics depends on it. Built-in saves power consumption and is suitable for most standard functions. Discrete - more expensive, but allows you to work in powerful video editors. These are ATI (Mobility Radeon series) and NVIDIA GeForce series cards.
5. Duration of work- one of the most important indicators for people whose lifestyle is associated with constant traveling. A powerful battery should, no, just have to withstand offline work for at least 6 hours.
6. Connectors– allow you to connect additional equipment to the device. They are needed for a mouse, an external storage medium, several flash drives and USB ports.

1. Apple MacBook Pro 15 with Retina display Mid 2015

The Apple laptop has a stylish, neat design, is easy to use and shows great autonomy in important information processing processes. The model is presented with a good battery, and has an excellent cooling system.

Technical specifications:

• hard drive - from 256 to 1000 GB;
• RAM - 16 GB;
• process frequency - from 2300 to 2800 MHz;
• processor - Core i7;
• video card - Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200;
• activity - 9 hours.

• high indicator display - great for working with the latest programs;
• keyboard backlight;
• long work offline;
• the most convenient design;
• light weight.

• there are no connectors for external connections;
• glare on the display during operation;
• low maintainability.

According to reviews, this laptop is recognized as the most suitable option for working in the latest programs.

It perfectly copes with the load, ensures the duration of work and opens up possibilities in video processing at a professional level.

However, future owners will have to get used to the lack of connectors (there are only two of them, and adapters must be purchased separately). Accessories are expensive.

The price range is from 140,990 to 144,990 rubles.

Prices on Apple MacBook Pro 15 with Retina display Mid 2015:

2. Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13.3

Describing this device, we can say with confidence that this is the best model for the ratio of price and quality. Analogues are more expensive in several tens of thousands. A lightweight laptop from a Chinese manufacturer has a compact assembly, and its name "Air" is quite true - it literally "flies" in operation, and turns on in a few seconds.

Technical specifications:

• hard drive - 256 GB;
• RAM - 8 GB;
• processor operation - 2500 MHz;
• screen size - 13.3;
• processor - Core i5;
• video card - NVIDIA GeForce 940MX;
• activity - 9.5 hours.

• metal body;
• Full HD screen;
• holds a charge according to the declared indicators from the manufacturers - about 9 hours;
• turns on quickly - 5-10 seconds;
• the touchpad has a gesture control function;
• easily recharges the battery.

• there are no Russian letters on the keyboard;
• the control system is presented in Chinese (it is better to immediately reinstall it on Windows 10);
• If you do not use the keyboard, the screen backlight will turn off within a few seconds.

The model represents a high-quality assembly, which is much cheaper in cost than similar laptops - the difference is 25,000-35,000 rubles. At the same time, it is not inferior in terms of functions and performance indicators. Reviews tell of a slight deflection of the case when you press the keys. However, you need to press too sharply and a lot to notice such a minus. Very pleased with the stylish design and light weight.

The system is so fast that the model is often compared to the Apple MacBook Pro 15.

The price range is from 47450 to 54990 rubles.

Prices for Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13.3 :

3. HP ProBook 640 G1

HP releases a model that can rightly be described as the most productive.

Thanks to the battery, you can be at work for more than 24 hours without a break. For this, there is a special additional charge block.

Perfectly corresponds to all standard programs, it is most often used on business trips, on country trips, and in general where there is no way to charge the device.

Technical specifications:

• hard drive - 750 GB;
• RAM - 8 GB;
• processor operation - 2700 MHz;
• 14 inch screen;
• processor - Core i5;
• video card - Intel HD Graphics 4600;
• weight - 2 kg.

Advantages:

• a large number of connectors;
• matte screen;
• duration of work.

• easily scratched;
• heats up quickly;
• small color range.

In general, the model is suitable for productive work, elegant and allows you to use a large number of functions at the same time. When buying, you should pay attention to the built-in RAM (ideally, it should be more than 8 GB), and an additional SSD - due to these indicators, you can significantly improve the capabilities of the device.

The average price is 58841 rubles.

Prices for HP ProBook 640 G1:

4. HP 255 G5

Despite the fact that this laptop has a relatively low cost, it copes with its basic functions with a bang.

Its difference is the absence of block heating, even with prolonged use and heavy loads on the operating system.

Technical specifications:

• hard drive - 500 GB;
• RAM - 4 GB;
• processor operation - 2000 MHz;
• diagonal - 15.6 inches;
• video card - AMD Radeon;
• weight - 1.9 kg;
• activity - 5.5 hours.

• video playback in the highest quality;
• no noise during operation;
• quiet keyboard.

• quickly discharges offline - after 2.5 hours;
• poor screen quality.

The device HP 255 G5 is intended for graphic manipulations and work in text editors. But not suitable for games.

The price range is from 15442 to 20368 rubles.

HP 255 G5 prices:

5. ASUS EeeBook X205TA

Due to the fact that the memory of a laptop is small, it is better to store pictures and other information on external drives.

More than enough memory for workflow. The operating system functions properly, you can watch movies and use simple editors.

Technical specifications:

• hard drive - 32 GB;
• RAM - 2 GB;
• processor frequency - 1300 MHz;
• 11 inch screen;
• processor - Atom;
• video card - Intel GMA HD;
• light - only 0.9 kg;
• duration of work - 13 hours.

Advantages:

• modest weight - less than a kilogram;
• convenient to use;
• has a quick exit from sleep mode;
• pleasant sound;
• The battery does not require recharging for a long time.

• insufficient built-in memory.

The device is presented with a good data processing system, can be used outdoors (has a high screen brightness) and does not overheat. But the glossy monitor is regarded by many as a shortcoming of the model.

The average price is kept at the level of 14180 rubles.

Prices for ASUS EeeBook X205TA :

6. Dell Inspiron 3542

The device is presented in the middle price segment. Suitable for both home and office use.

Technical specifications:

• hard drive - 500 GB;
• RAM - 6 GB;
• screen diagonal - 15.6;
• processor - Core i3;
• video card - Intel GMA HD;
• weight - 2.4 kg.

• correct design without unnecessary details;
• fast processor operation (capable of simultaneously playing several graphics programs without freezing);
• high-quality display - the eyes do not get tired when working;
• the touch screen is turned on.

• the case is easily soiled, however, dirt is quickly removed.

The price range is from 20200 to 27564 rubles.

Prices for Dell Inspiron 3542:

7Lenovo G700

The model is reliable and proven, and due to the screen size in the top laptops for work, it can also be designated as the largest diagonal. Suitable for creative people - designers, artists, as well as for office workers.

Important parameters:

• hard drive - 1000 GB;
• RAM - 6 GB;
• processor operation - 2000 - 2600 MHz;
• screen - 17.3 inches;
• processor - Core i3;
• video card - Intel HD Graphics 4000;
• weight - 2.9 kg;

• wide screen;
• fast work;
• quality battery;
• the processor does not overheat.

• small viewing angle;
• glossy screen.

The laptop attracts due to the large screen.

The built-in system does a great job of processing images in the latest release of Lightroom and Photoshop CC.

The device is quiet in operation. However, many do not like that the design lacks a microphone jack.

The average cost is 23290 rubles.

Prices for Lenovo G700:

8 Lenovo IdeaPad Z5070

It is a universal model. It can be used to work with large volumes of important documents, graphics programs and databases.

Important Features:

• hard drive - 1000 GB;
• processor frequency - 2000 MHz;
• RAM - 8 GB;
• screen diagonal - 15.6;
• processor - Core i7;
• video card - NVIDIA GeForce 820M;
• weight - 2.4 kg;
• duration of work - 5 hours.

• versatility in work;
• large indicators of memory (and hence - and opportunities);
• Full HD screen resolution;
• does not overheat.

• to work in professional editors, you need to connect the device to an external screen;
• the keyboard is pressed through;
• quiet sound.

Many emphasize its power - the laptop supports engineering software, PDF editors, office suite.

The cost is kept at the level of 40290 rubles.

Prices for Lenovo IdeaPad Z5070:

9.Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 11

The device has a slim design, it can be used in any place and position.

Due to its design, it can be used as a laptop, tablet or book reader.

There is the possibility of bending the house - for convenient location and presentations.

Important Features:

• hard drive - 128 to 516 GB;
• RAM - 4 GB;
• processor operation - 1500 MHz;
• 11 inch screen;
• processor - Core i5;
• video card - Intel GMA HD;
• weight - 1.4 kg;
• duration of work - about 6 hours.

• durable case;
• screen with Full HD resolution;
• clear sound and high quality images;
• large viewing angle.

Negative points:

• massive power supply;
• the body is easily damaged;
• the inserted memory card protrudes 1.5 cm.

Buyers like the possibility of transformation. Due to its compactness, it fits in a medium-sized bag, often used for reading. Changing the form does not affect performance in any way.

The average price is 46,990 rubles.

Prices for Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 11:

10. ASUS Transformer Book Flip TP500LN

The laptop is comfortable to use and suitable for any daily task.

Specifications:

• hard drive - up to 1000 GB;
• RAM - 4 GB;
• processor and its frequency - 1700 MHz;
• screen size - 15.6 inches;
• video card - NVIDIA GeForce 840M;
• weight - 2.1 kg.

As a rule, a laptop is purchased to work in special office programs.

It can be easily connected to an external monitor, and when changing designs - on the go. Easy to apply by bending the screen slightly towards you. The touch keyboard allows you to type silently.

• metal body;
• there is a touch screen function;
• most convenient to use.

• due to the small amount of RAM, it freezes a little when working in the latest version of Photoshop;
• there is no way to change the power supply.

The cost is 62090 rubles.

Prices on ASUS Transformer Book Flip TP500LN:

11. ASUS ZENBOOK UX305LA

The laptop has a similar design to the Macbook Air, suitable for daily work, both at home and in the office. Light weight and long battery life allow you to take ASUS ZENBOOK UX305LA with you on the road.

Technical indicators:

• hard drive - 512 GB;
• RAM - 4 - 8 GB;
• processor operation - 2100 MHz;
• diagonal screen - 13.3;
• processor - Core i3 or Core i5;
• video card - Intel HD Graphics 5500;
• weight - 1.3 kg;
• battery life - 12 hours.

The laptop is often used on trips, however, requires individual adjustment of the sound and color range of the display.

• thin body, iron assembly;
• light weight - easy to take with you;
• matte screen;
• quietness in operation (provided that the system is not overloaded with games).

• loud keyboard to use;
• the matrix is ​​illuminated at the edges of the screen.

The price range is from 53290 to 84856 rubles.

Prices for ASUS ZENBOOK UX305LA :

12 Lenovo V310

The assembly meets high quality standards and has a relatively low cost.

The screen resolution is suitable for writing bright graphics, and the processor is able to cope with "heavy" programs.

Specifications:

• hard drive - from 500 to 1000 GB;
• RAM - 4 - 16 GB;
• processor frequency - 2300 MHz;
• diagonal - 15.6 inches;
• processor - Core i3 or Core i5;
• video card - Intel HD Graphics 510;
• weight - 1.8 kg;
• work offline - 5 hours.

According to reviews, the laptop can be used for games, but in this case it heats up. This does not happen if you apply the model only for work. All programs work quickly, and the battery keeps a charge when you open many tabs.

• excellent performance;
• the case has a stylish design;
• equipped with a fingerprint scanner;
• comfortable, quiet to use keyboard.

• barely audible speaker - you need to adjust the sound manually;
• long battery charge;
• average viewing angle.

The price range is from 24336 to 27149 rubles.

Prices for Lenovo V310:

Conclusion

All laptops that are presented in this rating for 2018 are very popular, are marked by numerous reviews of a predominantly positive shade and are most often used to work with graphic editors and an office suite.

When choosing, it is necessary to answer the questions: is it pleasant to use the model, do you like the design and, of course, how much the characteristics correspond to future work. With this in mind, you can choose the most suitable laptop. A lot of time is spent at work, which is why the working tool must be productive. Have a nice shopping!

It happens that a person buys a laptop "just to have it." This is not very reasonable. If you don't have a clear reason to buy, then a brand new laptop is likely to be gathering dust somewhere on a table or a far shelf.

Versatile everyday laptop

Dell XPS 13

Notebooks from the middle and higher price categories fall into this category. A productive and balanced filling allows such laptops to cope with a wide range of tasks, including not too demanding games at medium and even high settings. Thus, gamers who do not prioritize graphics can save themselves from tangible expenses for a full-fledged gaming laptop with a powerful discrete graphics card.

The best laptops of 2017 according to TechRadar:

1. Dell XPS 13.
2. Asus ZenBook UX305.
3. Razer Blade Stealth.
4. Asus Chromebook Flip.
5. HP Specter x360.
6. Razer Blade.
7. Samsung Notebook 7 Spin.
8. Acer Aspire S 13.
9. Samsung Notebook 9.
10. Surface Book.
11. HP Specter x360 15.
12. MacBook.
13. Asus ZenBook Flip UX360.
14. Apple Macbook Pro 15.
15. Lenovo Yoga 910.

Laptop Mag ranked the best laptop manufacturers based on a combination of six key criteria: reviewers' ratings, design, quality of technical support and support, innovation, range of laptops offered, and loyalty to warranty conditions.

1. Lenovo.
2. Asus.
3. Dell.
4. Acer.
5. Apple.
6. Razer.
7. Samsung.
8. Microsoft.

For serious games

Razer Blade

Gaming laptops are very powerful and very expensive. This feature allows you to use gaming laptops for any work, including design, video editing, 3D graphics and design.

The video card is the most important part. In 2016, Nvidia introduced the tenth series of GeForce GTX graphics cards, which are not only much more powerful than previous generations, but also great for installation in laptops because they do not require a bulky cooling system.

If earlier Nvidia released heavily stripped-down mobile GeForce GTX with the letter M in the name for laptops, now you can install a full-fledged video card in a laptop: like in a stationary PC, but with slightly lower frequencies.

That is, if you buy a gaming laptop with a GeForce GTX 1050, 1050 Ti, 1060, 1070, 1080, or 1080 Ti, you'll get the performance of a desktop gaming PC with a similar graphics card.

The problem is that there are still a lot of outdated gaming laptops in electronics stores, and they cost like new, and sometimes even more expensive. The consultant may try to sell you such a laptop. Don't be tempted to buy a gaming laptop with GeForce GTX Series 10 only.

As a processor for a gaming laptop, older models of Intel Core i5 (for GTX 1050 and 1060), basic Core i7 (for GTX 1070) and older Core i7 (for GTX 1080) are traditionally chosen. The amount of RAM is usually from 8 to 32 GB.

Top 10 Gaming Laptops According to TechRadar:

1. Razer Blade.
2. Asus ROG Strix GL502.
3. Alienware 13 R3.
4. Razer Blade Pro.
5. Gigabyte Aero 14.
6. Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming.
7. HP Omen 17.
8. Origin EVO15-S.
9. Gigabyte Aero 15.
10. Origin EON17-X.

For maximum mobility

If your lifestyle or work nature forces you to constantly move around, then mobility comes first when choosing a laptop. The smaller, lighter and thinner, the better. Often these laptops are called ultrabooks.

Top 10 ultrabooks according to TechRadar:

1. Dell XPS 13.
2. Asus ZenBook UX30.
3. Razer Blade Stealth.
4. HP Specter x360.
5. Samsung Notebook 9.
6. Acer Aspire S 13.
7. Surface Book.
8. Acer Swift7.
9. Lenovo Yoga 910.
10. HP Specter.

For maximum autonomy

If you spend most of your time away from an outlet, then the determining factor when choosing a laptop is the battery life.

We bring to your attention the rating of the most "long-playing" laptops according to Laptop Mag. The specified operating time is valid for constant web surfing in the browser via Wi-Fi without the use of other resource-intensive applications.

1. Lenovo ThinkPad T470 - 17 hours.
2. MacBook Air 13 - 14 hours.
3. Microsoft Surface Book - 12 hours.
4. Dell Latitude 7280 - 12 hours.
5. Lenovo Miix 310 - 12 hours.
6. Dell Latitude 5280 - 12 hours.
7. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon - 12 hours.
8. Dell XPS 13 - 11 hours.
9. Dell Latitude 5480 - 11 hours.
10. Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming - 11 hours.
11. Acer ChromeBook R 13 - 11 hours.
12. Lenovo Yoga 910 - 10 hours.
13. Apple MacBook Pro 15 - 10 hours.
14. Asus ZenBook UX330UA - 10 hours.
15. HP Specter x360 - 10 hours.

Instead of a tablet

HP Specter x360

Now transformers are very popular, combining a laptop and a tablet. The design of such a hybrid allows you to unfasten the keyboard, rotate the top cover, or literally turn the device inside out so that the screen is on top. A mandatory attribute of the transformer is a touch screen. Laptops "2 in 1" are very compact, lightweight and can completely replace the tablet.

Top 10 convertible laptops according to TechRadar:

1. HP Specter x360.
2. Microsoft Surface Book i7.
3. Samsung Notebook 7 Spin.
4. Microsoft Surface Book.
5. Asus ZenBook Flip UX360.
6. HP Specter x360 15.
7. Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1.
8. Lenovo Yoga 910.
9. Lenovo Yoga 900S.
10. HP Elite x2 1012 G1.

To work on the Internet

If you only use a browser, then pay attention to Chromebook - more affordable laptops, sharpened for working on the Internet.

1. Asus Chromebook Flip.
2. Samsung Chromebook Pro.
3. Dell Chromebook 11.
4. Acer Chromebook 15.
5. Acer Chromebook R11.
6. HP Chromebook 14.
7. HP Chromebook 13.

As a more compact and aesthetic replacement for a desktop computer

A large system unit, monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers and a bunch of tangled wires do not add beauty to the interior and take up a lot of space. The laptop solves the problem easily and gracefully.

Undrey/Shutterstock.com

The configuration and cost of such a laptop will depend on what you usually do on the old stationary computer and what you plan to do on the new one.

For special work

This includes design, video editing, sound work, 3D graphics, engineering and other specialized activities.

The configurations of such laptops are highly dependent on the tasks being solved and the software used, and the cost ranges from tens to several hundred thousand rubles.

If you are looking for just such a professional laptop, then this guide is unlikely to be useful to you. For information about the correct configurations for narrow-profile laptops, it is better to look at the appropriate sites and forums. Only there you will find experienced professionals who are ready to help with advice.

What is worth paying extra for

Now you will learn about really useful things that justify every ruble invested in them.

Latest generation processor from Intel

There are no good laptop processors from AMD yet. Perhaps the situation will change with the advent of the Ryzen mobile line, but now the only reasonable solution is to buy a laptop with Intel Kaby Lake on board (Core i5 7xxx or Core i7 7xxx).

You can buy a laptop with a previous generation Core i5 or Core i7 (fifth or sixth) and get slightly less performance, but the trick is that the difference in cost between them is minimal or non-existent. Accordingly, it is better to choose the latest technology.

A powerful processor turns the laptop into a multitasking combine that not only works quickly, but also allows you to play not too demanding games, do video editing, graphics, and so on.

SSD instead of HDD

In order not to burden you with unnecessary words, we will simply leave here the indicators of the time required to launch some applications on a laptop with an HDD and an SSD, all other things being equal.

8 GB RAM

You've probably heard how gluttonous the Chrome browser is in terms of memory consumption, and it's not the only program that requires a lot of resources to run fast.

RAM is cheap and greatly affects the speed of the computer. Don't skimp on it.

Full HD screen

A laptop with a Full HD screen at a standard distance from it makes the pixels invisible to the human eye. Thanks to this, the picture becomes much better. Full HD fits more content, making working with desktop applications and on the Internet more comfortable and convenient. High-resolution matrices are usually made using more advanced technologies and have better characteristics than their younger HD counterparts.

Tenth series GeForce GTX graphics card

If you're buying a laptop with an eye for new games, then choose a model with discrete GeForce GTX 1050, 1050 Ti, 1060, 1070, 1080 or 1080 Ti graphics, depending on your budget.

In no case do not purchase laptops with GeForce GTX ninth series or even earlier. Save a little money and you'll end up with a much less powerful laptop without future headroom and decent VR support.

WiFi 5 GHz

Now Wi-Fi points are everywhere, but a side effect of such a ubiquitous presence is a drop in quality and connection speed. Roughly speaking, wireless routers jam each other.

The solution could be to switch to the 5GHz Wi-Fi band, known as 802.11ac.

Unfortunately, 5 GHz Wi-Fi also requires a router that supports this technology, but as a reward for spending extra, you will get super-fast and stable wireless Internet.

By the way, 5 GHz Wi-Fi support is useful not only for a laptop, but also for a smartphone.

USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 connectors

USB-C is the inevitable future, sooner than you think. In the next few years, this standard will become the only universal interface for charging and connecting any peripherals to a laptop.

The symmetrical design allows you to connect USB-C on either side, and therefore the familiar “does not fit, turned over, does not fit” problem familiar to everyone will be a thing of the past.

The famous USB paradox

Advanced Thunderbolt 3, in addition to being compatible with USB-C, has enough bandwidth to connect a 4K monitor, an external drive with read and write speeds comparable to an SSD, and a full-fledged external graphics card.

What you shouldn't pay for

Not all manufacturers are distinguished by the ability to create balanced laptops. In addition, some of the features present in laptops are often frankly useless.

Backlit keyboard

A laptop is a one piece device and its screen is always illuminating the keyboard. Accordingly, additional backlighting of the keys is not needed.

The only reason to choose a backlit model or to pay extra for this modification is the habit of working in complete darkness with a minimum screen brightness.

Above Full HD screen

The possibilities of the human eye are limited. With sufficient pixel density, we will not see them from a typical distance for working with a specific device. Such screens are best known as used in Apple products.

For a laptop with a screen diagonal of 13 inches and Full HD resolution, the distance from which the pixels cease to be distinguishable is 51 centimeters. Approximately at this distance, our eyes are when working at a laptop. Thus, increasing the screen resolution, and, accordingly, the pixel density, does not make sense.

If someone is persistently trying to prove to you that QHD and even more so Ultra HD (almost the same as 4K) is cool and necessary, then either you are dealing with a consultant in an electronics store, or you are faced with a marketing victim.

In addition to meaninglessness in terms of picture quality, over-resolution displays consume more battery power and require much more resources to render the picture, which negatively affects performance.

Mandatory Intel Core i7

The latest generation Intel Core i7 is a really cool processor, but there is such a thing as sufficient performance.

Simply put, you don't need a Nissan GTR if you use your car to travel to Auchan and work on congested roads.

Core i7 is good for heavy computing, video editing, graphics work and top gaming computers. An ordinary user will not use even a fifth of its performance, but will pay the full cost.

Mandatory discrete graphics card

A separate video card is needed for hardcore gamers who want to play new games with cool graphics, as well as for individual specialists. For web surfing, office work and watching movies, there is enough power offered by the integrated graphics.

32GB RAM or more

If you don't know why you need so much RAM, then you don't need that much RAM.

If you are not a gamer, then 8 GB of RAM is enough for you, and if you play heavy games, then 16 GB is enough.

The fingerprint scanner

Now it is fashionable to put fingerprint scanners in laptops as a more convenient alternative to entering a password. Perhaps this will save you an extra second, but is it worth the money that manufacturers are asking for this feature?

Touch screen in an ordinary laptop

A touch screen is required for transformers - hybrid devices with a removable keyboard that combine a tablet and a laptop.

For an ordinary laptop, a touchscreen is not just useless, but also a frankly harmful excess that increases the cost of the device, battery consumption and sometimes worsens the quality characteristics of the screen itself.

Other guides for choosing equipment from Lifehacker.

Hey! Contact Michael.

For those who work from home, it is important to properly organize the workplace and choose the most effective tools. Obviously, the most indispensable tool for such work is a computer. It is important to understand that speed, productivity, and sometimes the quality of work will largely depend on its capabilities. And also, when working on good technique, your nerves will be calm 🙂

Comfortable workspace at home

Today, most Russian buyers prefer portable devices and strive to become more mobile. In the case of gadgets for the home, this is more of a laptop than a tablet. It is natural that laptops are popular among people who work at home (, remote workers, representatives of creative professions, entrepreneurs).

Only users who are extremely demanding on performance (video designers, professional cybersportsmen, media and social media analysts, etc.) remain the dying audience of desktop PCs. For the rest, a bulky computer is not relevant. I was no exception and six months ago I changed my desktop PC to a laptop. In this article, I will share both my own experience and other information necessary for a successful and quick choice.

When a person is faced with the question: “?”, He naturally asks himself the following: “which is better: a computer or a laptop for work?”. The answer is obvious - a laptop. The growing popularity of laptops is not accidental.

When there's enough room for everyone...

The form factor of a modern portable computer, at almost the same cost as a classic PC, has a lot of advantages:

• compactness (takes up much less space than a PC);
• performance comparable to a PC with incomparably smaller dimensions;
• low weight, and, accordingly, mobility - you can easily take it with you;
• the possibility of autonomous work for 2-4 hours;
• versatility (basic equipment with camera, microphone, bluetooth and Wi-Fi);
• the presence of a pre-installed OS, and in some cases, a package of other software.

I note that even 10 years ago, the difference in the capabilities and performance of a desktop and a laptop was very noticeable. The functionality and speed of work were more modest, and the price was higher. Rare portable devices of that time could have comparable characteristics to desktop machines.

Now, the difference lies in graphics performance, which matters for demanding games and cryptocurrency mining. Even laptops do not provide the possibility of overclocking and deep upgrades - this is where the significant differences end.

Let's understand iron

Obviously, the capabilities and speed of work when performing software tasks will directly depend on the technical characteristics.

The vast range of models can be confusing. To understand which laptop to buy for working at home, you should pay attention to:

• processor performance;
• the amount and frequency of RAM;
• size and type of hard disk;
• type and characteristics of the video adapter;
• availability of interfaces you need;
• brand and OS;
• Battery capacity.

CPU

The speed of any computer (in particular, a laptop) is primarily provided by the processor. Very roughly, we can say that the performance of the processor depends on:

• architecture;
• the number of cores;
• clock frequency.

There is a common perception that the higher the clock speed and the more cores, the better its performance. This simplified understanding of performance is valid only for processors from the same manufacturer with a similar architecture (for example, Intel Core).

laptop processor

Those. An octa-core 2GHz Intel Core processor will perform better than an octa-core 1.8GHz Intel Core processor. But such a comparison with processors from another manufacturer may not be correct.

To measure the performance of the processor, there are special units FLOPS. To understand which processor is actually faster, you need to find measurements of its performance. Here is an example of a valid comparison:

1. AMD FX-8350 4.1 GHz, 8 cores - 131.2 Gflops
2. Intel Core i7-4930K 3.7 GHz, 6 cores - 130 Gflops

Even though AMD has more cores and higher clock speed than the Intel processor, their performance is almost equal.

Recently, processors have been integrated with video cards in order to reduce the cost of installing a separate (discrete) video card. This approach has become an alternative to the inefficient combination of video adapters with RAM.

It is important to understand that in the case of such integration, the laptop will be cheaper, but part of the processor resources will be occupied by video. This may affect performance.

If you need to work autonomously for a long time, it is important to pay attention to the possibility of energy saving. Enthusiasts publish online lists of "greed" processors with power consumption and try to identify the most voracious.

Power consumption of some processors

The higher the power consumption of the processor, the shorter the battery life.

So, when choosing a processor, you should pay attention to such characteristics as:

• real performance (if there is no data, then on the number of cores, clock speed and cache size);
• the presence of a video adapter integrated with the processor;
• energy saving (especially if you need a long battery life).

Almost all laptop processors in the world are produced by two companies: Intel and AMD. There are polar opinions about which manufacturer is better. In fact, as in the case of the number of cores, nothing depends on the brand, the rest is marketing.

Video adapter

The graphics capabilities of a laptop, visual effects in programs and games are directly dependent on video cards. Discrete (standalone) graphics adapters have their own resources, such as RAM and processing power. Their performance is higher than that of integrated (combined) video cards that use processor resources.

The built-in video capabilities are quite enough to work with office software and simple work in graphic editors, as well as for not very demanding games. When you need to use a laptop for resource-intensive processes such as 3D modeling and video processing, you should choose a discrete graphics card with at least 1-2 GB of memory.

RAM

The amount of RAM is the second most important parameter responsible for performance. Modern laptops use DDR3 and DDR4 RAM (much less often). The capabilities of DDR3 are inferior to those of DDR4.

For performance, not only the volume matters (the more, the better), but also the frequency of RAM (the more, the better). The standard amount of RAM sufficient for fast work with modern office programs and Internet surfing is 4 GB DDR3 with a frequency of 200 MHz.

The need to run resource-intensive graphic and video editors, complex programs for design and simulation, as well as games with realistic graphics will require a more impressive amount, for example, 16 or more GB.

Battery

With a battery, everything is simple, the higher the capacity (mAh), the longer the laptop will live offline.

HDD

2 options are common. The first - a classic HDD - is mechanically less reliable, transfers and writes data slowly, but is cheaper and often larger in volume. The second so-called. “Solid State” SSD-drive - very high write speed, not afraid of bumps and shakes, but terribly expensive. An important advantage of the SSD is its influence on the speed of information processing by multiplying the speed of processing information on the disk.

Today, taking into account the active use of cloud services, many people stop at rather modest hard disk volumes. For example, 500 GB is enough for me. In the case of an SSD, a volume of 250 - 320 GB is considered economically feasible. If you need to store a large amount of information and at the same time use a solid state drive to increase performance, it is reasonable to use a small SSD disk (250 GB) for the system and programs and an HDD (1-2 TB) for storing data (music, movies, documents).

Brand and OS

Most modern laptops are running the Windows 10 operating system (occasionally there are also devices pre-installed with Windows 8/8.1). The exception is Apple laptops with Mac OS installed. The choice between Apple and other brands is a personal matter for everyone. There are people who have been in the Apple ecosystem for a long time, and for them the choice in favor of a MacBook is obvious. Among programmers, system administrators and other advanced users, the Linux operating system is popular, it is very flexible, but difficult for untrained users to master.

Interfaces

Pay attention to the number of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports you need. Often in budget models they save on USB, where they can put only 2, which may not be enough for full-fledged work. The presence of HDMI and Ethernet connectors is standard, which cannot be said about, for example, an SD card reader.

The best laptops for working at home: price and quality

Here I will describe a few low-budget and mid-budget releases of 2017 that I consider to be the most suitable for the definition of a “laptop for working at home”. I'll start with very budget options. I include devices costing up to 35,000 rubles to the segment of inexpensive laptops.

Lenovo V310-15ISK

One of the best options among last year's releases was Lenovo V310−15ISK. A laptop that is well suited for working with office software, simple editors and Internet surfing. Comes pre-installed with DOS, which reduces the cost. The user, at his discretion, can install any compatible OS (usually Windows 10, 8/8.1, 7, or various Linux variants, etc.).

Lenovo V310-15ISK

The architecture of the device is based on the use of a dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with a performance of about 40-45 gflops (frequency from 2300 MHz to 2800 MHz in turbo mode). The amount of DDR3 RAM is 4 GB (memory chips are soldered into the motherboard) + an additional slot for upgrading (up to 8 GB). DirectX 12 compatible Intel HD Graphics 520 video adapter. Support for this technology means that this laptop can not only work with office programs and watch videos, but at the very least use video editors, as well as play relatively recent games.

In addition, the laptop is equipped with a card reader (SD), two USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0, HDMI, LAN and VGA, and a relatively rare feature in budget models - a connector for a spare battery. The overall dimensions made it possible to equip the laptop with a DVD drive (it can be useful, although recently many manufacturers are starting to abandon them).

An impressive battery life of 6 hours (12 with optional battery) comes from a 32 Wh quad-cell battery. A neutral design with simple shapes is good for the home as it can fit into any interior equally well.

ASUS VivoBook Max R541UA-DM565D is perhaps the best release of last year in the price range up to 35,000 rubles. For which, in fact, I chose it for myself. As in the previous model, to reduce the cost, the installation of the operating system was made the care of the buyer - only DOS is installed on the laptop.

It works quickly even when processing a large amount of information, running 4-5 applications and resource-intensive processes. Equipped with a 45 Gflops Intel Core i3 6100U processor (2 cores clocked at 2300 MHz). The laptop is equipped with 4 GB DDR4 RAM, which in terms of performance is equivalent to 6-8 GB of RAM of the previous DDR3 standard. As in the Lenovo described above, this laptop has an integrated Intel HD Graphics card.

ASUS VivoBook Max R541UA-DM565D

In addition to standard USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 interfaces, Asus' flagship budget line uses a USB-C port. Also, the laptop is equipped with modern wireless interfaces Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11n. HDMI, VGA can be used to connect external monitors. According to my subjective impressions, this laptop is faster than other price analogues in office applications, data processing, surfing, it works more stable when the computing capabilities are fully loaded. For example, the device can easily cope with the work at the time of the simultaneous launch of the Adobe Photoshop graphics editor, Word (4 documents) and Excel (92 documents), as well as the simultaneous opening of 45 tabs of the Google Chrome browser with the Avast antivirus program running in the background in active mode and two instant messengers Telegram and Skype. All budget models in the basic configuration are equipped with a classic HDD with a capacity of 500 GB to 1 TB.

ASUS Zenbook UX 310

Among the mid-budget (up to 90,000 rubles) laptops of last year, I was impressed by the ASUS Zenbook UX 310 UA. Very light and compact, this laptop has impressive computing capabilities. The laptop is equipped with a powerful Intel Core i5 processor (45 Gflops) and 8 GB of DDR 4 RAM. The Intel HD Graphics 620 video adapter allows you to use the laptop for full-fledged work with graphics and 3D editors, as well as for modern games (running at medium settings).

ASUS Zenbook UX 310

The device can easily cope with “heavy” applications that require high multitasking performance. Optionally, as an additional package (of course, with an increase in price) it can be equipped with a 320 GB SSD drive. A useful plus for a lazy user is the pre-installed Windows 10.

Apple MacBook Pro

Among the premium segment models (worth more than 90,000 rubles), Apple is traditionally one of the leaders. In 2017, it released one of the best expensive laptops - Apple MacBook Pro, which is ideal for working at home. This laptop is especially popular among designers who use Apple technology more often. They often say that Apple is the best laptop for work at home and in the office.

Apple MacBook Pro

The speed of the model is provided by a 4-core Intel Core i7 processor with a performance of 53.3 Gflops (in my experience, this is more than enough for the simultaneous operation of 2 graphic editors, an office suite, a browser and an antivirus), 16 GB of high-frequency DDR3 RAM . Graphics capabilities are defined by the combination of integrated and discrete graphics. The Radeon Pro 455 graphics adapter with its own 2 GB of video memory allows you to quickly and efficiently use any applications for working with graphics, video and 3D models.

As per Apple standard, the new MacBook Pro is equipped with four Type C USB ports. Combined video affects power consumption, thanks to which the MacBook can live without additional charging for at least 6-7 hours. In comparison with analogues, in terms of computing power, the computer has a relatively small mass - 2 kg.

Is it worth buying a used laptop, and how to do it right?

This approach has both advantages and disadvantages. With a relatively small amount of money, buying a used one will be an indisputable way out of the situation. Often, a relatively fresh (1 - 1.5 years old) laptop loses 15 to 30% in value when sold from hand. If the laptop has been exchanged for 2-3 years, then with a high probability it will be possible to buy it for 50-60% of the initial cost.

But you can encounter tangible technical problems that will come from the previous owner. A classic case that happened to many of my friends is a quick hard drive failure. An unscrupulous seller simply remaps (replaces bad sectors) on a faulty hard drive, which allows the system to start without failure for some time, and then the surface continues to “crumble”, and the disk completely fails in a month.

Until now, cases with broken pixels on the monitor and faulty batteries are not uncommon. In order not to buy a problematic laptop from your hands, it is better to use special utilities for checking (for example, CrystalDiskInfo for HDD and the battery health tool in Aida 64). You can also take it for a test, at least for a couple of days.

So which laptop should you choose?

The choice always depends on the tasks that need to be solved using a laptop. Working with office programs and a browser does not involve the use of large resources, so a budget laptop will suffice. When it comes to applications with high system requirements (graphic and video design, prototyping, 3D modeling, eSports), you can’t do without a little blood and you will have to choose a laptop that meets the optimal software requirements. The higher the computing power, the higher the cost.

If you do not intend to frequently use the device on the road and constantly carry it with you, you can ignore the weight (reducing the weight of powerful laptops is a big plus for the cost). In such cases, battery life may also become insignificant. In other words, you can reduce the cost of a laptop by identifying characteristics that are unnecessary in a particular situation and reducing the requirements for the device.