How much power does a laptop need? What is the best and inexpensive laptop for gaming? Touch screen in an ordinary laptop

An inexpensive gaming laptop is a concept that does not have clear and clearly defined boundaries, because any salesperson in the store who is even the slightest interested in his own profit will say that this is the very best gaming laptop, if only this will influence your purchasing decision. Such things happen all the time, so the theoretical aspect should not be discounted, so as not to end up in the shoes of such an unlucky buyer.

So, let's try to figure out how to choose an inexpensive gaming laptop and what, exactly, it is. The article will take into account the opinions of experts and reviews of ordinary owners of these devices.

To begin with, let’s look at the main technical and price parameters that precisely characterize the concept of a gaming laptop.

Price

The most inexpensive gaming laptop cannot cost less than 40 thousand rubles. In 90 cases out of 100, such a device is suitable for modern games exclusively on low settings. It simply doesn’t make sense to take something cheaper than this level: the task is simple - to play modern games, and those gadgets that cost 30, 20 or even 15 thousand are suitable for office work and toys that were three or five years old.

Cheaper models may have a good processor and set random access memory, but are probably endowed with a mediocre video card or a slow hard drive. This also includes such important indicators as the type of matrix of the screen, pixel density - that is, everything that makes the gaming experience better and of higher quality.

Of course, someone may object and exclaim that for 40 thousand rubles you can assemble a stationary block that will run and fly both along and across all the top games - and they will be completely right. But the task is different - to buy a good inexpensive gaming laptop, but you can’t put it in your bag, you can’t take it to another corner in one minute, and you can’t use it outdoors.

So, the first and one of the most important points in choosing an inexpensive, but still gaming laptop is the price - not lower than 40 thousand rubles.

CPU

Inexpensive, but powerful, should not be on processors such as Atom, Celeron, Pentium or Core i3-XXXX. The same applies to AMD's lower-end A10-based models. It is also worth noting the presence of new technologies like ULV processors, which are widely used in premium ultrabook models: they are designed for larger laptops.

These kinds of chips are easily identified by the last letter U at the end of the technical index of the device, for example, Intel Core i7-4800U. Such processors certainly cannot be called “weak,” and an inexpensive gaming laptop with such a chip will certainly please you.

RAM

This is clearly not a gaming device if it has less than 8 gigabytes of RAM on board. Only 4 or even 2 GB are available to very mediocre office workers. Gaming applications have always been considered the engine of progress in computer world, that’s why their hardware requirements are so high. The type of RAM is only DDR3 or DDR4 with a frequency of at least 1600 MHz - the rest is not worth your attention.

Video card

An inexpensive gaming laptop must be equipped with at least a GeForce 670M from NVIDIA or a similar one from AMD like the Radeon 8870M. As alternative option you can consider SLI or CrossFire technology with support for two more or less powerful cards, but this is rarely found in laptops.

Naturally, it is worth considering that specifications desktop video cards and mobile graphics accelerators are not identical, so a “direct” comparison is inappropriate here. But, on the other hand, laptops simply do not have such a chic assortment of video accelerators as their “older” brothers, so you won’t have to rack your brains over this or that choice.

Display

An inexpensive one cannot have a resolution less than 1366 by 768 pixels. Even such an outdated format is almost impossible to find today. A low resolution, of course, relieves the graphics accelerator, but in this case the enjoyment of games is reduced by an order of magnitude.

As for the matrix, in the case of expensive models, you can also opt for versions with TN scan - it is often equipped with an inexpensive gaming laptop. Reviews about the TN matrix, of course, are not always positive, but nevertheless, premium models have very good color rendition and good viewing angles, and the response time is shorter than that of IPS scanning, which has a good effect on processing dynamic scenes.

Dimensions

This is clearly not a gaming laptop, if it is thin and light - with the exception of a few, but they are very expensive big money. All the useful, powerful and nimble things that are “stuffed” into a gaming laptop simply cannot weigh little and have modest dimensions, so take this into account when you weigh the device on your hand and evaluate its “thinness”.

So, let’s outline the most distinguished models in terms of price and quality that are worth paying attention to. They can rightfully be called good gaming laptops.

2OC Dragon Eyes

The Dragon Eye model is one of the smallest gaming laptops. The device has a diagonal of only 14 inches, which automatically makes the laptop a black sheep among 15 and 17-inch gadgets. Of course, from the point of view of comfort and gaming preferences, I would like a larger diagonal, but this model is perfect for traveling and other frequent movements. This includes the relatively low weight - about 2 kg - and the dimensions corresponding to the display.

This model can be called a “gamebook” entry level, but not in terms of evaluation by sellers and marketers, but precisely from the point of view of Experts clarify that the “Eye of the Dragon” lags behind the top models by about 5-7 FPS (with an average picture of 40 fps).

There are several modifications on sale: a version with one standard laptop hard drive for 40-45 thousand rubles and with an enhanced “raid” for two high-speed SSD hard drives, but 10 thousand more expensive. The model has an optimal resolution for its diagonal of 1600 by 900 pixels, although Full HD scanning would obviously not hurt here, since the screen is not touch-sensitive, and the device can afford it.

Acer Aspire V3

The Acer company is not often found among powerful gaming machines, but with a powerful discrete solution from NVIDIA in the form of the GTX 760M, it rightfully takes its place in the segment. The model has similar performance to the previous participant, but with significant differences - the screen of the new Aspire is equipped with 17-inch characteristics and Full. In the same comparison with the “Eye of the Dragon”, the V3 model turned out to be noticeably heavier (3.2 kg) and slightly thicker (35 mm ).

The laptop body is made mainly of aluminum, and only the bottom has a plastic base. The filling also inspires confidence: a high-speed 256 GB SSD complete with a terabyte HDD and 16 GB of RAM on board. All this pleasure costs about 50 thousand rubles, but, as an option, you can find something cheaper, for example, with a regular HDD or with a reduced amount of RAM. Experts, however, advise purchasing the basic model without any reduction factors.

How to choose a laptop so that it meets all your requirements? Or just not to make a mistake in choosing the price-quality ratio?

Laptop– a self-sufficient computer and a mistake in choosing will be more painful than choosing a separate component for your home computer.

With the help of this guide, you will learn all the necessary characteristics that you should pay attention to when choosing a laptop. Also, this article will help you not to overpay money for functions you don’t need, and perhaps also tell you where you can safely save money in your case.

Laptop is selected for different purposes. Of particular priority: long battery life, replacement home computer (or as a second computer), for multimedia(movies, music) or just All In One*.

* all in one

Laptop for work and travel , must combine such characteristics as: large working hours on battery, low level heat release, good display, robust structure and wear resistance, compact size, extended communication capabilities.

Laptop as a replacement for a home computer and for stationary use, it must have such characteristics as: a large display, a variety of communication ports, a comfortable keyboard, a good processor and video card, a capacious hard drive and a lot of RAM.

Laptop for multimedia tasks - must combine such things as: a large and high-quality display, a powerful processor (for playing movies in HD), good sound system and a capacious hard drive.

AllIn One – quite rare specimens that combine all the characteristics from these categories, thanks to competent power management and the overall thoughtfulness of the laptop design. They often have a video subsystem from two video cards(built-in and discrete), which allows you to significantly increase the battery life of the laptop. These laptops are equipped with processors that have advanced technologies to reduce power consumption when running on battery power. Typically they have rechargeable batteries c b O more sections and increased capacity.

All-in-one notebook by Asus:

High-quality display, advanced communication capabilities (including a variety of ports), high-quality finishing materials, interesting design, a well-thought-out hot air exhaust system - all this also applies to this class laptops.

The only disadvantage of such versatility is their price. Not everyone is ready to part with so much money if most of the opportunities are not used.

Let's start with the manufacturers.

Laptop manufacturers .

Quality depends on the manufacturer installed components and durability of the laptop. Even if they are identical in content. After all, it is the manufacturer who thinks through everything, from the cooling system to the quality of the display and the Bios firmware.

A very good indicator of the quality of a laptop is if the manufacturer also produces motherboards, cooling systems, displays or possibly other electronic components ( ASUS, MSI , Toshiba, Sony, Samsung and others). In such laptops, in most cases, you can be sure that most of the hardware and cooling systems are well thought out. It is also worth paying attention to the manufacturer’s experience in producing laptops, but this is not a guarantee of quality. Some manufacturers produce low quality products very consistently.

Also, each manufacturer has its own peculiarities, which are often used in laptops of all price categories. For example: attractive appearance and high-quality display (Sony); non-staining, scratch-resistant glossy case (Asus); better reception (Lenovo); non-heating keyboard (Asus) and so on.

Display.

If you want to sit in front of a laptop for more than 2 hours a day, then you should make sure that the laptop has a high-quality display. This is also worth thinking about if you work with graphics or just want high-quality color reproduction and wide viewing angles.

In these cases, you should look towards laptops with matrices. They provide accurate color reproduction and high viewing angles. You can read about the types of matrices in our material:

Now there is a tendency to produce displays for laptops only with, when instead of cold cathode lamps, backlighting is used. This allows you to do top cover The laptop is much thinner and significantly reduces power consumption.

On the one hand, this is significant reduces energy consumption, increases brightness level and makes the laptop cover much more thinner. On the other hand, there is more light from diodes irritates the eyes, due to the light being more unusual for the eye and the flickering frequency being lower than that of classical backlighting (cold cathode lamps). However, there are still more advantages and they are much more significant for a mobile device. Therefore, it is increasingly used in laptops LED display backlight.

Another important factor for the ability to work on a laptop for a long time without eye fatigue is a matte display. Many people often face a choice - matte or glossy.

The only plus of the glossy display is a clearer picture and slightly more vibrant colors.

Of the minuses - very strong soiling(your prints will last for a long time); glare which constantly force the eyes to focus on different points, which certainly leads to faster fatigue; the worst viewing angles(again due to glare); inability to work if there is someone behind you bright source Sveta.

Hardware or internal filling of a laptop.

Availability powerful(multi-core, With high frequency) processor primarily affects: overall speed operation of the OS and its interface, video encoding, speed of working with photos, archiving, painless launch of several applications at the same time, increased performance in games and other applications that depend on processor resources. You can read about choosing a processor in our material:

It is also worth noting that in laptops – not used logic sets on IntelAtom. If you have your eye on just this one, it's . Which, although it will faithfully serve for Internet surfing, office applications and at the same time hold a charge for a long time, it is not capable of more (there are, of course, exceptions, but they are always very close in price to a full-fledged laptop).

It's always better to get a full-fledged budget laptop than an expensive netbook. After all, even the weakest, full-fledged dual-core processor (the same Celeron CULV 1.2Ghz), will be more powerful than the most powerful 2-core Atom with technology Hyper-Threading.

If you are going to periodically use the laptop for gaming, encoding music and video, watching high-definition video ( HD), work in Photoshop and other graphics programs, then in any case you cannot get by with built-in graphics solutions from Intel (X 3100, Intel GMA****, 4500HD and so on).

For such purposes, it is necessary to have discrete(not built into the chipset, with its own own video memory) from manufacturers such as AMD And NVidia. This is a guarantee that your laptop will play without problems HD-video, have good performance in graphic editors (Photoshop, Flash etc.) and feel good about modern games(depending on the video card model and graphics settings). At least games from 2 years ago will be within his power in any case.

Quantity- primarily affects the speed of work at the same time running applications and on the speed of operation and loading of the OS.

Lack of RAM ( RAM) can lead to slow operation of the OS, “sluggish” execution of “orders” and slowdowns in games due to constant access to the swap file. As you know, there is no such thing as too much RAM, but still, if it is not enough for you in the future, its quantity can be expanded by simply adding memory modules, if the laptop chipset allows it.

RAM- practically the only component other than the hard drive that can be replaced in a laptop. Sometimes you can change the video card, but with one that is similar in terms of characteristics. A laptop processor can rarely be replaced, as it is often soldered directly to motherboard laptop. Although recently there has been a tendency to place processors in mobile sockets and this is very good.

About hard drive capacity and the presence or absence of such things as CD-Rom, I think everything is clear and at your personal discretion. The more disk space, the better. In terms of speed characteristics, mobile hard drives differ by a maximum of 10%.

A huge plus, if in a laptop, in quality system disk is used and in addition to it there is a hard drive. Or the only one SSD large capacity storage device. The use of solid-state drives significantly increases the speed of loading and operating the OS. The response time, installation of programs and unpacking of archives are reduced.

Communication capabilities.

Almost every laptop has a module. Exists several standards this wireless communication. The more supported standards, the greater the chance that your laptop will catch almost everywhere in the coverage area. Typically, standards switch themselves, depending on the type of access point equipment.

Existing standards: 802.11a/b/g/i/n. Usually enough b And g standards, but availability 802.11n adopted in 2009 g – welcome.

It’s also nice to have on board ( 4G) or 3 G module.

Networks at these frequencies have very large coverage areas, but in any case you need to have a subscription to them (there is no free cheese). If in your city and your region where you would like to use a laptop, there are no networks Wi-Max or 3G, then you shouldn’t buy a laptop with their support (the extra charge is about 3-5 thousand rubles). And don’t despair if these modules are not provided in your laptop. There are a lot of inexpensive external ones on the market 3G/4G modems connected via .

When carrying a laptop over distances of more than 100m, use laptop bags with security framework. They really save laptops in some cases.

That's all. We hope you choose a laptop that suits all your needs.

It lies in the list of tasks that will have to be solved on it. For the modest office documents A netbook will be enough, which will cope with such tasks with a bang. More serious requirements are put forward for multimedia systems where you plan to listen to music and watch movies. If you need a mobile gaming PC or such a device should be much better. Therefore, first of all, you need to decide what you need a laptop for and what you will do with it. It is the answers to these questions that determine both the technical characteristics and the final cost of the device.

Appearance

Let's start answering the question of how to choose the right laptop with the simplest thing - appearance. The body must be matte. Due to this, the initial quality is preserved much longer; it is more resistant to the appearance of dirt, scratches on it are almost invisible (which cannot be said about the glossy finish). Although quite rare, there are still such mobile PCs with a cut-off keyboard. It’s also better not to buy them. It is not very convenient to work on it, and the technical specifications leave much to be desired. That is, it is necessary to have an extended keyboard with a number block on the right. The last factor to pay attention to is the location of the touchpad. You will often have to work on it. Therefore, it should be in the most convenient place for you.

Screen

The larger the screen diagonal, the more comfortable it is to work. But this reduces the operating time of the built-in battery. The minimum diagonal that experts currently recommend is 14.1 inches. If there is more, it will be better. The second important factor that also plays an important role in how to choose the right laptop is its resolution. The bigger, the better. For text, 1024 x 768 will be enough. But for games or graphics packages there should be a minimum of 1920 x 1080, that is, HD quality. The last point to pay attention to is the type of matrix installed. The most common are TN (outdated option) and IPS (this solution is more preferable).

Filling

It is necessary to choose based on future tasks that will be solved on a given computing device. For example, let's find out how to choose a laptop for school. For text, spreadsheets, initial programming will be sufficient with a processor with low performance and integrated graphics. It can be either from Intel - Celeron (or Pentium) or from AMD - A series CPU. It must have at least 4 GB of RAM and one HDD 320 GB in size. But if more serious tasks are to be solved, for example, volumetric 3D modeling, then you simply cannot do without a Core i5 and an external video card of the GeForse 650 or Radeon 7790 series. In this case, the RAM must be at least 8 GB, and there must be two drives - an SSD for the system and an HDD for user data. The size of the first must be at least 128 GB, and the second - from 320 GB.

Battery

Battery capacity only affects 2 things: duration battery life and the weight of the mobile computer. The larger the first parameter, the heavier the battery, the more weight the PC has. The minimum time without recharging today should be 4 hours. The best laptops in this regard provide up to 12 hours of battery life.

Manufacturers

Now let’s figure out which brand to choose, that is, which brand. The largest number of mobile PCs are sold under the Lenovo brand. But quantity does not mean quality. It’s better to overpay and buy a device from brands that have proven themselves in this market segment: HP, Asus and Samsung. Acer, Dell and LG have slightly worse quality. But these are still devices with a sufficient level of quality. And it is their products that are best to pay attention to when choosing a laptop.

conclusions

Within the framework of this article, basic recommendations were given on how to choose the right laptop. First of all, you need to decide on the range of tasks to be solved, and only then pay attention to the price and technical characteristics. After all, the last two factors directly depend on the first, and this should always be taken into account when choosing.

The most important thing to know when you go shopping for a new laptop, hybrid or Windows tablet

Photo: techspiel.com

This guide is a good help for the right choice the best laptop, hybrid or Windows tablet, but we need to start by mentioning such devices that were most popular in 2013.

No one will tell you that you made a mistake with your choice if your choice fell on the latest version of the Apple MacBook Air. Both 13- and 11-inch models received an updated processor Intel Core i5 and show excellent results in terms of battery life.

Something similar for Windows is the expensive 13-inch Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus, which displays images with higher quality than HD. Lenovo laptop The IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro has a similar high resolution, and thanks to its ability to fold, it easily turns into a tablet - and costs less than $1,000.

Very inexpensive option, quite suitable for surfing the Internet and communicating, is the 14-inch HP Chromebook 14 with Google operating system Chrome system OS.

Since 2012, the landscape of the mobile device market has changed significantly. Windows 8 (updated to version 8.1) has become the default operating system, and its tiled interface means that a touchscreen has become standard on almost any new laptop. In addition, after a long drought in the Windows tablet market, the Win 8 era spawned dozens of these devices, many of which are not just any simple tablets, but ambitious hybrids with flip, rotating and even detachable screens.

Many guides that explain how to choose the right computer are full of technical data. We will highlight the most important characteristics that need to be taken into account when buying a new laptop, and we will give as detailed explanations as possible for each of them. Let's start with three fundamental rules choosing a laptop.

Three fundamental rules for choosing a laptop

1. There shouldn’t be too many good laptops.

If you remember, a few years ago a price of $1000 was considered normal for a budget laptop. Today, for this money you can buy a premium device, and only Apple (although others are also trying) with its regular price increases stands out from the general chorus.

Therefore, when people write to us “I need a laptop for school, but I only have $1500,” we usually advise slowing down and buying some regular thin laptop for $700-$800 first.

Moreover, for that kind of money it will not be a low-power plastic box. Intel Core i5 processors and touchscreens in sleek, thin cases with a 128GB SSD are what you can buy at this price. This is more than enough for most users, unless they plan to edit HD videos or play the most advanced games.

In short, people have been buying too many laptops all these years. The brief era of $300 netbooks pushed the market in the opposite direction, but now everything has stabilized in the blessed middle ground. Touchscreens and hybrids have raised the average price a little, but there are still no problems to grab a premium laptop or hybrid for $999, or even cheaper.

Photo: cnet1.cbsistatic.com

2. Thinking in terms of mobility

When people ask me what kind of laptop, I first answer the question: “How many days a week are you going to carry it with you?”

The answer determines what the screen size will be, which determines the size and weight of the system as a whole. For those who move around a lot, lightweight 13-inch ultrabooks (like the MacBook Air) are suitable. Ultraportable laptops with 11.6-inch monitors have made an amazing breakthrough, and on the latest 11-inch hybrids and Windows tablets, the “screen” can be detached and taken with you, leaving the fixed keyboard at home or at work.

More regular laptops mid-sized ones like 15 inches are probably in front of you right now, and taking them out more than once a week isn't much fun.

And finally, if you are convinced that you will never need to take this laptop with you, or very, very rarely, then a solid 17-inch or larger desktop replacement is quite suitable for you. Keep in mind that most of these large laptops don't like to leave the vicinity of an outlet for long, and in this day and age of Windows 8, very few of them have a touchscreen.

3. Design is everything to us

Based on the results of testing and measuring the performance of hundreds of laptops, I dare to say the following: inside they are all surprisingly similar. I’ll even say this: most laptops are assembled from the same set of processors, hard drives, memory, video cards - and all this is painfully reminiscent of consumer goods.

And then His Majesty Design enters. Since most laptops in a given class with similar components perform in much the same way, appearance is what determines why some models are preferred over others.

Consider your laptop as an extension of your personality: you can carry it with you all day, or even around the world, you send emails from it, store personal photos and documents on it, and use it to communicate with other people on the go. in social networks.

Photo: cnet3.cbsistatic.com

And like any personal accessory, like glasses or a piece of clothing, you should choose a laptop so that it suits your style, so that its design works for you and you feel comfortable, so that the keyboard and touchpad are comfortable.

Apple understood this perfectly. The hardware of a MacBook isn't all that different from other laptops (the operating system is a different matter), but the user interface is fantastic and the design has become the standard for how people imagine a "real" laptop.

Today's passion for ultrabooks confirms these words about design, and they are confirmed by aggressive advertising of those with an impeccable appearance. Samsung view Ativ 9 and Asus Transformer Book.

A laptop is a significant investment, the physical embodiment of which will likely be with you every day. And when it comes to choosing between a design you like and small technical differences, I would say that almost all advanced laptops are powerful enough to handle everyday tasks - so choose the design.

Types of laptops

There are many options for categorizing laptops. There are, for example, this: multimedia, gaming, thin and light, ultrabooks, ultrathin and ultraportable. Term "ultrabook" occurs very often, but technically this is not a category, but simply trademark Intel, which is awarded to laptops that meet the requirements of this corporation. Most of them resemble the 13-inch MacBook Air, but you can also find 14- and 15-inch ultrabooks. Sometimes systems, which are also very thin, but not of Intel parameters, are called “fauxtrabooks” or simply ultrabook-like.

To make sense of this menagerie, we'll use screen size as a determining parameter - which is quite consistent with the above tips for choosing a laptop based on how often you'll need to travel with it. This is the most common categorization of laptops, for example on CNET.

Photo: cnet1.cbsistatic.com

Ultraportable (11-12 inches)

Ultraportable systems with 11- and 12-inch screens have returned to the market through the efforts of Sony and Apple, as well as with the advent of hybrids from Lenovo, HP and other manufacturers. They usually run low-voltage Intel Atom processors or something from the AMD E line. Prices for 11-inch Windows 8 tablets start at $499, and an additional keyboard will cost somewhere around $100.

13" laptops

This is the only screen size that deserves its own category. Such devices occupy their own ecological niche. 13 inches is the smallest laptop size that you can comfortably work with all day long, and at the same time it is the most big computer, which you can still carry with you without problems more than once or twice a week. Typical representatives - Apple MacBook Pro and Air, as well as Sony Vaio Pro 13.

As mentioned, "ultrabook" is an Intel brand that is often used to refer to lightweight 13-inch laptops that are less than 18mm thick and have SSD storage. Since almost all 13-inch laptops are the thickness of ultrabooks, the marketing term fades into the background and you can forget about formalities. In other words, if a computer resembles an ultrabook in everything, let it be called that, there is no need to invent anything.

Some hybrids and convertibles also fall into the 13-inch category, although a 13-inch tablet looks a bit monstrous.

Medium (14, 15 and 16 inches)

This category is made up of traditional 15-inch laptops along with their 14- and 16-inch brothers. Although they are technically considered mobile devices, most are sedentary or move along a home-to-work trajectory.

Most mid-size laptops have dual- or quad-core processors, usually Intel Core i, along with 4 or 8 GB of memory and large hard drives of at least 320 GB. Additions seem to be separate GPU or Blu-ray drives are rare, although available. Intel allows some 14- and 15-inch laptops to be called ultrabooks if they have certain dimensions and meet a number of specific requirements. But this is rare.

The niche of prices and capabilities of mid-size models is the widest, and the cheapest of them cost about $500, and the top level is well over the $1000 mark. Typical configuration - from $800 to $1000.

Replacements for desktop computers (17 inches and larger)

These massive laptops, with screens starting at 17 inches, literally take the place of a combination of system unit, monitor and keyboard, but in case of emergency, moving them is not difficult.

As a rule, a quad-core processor runs here and graphics card Nvidia or AMD. The image must be at least 1080p, 1920×1080 to avoid problems with Blu-ray and other high-quality graphic content.

Although 17-inch options are most typical for this category, there are many 18-inch models, and these large desktop substitutes turn into real medical complexes for the home, for the family, where work, games, video and audio are all in one. Sometimes you can find copies with detachable 18-20-inch screens, which turn into giant tablets of dubious portability.

Photo: cnet4.cbsistatic.com

Hybrids, tablets and transformers

Majority mobile computers with detachable, flipping or folding screens, they have 11.3-inch or 13.3-inch displays and behave almost exactly like regular folding laptops in their category. Some, such as representatives of the Lenovo Yoga line, look like regular laptops most of the time, others, for example Microsoft Surface Pro, spend their lives mostly in tablet mode.

Typical processors are Intel Atom and Core i5, which is why hybrids cost at least $499, and the price of some goes beyond $1000. Today, very few hybrids can be considered mainstream solutions, mainly because Windows 8 has not yet reached the status of a real tablet operating system. In addition, many of the detachable keyboards and touchpads on these systems are simply terrible. And yet, if you are looking mobile device smaller, we advise you to look not only at traditional double-leaf options, but also not to miss similar-sized hybrids.

CPU/Processors

Whether you like it or not, you will have to pay some attention to some technical things. It's about modern processors Intel and AMD and where they live.

AMD

This company (which is also the parent company of the graphics processor manufacturer formerly known as ATI) recently released a new generation of accelerated processor devices. At AMD they are not called CPUs (Central Processing Unit, CPU), but UPU (Accelerated Processing Unit, APU) and by this they mean a combination of a CPU and a separate graphics processor - but in one “bottle”.

New AMD A4, A6, A8 and A10 chips began populating servers from Acer, HP and other manufacturers in the spring of this year, but are suitable options for budget and mid-range computers. Please note that there are significantly fewer laptops with AMD processors than with Intel processors.

Full list AMD processors can be found on the company's website.

Intel

If you're shopping for a laptop, tablet, hybrid, or even desktop, there's a good chance it has an Intel processor inside. The models in the latest line have the same names as the representatives of the three previous generations, which leads to some confusion. However, the chips, which were released in June 2013, are known under the code name Haswell (the previous generation was Ivy Bridge).

These CPUs released in 2013 fourth generation simply identified by the number four, which begins part of their code designation. For example, in the new Sony computer Vaio Pro 13 is equipped with an Intel Core i5-4200U processor at 1.6 GHz. More technical details are presented on the Intel website.

The performance difference between the latest and previous generation processors is small. Haswell, however, can seriously save battery life, and the very first laptops we tested equipped with these CPUs outdid the 13-inch MacBook Air with its advertised 12 hours of battery life. For now, finding a laptop with Haswell is a real quest, but we must assume that soon any model designed for mobile work, will be equipped with them.

Photo: cnet4.cbsistatic.com

• Core i3 Works in many budget and mid-class laptops; two cores are quite enough for everyday needs.
• Core i5 represents the mainstream of Intel processor design and works in many 15- and some 17-inch laptops in the $600 to $1000 price range.
• Core i7 available in a quad-core version and can be found inside more expensive and powerful machines that are needed only by gamers or those who work professionally with video.
• Pentium, Celeron and Atom are still being produced (yes!) and live in an energy-efficient niche, and the authors of serious computer reviews remember them with a grimace of disgust. If possible, avoid laptops with Pentium and Celeron chips. Latest version Atom, formerly known as Bay Trail, has decent performance and excellent power consumption results in small tablets and hybrids.
• Xeon- processor for high-performance workstations. Most likely, you will never cross paths with him unless you are interested in the new cylindrical Apple Mac Pro desktop or some other system not for ordinary use.

Hard drives and solid state drives

Your new laptop will have either a "traditional" spinning hard drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), i.e. nothing more than flash memory, similar to SD cards and what is installed in smartphones. There are also hybrid drives in which a small (20 or 32 GB) SSD works together with a large HDD. In theory, this allows the system to boot faster and makes applications run faster, but music and video files, for example, are stored on the hard drive.

• HDD still remain the main storage drives in most laptops. Hard disks They're spacious and inexpensive, but they're also massive and hot and have a lot of moving parts. You need to choose at least a 320 GB hard drive, even for budget systems. Most drives spin at 5400 revolutions per minute (RPM in English), but there are also faster ones - 7200, which are useful for significant amounts of streaming data, video editing and gaming.
• SSD They operate silently and hardly heat up, but are much more expensive and less capacious. The 11-inch Apple MacBook has only 64 GB of SSD, and this pleasure costs $999. It is possible to upgrade to 128 and 256 GB, but this will cost a lot. There is no doubt that SSDs are the future, but at the moment their capacity is relatively small and they cannot store, for example, a large video collection.

FAQ

What ports and additional features do I need?

At least a couple of USB ports. Most modern laptops have at least two USB port 3.0, which are faster than USB 2.0, but only when USB connection 3.0 - compatible devices, such as hard drives. The need for an SD card slot is not even discussed. As well as HDMI video output. Every laptop today has Wi-Fi, compatible with almost all standards of this protocol and with any routers.

Photo: cnet4.cbsistatic.com

What ports and additional features can I refuse?

Most laptops still have an old-fashioned VGA video output, but unless you plan on connecting something like a CRT monitor, it's not needed. DisplayPort for video or Thunderbolt (such high-speed interfaces) are only needed if you have compatible devices. The thinnest laptops often lack an Ethernet connector; it is believed that Wi-Fi replaces it. It’s not a fact at all, and let it be just in case. But if it's not there, it's not the end of the world. Bluetooth is great, but only if you're going to use a Bluetooth mouse, Bluetooth speakers, or Bluetooth headphones. Otherwise it is of no use, and if it is, it is useful to turn it off so as not to drain the battery in vain.

Do I need a CD/DVD drive?

More likely no than yes, and quite a few thin and light laptops simply cannot have it. But it is useful to leave it, because there are many people who have preserved huge archives of films, music, games and other useful things on CDs and DVDs. Those. many are literally tied to optical discs - let's leave them for their sake.

Do I need a video card?

Unless you are going to play very serious games on this laptop (Skyrim, Metro: Last Light, etc.), the standard capabilities of the computer will be more than enough for you. Current versions of the integrated Intel graphics processor belong to the HD 5000 family. They will not handle serious games (like those mentioned), but they will cope well with normal or recently considered “serious” games. Yes, and they can handle the new ones if you reduce the image detail.

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Which is better: a Windows tablet or a laptop?

Windows tablets For a very long time they caused nothing but disappointment, and only with the advent of Windows 8 there was some kind of revival. After all, Windows 8 can work with touchscreens like native ones (however, not always like with their closest relatives), and most tablets and hybrids under this opsystem can function in laptop mode or have the appropriate accessories. If you type a lot or use a mouse or touchpad a lot, you're better off going with a traditional laptop or a very laptop-like hybrid like the Lenovo Yoga.

Which is better: Windows or Mac OS X?
This is one of the most provocative questions. Windows fans value it for its flexibility and the ability to fine-tune and personalize the system. It runs on almost any hardware, and with the advent of the eight, it became more friendly to touchscreens and tablets and received a dashing modern interface, which was a big breakthrough.

Apple's operating system only runs on select desktops and laptops. At the same time, having a common platform of software and hardware allows you to create significantly more stable and predictable programs, and the same impression remains on the user. And this is not to mention the fact that many prefer the user-friendly design and navigation and control elements of OS X. But incomparably more programs are written for Windows, especially free ones; and, of course, games.

Should I buy it right now, or is it better to wait for the next update/upgrade/OS/CPU, etc.?

This is the million dollar question and it applies to almost anything related to technology. Even the new device, by the time it was brought home, was already a little outdated and every day it becomes more and more antique, because the next a new version It's almost upon us already. You need to realize this, and when you understand this, it will become easier for you, you will be able to relax and buy something that will give you pleasure. There's no point in pining for upgrades.

And finally - how to choose a laptop? Interesting video tips from the Eldorado store

Are you planning to buy a laptop and don’t know which option from those on the market to choose? Due to the huge selection of laptops various manufacturers and models on the market it is not so easy to choose the most acceptable one.

It should be noted that if your knowledge in the field of electronics is, to put it mildly, not very good, then the question of how to choose a laptop and what to pay attention to will be very difficult for you. To solve this problem, we suggest you use our recommendations. In this article, you will find out which laptop is suitable for work and which for gaming or watching movies.

First of all, you should not choose a laptop only by the brand name, focusing on its advertising and popularity, since a lot depends on its technical characteristics.

Choosing the right format

The very first step when choosing a laptop should be choosing the screen diagonal. If you have not yet decided which diagonal will suit you, stop your gaze on model range 15.6 inches. All of them have the greatest versatility, so they are perfect for both office work and entertainment in the form of games, watching movies or photos. This format is classified as medium; in addition, there are small-format models with a diagonal of 10-13″ and large-format (17-19″).

Previously, all these models were equipped with a device for reading CD discs, however, recently, in order to reduce the cost of their devices, many manufacturers have refused to install disc players in budget models.

As for the standard set of connectors, as a rule, laptops are equipped with 2-3 USB ports, D-Sub (VGA) and/or HDMI video outputs and an RJ45 network port.

When you are thinking about how to choose a laptop for use not only at home, but on business trips, at school, etc., it is better to take a closer look at models with a 13-inch screen diagonal. The dimensions of the device will allow you to carry it even in a regular bag. However, when this format seems large to you, you can choose a smaller format model: 10.1″, 11.6″, 12.5″. These options are optimal for daily commutes to work, as well as for travel.

It should also be said that for the small size of the device you may have to pay for low performance, weak hardware and inconvenience when using stationary.

The next format will be devices with screen diagonals of about 17.3″, 18.4″ and more. This type gadgets can rightfully be classified as the most massive and heaviest. Devices are mainly purchased by companies for stationary office use. Due to their heavy weight and low autonomy, they are not suitable for moving long distances, but the large screen diagonal is ideal would be better suited for office work.

Based on the above, we can say that if the choice of a laptop is not based on your specific preferences, devices with a diagonal of 15 inches will be most acceptable for you.

Laptop families

Before choosing a laptop, you also need to determine what tasks you need it for. To make it easier to choose a device, their manufacturers divide laptops into families: multimedia, universal, gaming, business, and ultrabooks. Typically, each family has laptops of various formats. Therefore, after you select the screen diagonal, you can determine which laptop and from which family will suit you best for your tasks.

Laptops for movies and music

Multimedia laptops have a distinctive, eye-catching design that includes glossy surfaces with big amount color options and patterns). In addition, they have high functionality, which is enough to perform a wide range of tasks (watching videos, taking photos, listening to music, etc.).

As a rule, such models have a large number of configurations, and their cost can be completely different. Regarding the hardware of the device, to perform the simplest tasks you will only need an entry-level processor and a discrete video card.

Laptops for gaming

As for fans of computer games, their choice of laptop should be a device with an advanced processor and a powerful video card, thanks to which they will be able to play their favorite games at the most high settings. Such laptops are characterized by the presence of a powerful cooling system, an optimized keyboard with durability, backlighting and additional options. In addition, they are equipped with high-quality gaming acoustics.

Laptops for work

Business laptops, as a rule, have an inexpressive and calm design (matte surface, gray or black body color, as well as strict outlines of the body). The vast majority of these devices do not have additional multimedia elements (volume control and playback controls). The emphasis in such devices is on the strength of the structure, which can withstand loads during constant use. In addition, the devices are equipped with an ergonomic keyboard and a set of connectors for use in the corporate sphere.

Ultrabooks

As for ultrabooks, their main difference from other varieties is high performance and excellent battery life. They are thin and light weight. Today, the market offers models with diagonals from 11.6 to 15.6 inches. Laptops have an exquisite design, using inserts made of carbon fiber, glass and other materials. Practice shows that the main buyers of such laptops are wealthy people, people who want to show others their high position in society and respectability. However, it is worth noting that thin cases devices are not allowed to be placed in them discrete video card, so a built-in video accelerator is installed in the processor.

Universal laptops

In addition to these varieties, the market is also widely represented universal laptops, which can equally be used for both work and study, and you will decide for yourself which laptop to choose.

Laptop configurations

So, you have decided which laptop is good for you in terms of format and device type, then you will need to decide on the specific hardware configuration. This is the most important stage in choosing a laptop, since its power and operating speed will depend on the components inside the laptop.

Here you can go one of two ways: meticulously study the characteristics of modern laptops, or, if you have enough money, opt for the most expensive configuration. The second option will bring you very powerful processor and a powerful video card. In addition, you will have at your disposal the best-capacity hard drive and a large set of interfaces for communication.

True, anyone who does not have enough money or is looking for a way to save money on purchasing a device should pay attention to a number of factors:

CPU

What type of processor is used in the laptop. On this moment The most current processors on the market are Intel Core i5 or AMD A8. If your budget is limited, Intel Core i3, Pentium or Celeron, as well as AMD A2/A4 are suitable for you.

Video card

If a good processor accelerator from Intel or AMD is built into the video card, this will significantly reduce your financial costs, and thanks to discrete adapters from ATI and NVIDIA, you will be able to play games that require large resources.

WI-FI and Bluetooth

Are there wireless modules such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth? As practice shows, almost every laptop is equipped with a Wi-fi module. As for Bluetooth, not every device can boast of having it, but not all users need it.

Connectors on a laptop

The presence of a large number of nests. You need to choose a device with the number of USB ports you need, as well as a card reader and HDMI for connecting to LCD TVs.

operating system

Is there an operating system installed on the laptop, and which one? It often happens that if a laptop belongs to the budget class, then manufacturers often install Linux or MS-DOS on it. This makes the device cost a little less. It's no secret that a licensed Windows OS costs a lot of money. And installing a pirated version of the software threatens criminal liability, so few office equipment sellers will do this. The best option would be to buy a laptop without an operating system installed Windows systems and install it yourself after purchase.
RAM

The amount of RAM is very important; it should be said that there is never too much RAM and the larger the amount of RAM the device has, the faster it will work with various software. If you don't have enough RAM, neither a fast processor nor discrete graphics can help you out. Today, taking into account the large amount of different information, the minimum amount of RAM should be 4 GB. If you buy a laptop for gaming, video processing or working with graphics, then at least it should be at least 8 GB.

HDD

The same applies to disk memory, since the larger the hard drive of your laptop, the greater the amount of information it can store. Therefore, the minimum amount of space hard drive should start from 250 GB. It is typical that laptops with SSD-type solid-state drives work much faster than their peers with HDDs, but they have a higher price and limited capacity.

Battery and battery life

The battery is another very important parameter that you should pay attention to when choosing the best laptop. This means that than large capacity it has, the longer the device will work while being away from the power source. True, the battery capacity greatly affects the weight of the equipment, and the larger it is, the heavier it is.

The type of matrix will also be important. True, in the overwhelming majority of budget models and mid-range models price range TN+Film matrices with viewing angles of 90-160° are used. Of course, the ideal option would be an IPS or MVA matrix (178°x178°), but you won’t see the first one very often, and the second one will be very expensive. Weak side TN+Film type matrices have small viewing angles, unlike IPS or MVA 178° by 178° matrices, and also the fact that their quality can be very different. Plus IPS or MVA matrices is excellent color rendition and full depth RGB colors- 8 bits per channel (24 bits). This ensures a large number of colors and their shades, as well as increased brightness and contrast. Therefore, experts recommend testing it thoroughly before purchasing any laptop in a store. For these purposes, ask the seller to show you various pictures on the screen. After this, turn off the laptop and after a 10-15 minute break, ask to run special software to check the matrix for defective pixels. For these purposes, you will need to carefully examine all the colors, but this is the only way you can identify dead pixels.

It is worth noting that if you really love computer games and are buying a laptop just for gaming, it would be better for you to take a closer look at desktop computers, since they have more high performance and a more reasonable price.

Having looked through the most popular sites and online stores, and read the comments of experts regarding a particular laptop model, you can easily decide on the most suitable option. Moreover, regardless of your budget.

When choosing a laptop on an online store website, go to the laptops section and first select only those parameters that are critical to you. For example, the diagonal and minimum size of the hard drive. This filter will allow you to immediately remove products that do not suit your needs from display. After that, sort the products by popularity and rating and read reviews and comments.