2019-09-01_Computer_Shopper

ISSUE 379|COMPUTERSHOPPER|SEPTEMBER (^201957)
01
Abasic laptop costingaround£300
will run everydayoffice,multimedia
and educationsoftware,but it won’t be
suitablefor3Dgaming or processor-intensive
tasks such as video editing.Many laptops at
this price have a15.6in screen and weigh over
2kg, so they’re best used aroundthe house
and foroccasionaljourneys.
02
If you want to playmodern games,
you’ll need alaptop with adedicated
graphicschip such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX
1060M.Good gaminglaptops tend to have
large 15.6 or 17in screensand weigh around
3kg, so they’re best suited to use at home.
03
If you want alaptop that you can
take everywhere,look foramodel
that weighsless than 2kg. Forthe best
Choosing a... Laptop
portability,buy one that has a13.3in or 14in
screen.In general,the smallerand lighter the
laptop,the more expensiveit is, especiallyif
it has plenty of processingpower.
04
Battery lifeisextremelyimportant
foralaptop,particularlyif you’ll be
carryingit around.We’d expect all but the
biggestand heaviest to last foratleast
five hours on asingle charge,but foran
ultraportablethat you carry everywhere,
eight hours and above is more desirable.
05
Laptops use mobile versionsof
processorsto conservepower,
and these lag behinddesktop chips
when it comes to performance.For a
budgetWindowslaptop,anIntel Core i3
processorwill do the job,but if you
want better performance,you should
look foranIntel Core i5 or Core i7
model instead. We recommenda
minimumof 4GB of RAM, although8GB
is better formultitasking.
06
Most budgetand mid-rangelaptops
use amechanicalhard disk for
storage.You’ll want at least 500GB,but
1TB or more is better.Solid-statedrives
(SSDs)have faster performance,making
your computer quickerto boot and more
responsive.Theyhavelower capacities,
though.You’ll need at least 128GB.
07
Convertiblesand 2-in-1 laptops can
changefrom laptop mode to tablet
mode.We’ve listed our favouritemodels later
on in this guide in the Tablets section.
LAPTOPS
HPEnvy13
★★★★★
£799•www.currys.co.uk
There are
plenty of gre
ultraportabl
available these days, but mos
of them cost well over £1,000.
The Envy 13 is an extremelyattractivealternative:it’s slim and light,
weighingjust 1.2kg, but it has plenty of power and high-endfeatures
includingafingerprintreader and dedicated graphics,and what’s
more,it’s relativelyaffordable.
PROCESSORQuad-core1.6GHzIntelCorei5-8250U•RAM8GB•DIMENSIONS307x212x14.9mm

• WEIGHT1.2kg•SCREENSIZE13.3in•SCREENRESOLUTION1,920x1,080•GRAPHICS
  ADAPTORNvidiaGeForceMX150•TOTALSTORAGE256GBSSD•OPERATINGSYSTEM
  Windows10Home•PARTSANDLABOURWARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.hp.com•
  PARTNUMBERah0001na•FULLREVIEWSep2019

The Asp h

epitome

sensible g

laptop.It’s not ultra-stylish

and it doesn’t have a

professional-quality

display, but forthe

price it offers reliableper

variety of workloads,and it will last afull dayonbattery power

withoutmuch trouble.

PROCESSORQuad-core1.6GHzIntelCorei5-8250U•RAM8GB•DIMENSIONS382x263x21mm•

WEIGHT2.2kg•SCREENSIZE15.6in•SCREENRESOLUTION1,920x1,080•TOTALSTORAGE

256GBSSD•OPERATINGSYSTEMWindows10Home•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•

DETAILSwww.acer.com•PARTCODEA515-51-50YS•FULLREVIEWOct2018

HUAWEIMateBook 14

★★★★★

£1,500•consumer.huawei.com

The MateBook

is the biggest d

best of Huawe s

2019 ultraportables.Like the m

expensiveMateBook XPro,it

can be equippedwith a

Core i7 processor,but an

airier chassismeans that

performanceisn’t compromisedto prevent heat build-up.Other

highlightsincludelong battery lifeand Nvidia’s updated MX250GPU.

PROCESSORQuad-core1.8GHzIntelCorei7-8565U•RAM16GB•DIMENSIONS308x224x15.9mm

• WEIGHT1.5kg•SCREENSIZE14in•SCREENRESOLUTION2,160x1,440•GRAPHICSADAPTOR
  NvidiaGeForceMX250•TOTALSTORAGE512GBSSD•OPERATINGSYSTEMWindows10Home•
  PARTSANDLABOURWARRANTYTwoyearsRTB•DETAILSconsumer.huawei.com•PARTCODE
  KLV-W29•FULLREVIEWJun2019

DELLXPS152-in-1

★★★★★

£1,599•www.currys.co.uk

This is everyth g

that’s great ab

the XPS series

the massivepower,the lengthy

battery life, the sleek design –g

even more flexibilitywith afully

rotatablehinge and touchscreen.

That’s not the only improvement,either: this is the first XPS laptop

with Dell’s ‘maglev’ keyboarddesign,which gives the keys alovely

pseudo-mechanicalfeel.

PROCESSORQuad-core2.8GHzIntelCorei5-8305G•RAM8GB•DIMENSIONS354x235x16mm•

WEIGHT2kg•SCREENSIZE15.6in•SCREENRESOLUTION1,920x1,080•GRAPHICSADAPTOR

RadeonRXVegaMGLGraphics•TOTALSTORAGE256GBSSD•OPERATINGSYSTEMWindows

10Home•PARTSANDLABOURWARRANTYOneyearonsite•DETAILSwww.dell.com/uk•

PARTCODEXPS159575•FULLREVIEWOct2018

ACERAspire5

★★★★★

£528•www.amzn.to/2M q

pire 5isthe

eofthe

mid-range

ish

rformancein a

2MS5lqc

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