LAPTOPS
ISSUE 379|COMPUTERSHOPPER|SEPTEMBER (^201979)
brightnessis especiallyimportantas it can
help ward off reflections,apotential legibility
hazard to all glossy-screenlaptops.
ENGINEPARTS
While laptop performancehasn’t caught up
with that of abroadly equivalent PC, the same
rules apply: more CPU cores, higher clock
speeds and plenty of RAM (ideally8GB or
more) will generallyequal higher speeds.
In many cases, it’s fine if alaptop doesn’t
score incrediblyhighly in our application
benchmarks;lots of people use their laptops
forsimple jobs such as word processingand
browsing.What’soften more importantis
whetherthe laptop can maintaingeneral
responsivenessin everydayuse,preferably
withoutgeneratinglots of heat and noise.
There are two big exceptions:high-
performanceultraportablesand gaming
laptops. With these,you should look for
and demandslick performance,and with
gaminglaptops specifically,that means a
dedicated GPU. Integrated graphicsare fine
formost home and office tasks, but simply
won’t cut it forproper gaming.
As always, we’ll subjecteach laptop to our
battery benchmark,which involvesplaying a
looped fullscreenvideo from full charge to
empty and recordinghow long it lasts.
The gold standardis afull day’s normal
use,which translates to about 10 hours in
our continuousvideo playback test. Aresult
of aroundeight hours means you might be
able to make it until the end of aday if
you’re frugal, but anythingless means
you’re probablygoing to need arecharge.
Playing games will also drain the battery
much faster than loopingavideo,soexpect
gaminglaptops to run dry even faster away
from the mains.
WATCHTHIS SPACE
Laptops of all stripes tend to use SSD storage
rather than mechanicalhard disks, so you can
always be sure of adecent baselineof drive
speeds.However,performancebetweenSSDs
canvaryhugely:weusetheASSSDbenchmark
to test read and writespeeds, and there’s
often little correlationbetweenthe price of the
laptop and how fast its SSD can run.
Capacityis probablymore important
anyway. 256GB or even 128GB can provide
enoughspace forlight use,but aim formore
–atleast 512GB –ifyou’re searchingfora
laptop to use heavily every day.
buying guide,we’ve includedreviews of 24
laptops, from slim and light ultraportables
to 2-in-1s, rotatingconvertibles,dedicated
gamingsystems and more affordable
sub-£800models.
There are three keystyles of laptop.The
traditionalclamshell-stylenotebookisthemost
common,buttheyalsoincludecompact,skinny
laptops as well as big desktop replacements.
2-in-1s are essentiallytablets with detachable
keyboards,while convertiblesuse 360° hinges
that allow the base to flip aroundbehind the
screen,forming apseudo-tablet shape or
acting as astand forthe touchscreendisplay.
Clamshelllaptops and convertiblestypically
have larger screens,sturdierbases and more
comfortablekeyboards,so these might be
better if you’re likely to do alot of typing or
you’ll often use it on your lap.2-in-1s are
prone to falling backwardson anythingother
than asolid, level surface,but theyalso tend
to be lighter and more portable.Ditch the
keyboard and theyalso make much better
tablets than afolded convertible,although
watch out for2-in-1s that sell the keyboard
separately instead of bundlingit in.
Since all laptops are meant to be taken out
and about, ahigh level of build quality is
essential.That includeskeepingthe weight
down: carryinganythingheavier than 2kg can
be areal strain, so the lighter the better.
At the same time,having athinner and
lighter laptop shouldn’t come at the cost of
connectivity.Welook foragood mix of ports
in our reviews; power users in particularwill
need ahealthy supply of USB ports, memory
card slots and video outputsto supportall
their peripheralsand external monitors.
TOTHETOUCH
We mentionedhow bigger laptops often have
better keyboards,but what makes agood
keyboard?The most importantthing is that
the keys are comfortablylaid out. Crampedor
undersizedkeycaps can impedeergonomics
and accuracyforeven the best typists.
Just as with desktop keyboards,feedbackis
important,so generouskeytravel depth and
tactile responsewill make using your laptop all
that more pleasant.We’ll look closely at each
laptop’s touchpad,too, as asmall or
unresponsivepad can slow you down.
Displayquality is important,too–this
componentis, after all, literally half the laptop.
In terms of resolution,Full HD (1,920x1,080)
is the sweet spot formost laptops, as it
provides more than adequatesharpness
withoutsuckingextra power,ashigher
resolutionsdo.That said, it’s perfectly fine to
opt formore pixels if you wish –even on a
small screen,it’s easy to see the difference.
We’ll be runningall our usual displaytests,
lookingatmetricssuchasbrightness,contrast,
sRGB gamut coverage (essentially,how vibrant
the screen’s coloursare) and colour accuracy.
Higher is better in all cases, but unless you’re
hoping to perform tasks like video and image
editing,brightnessand contrastare arguably
the most important.Having ahigh peak
ULTRAPORTABLE
DELLXPS15(2018)
Despitebeing bigger and heavier than most ultraportables,the latest
XPS 15 is everythingyou’d want from the medium:aslim, finely
crafted chassis,asharp,vivid display, and excellentperformance.It’s
even got abit of gamingcapability,thanks to its GTX 1050 Ti graphics
chip.Ifyour budgetwon’t stretch beyond triple digits, check out the HP Envy 13: asleek and
competitiveperformer,but with arelativelybargainprice of £799.
2-IN-1/CONVERTIBLE
MICROSOFTSurfacePro6
This sixth-generationmodel shows why the Surface Pro line is still
the king of 2-in-1s.Fast and flexible,with one of the best displays
on any tablet, the Surface Pro 6isapleasureto use –and unlike the
GooglePixel SlateorHPEnvy x2, it has no problemsrunningthe full range of Windows-
compatibleproductivitysoftware.It’s almost enoughto make you forget that its Type Cover
keyboardis still an (expensive)add-on.
VALUE
MICROSOFTSurfaceGo
Yes, Microsoft’s 2-in-1s win again. This is asmaller and, make no mistake,
slower interpretationof the Surface Pro design ethos, but it’s still alovely
little Windowstablet, with USB Type-C connectivityand avibrant
touchscreendisplay. It’s worth shellingout forthe keyboardattachment,
too: it’s every bit as usable as its full-sizeType Cover cousin.
GAMING
RAZERBlade15
The HP Omen 15 also deservesamention here: it has the same CPU and G U
as the Blade 15, and thus similar performance,for amuch lower price.
However,ifyou want asleeker,lightinggaminglaptop,with more SSD
storage and abolder displayontop,Razer’s effort is worth the extra cas.
THE BEST LAPTOPS
nd GPU
ash.