Computer Shopper - UK (2019-12)

ISSUE 382|COMPUTER SHOPPER|DECEMBER 2019 49

01

Abasic laptop costing around £300

will runeverydayoffice,multimedia

and education software,but it won’t be

suitablefor3Dg aming or processor-intensive

tasks such as video editing. Many laptops at

this price havea15.6in screen and weighover

2kg, so they’re best used around the house

and foroccasional journeys.

02

If you wantto playmodern games,

you’ll needalaptop withadedicated

graphics chip such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX

1060M. Good gaming laptopstend to have

large 15.6 or 17in screens and weigh around

3kg, so they’re best suitedto use at home.

03

If you wantalaptop that you can

take everywhere,look foramodel

that weighs less than 2kg.Forthe best

Choosinga... Laptop

portability,buy one that hasa13.3in or 14in

screen. In general, the smaller and lighter the

laptop ,the more expensive it is, especially if

it has plentyof processing power.

04

Battery lifeise xtremely important

foralaptop ,particularly if you’ll be

carrying it around.We’d expect all but the

biggest and heaviestto last foratl east

five hours onasingle charge,but foran

ultraportable that you carryeverywhere,

eight hours and above is more desirable.

05

Laptops use mobile versionsof

processorsto conserve power,

and these lag behind desktop chips

when it comesto performance.For a

budget Windows laptop,anI ntel Core i3

processor will do the job,but if you

want better performance,you should

look foranIntel Core i5 or Core i7

model instead.We recommend a

minimumof 4GB of RAM, although 8GB

is betterformultitasking.

06

Most budget and mid-range laptops

use amechanical hard diskfor

storage.You’ll want at least 500GB, but

1TB or more is better.Solid-statedrives

(SSDs) havefaster performance,making

your computer quickerto boot and more

responsive.Theyhavelower capacities,

though.You’ll need at least 128GB.

07

Convertibles and 2-in-1 laptops can

change from laptop modeto tablet

mode.We’ve listed ourfavouritemodels later

on in this guide in theTablets section.

LAPTOPS

HPEnvy13

★★★★★

£849•store.hp.com

There are

plenty of great

ultraportables

available these days, but most

of them cost wellover Δ̋,ҊҊҊ.

The Envy ̋Τ is an extremely attractive alternativeȁ it’s slim and light,

weighing just ̋.2kg, but it has plentyof power and high-endfeatures

includingafingerprint reader and dedicated graphics, and what’s

more,it’s relatively affordable.

PROCESSORQuad-core1.6GHzIntelCorei5-8250U•RAM8GB•DIMENSI ONS307x212x14.9mm

• WEIGHT1.2kg•SCREENSIZE13.3in•SCREENRESOLUTION1,920x1,080•GRAPHICS
  ADAP TORNvidiaGeForceMX150•TOTALSTORAGE256G BSSD•OPER ATINGSYSTEM
  Windows 10Home•PARTSANDLABOURWARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.hp.com•
  PARTNUMBERah0001na•FULLREVIEWSep2019

The Aspireɝist he

epitomeof the

sensible mid-range

laptop .It’s not ultra-stylish

and it doesn’t have a

professional-quality

display, but forthe

price it offers reliable performance in a

variety of workloads, and it will lastafull da yonb attery power

without much trouble.

PROCESSORQuad-core1.6GHzIntelCorei5-8250U•RAM8GB•DIMENSI ONS382x263x21mm•

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

256G BSSD•OPER ATINGSYSTEMWindows 10Home•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•

DETAILSwww.acer.com•PARTCO DEA515-51-50YS•FULLREVIEWOct2018

HUAWEIMateBook14

★★★★★

£1,500•consumer.huawei.com

The Mateook ̋4

is the biggest and

best of Huawei’s

2Ҋ̋˰ ultraportables. Like the more

expensive MateookŮPro,it

can be equipped with a

Core iͶ processor,but an

airier chassis means that

performance isn’t compromisedto prevent heat build-up.Other

highlights include long battery lifeand Nvidia’s updated MŮ2ɝҊ GPU.

PROCESSORQuad-core1.8GHzIntelCorei7 -8565U•RAM16GB•DIMENSI ONS308x 224x15.9mm

• WEIGHT1.5kg•SCREENSIZE14in•SCREENRESOLUTION2,160x1,440•GRAPHICSADAPTOR
  NvidiaGeForceMX250•TOTALSTORAGE512GBSSD•OPER ATINGSYSTEMWindows 10Home•
  PARTSANDLABOURWARRANTYTwoyearsRTB•DETAILSconsum er.hua wei.com•PARTCO DE
  KLV-W29•FULLREVIEWJun2019

ASUSROGStrixScarIII

★★★★★

£2,599•www.amzn.to/2Mxdeoy

The ROGStrix Scar III

compromises nothing

in its pursuitof

top-quality portable gaming.

While this meansahigh price,

it also meansa24ҊHz display,

an incredibly powerful Core i˰

processor and Nvidia’s high-end

RTŮ2ҊͶҊ GPU. Despitenot beingatrue thin-and-light

gaming laptop,it’s not tooheavy and unwieldy,either.

PROCESSOROcta -core2.3GHzIntelCorei9-9980H•RAM32GB•DIMENSI ONS360x275x24.9mm

• WEIGHT2.57kg•SCREENSIZE15.6in•SCREENRESOLUTION1,920x1,080•GRAPHICS
  ADAP TOR8GBNvidiaGeForceRTX2070•TOTALSTORAGE1TBSSD•OPER ATINGSYSTEM
  Windows 10Home•PARTSANDLABOURWARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.asus.com


• PARTCO DEG531 GW-AZ055R•FULLREVIEWOct2019

ACERAspire5

★★★★★

£598•www.amzn.to/2MS5lqc

pire ɝist he

eoft he

mid-range

ish

rformance in a

2MS5lqc

m

ook ̋4

and

ei’s

more

eat

ables

ost

ҊҊ.

ixScarIII

deoy

trixS car III

es nothing

of

ce,

ay,

i˰

-end

beingatrue thin-and-light

heavy andu nwieldy,either.