LETTERS
6 NOVEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 381
Letters
Ourmegalaptoptestof24modelswashuge,but nothugeenoughfor some.
Andwewon’t have spacefor anymoreifwelaunchthe BAcock-upssection
[email protected]
Sizematters
Iaminthe market fora
new laptop,sowhen I
saw your issue (Shopper379)
proclaiming the testing of
24 laptops, Ibought it with
great enthusiasm.
Being an OAP, Iam
not in the market fora
gaming machine,but
neither am Iastudent on atight budget.
Iamyour ‘average’consumer,looking
forasub-£1k clamshell-style with good
specs forthe price.
Reading your reviews, Iread all the
technical data but found one important
feature missing, namely the size of the
screen. Ibecame very excited when Iread
the review of the HP Envy 13, but once again
that important measurement was missing.
It was not until Iturned to the table at
the end of your review that Idiscovered
that it only had a13.3in screen, not the
15.6in Iwas looking for.
What aletdown.
Youcould argue that the
clue was in the name,but the
figures in the name of aPC
can be misleading. Idon’t find
it very helpful comparing
such varying types of
machines –2-in-1s,
clamshell, convertibles
–and prices from £250 to over £2,000.
It’s like trying to compare chalk with cheese.
VictorHunt
Ourannuallaptops grouptest covers as
wide arange of machines as possible to suit
every type of user,from those looking fora
basic budget device to those needing extra
grunt forparticular heavy-duty tasks, to those
just wanting the best-looking model. We then
divide those 24 models intogroups, to make it
easier to locatethe relevant devices if you
have aspecific need.
We include all the specs in the table at the
end rather than in the individual reviews to
make it easier to compare each group of
laptops. Hopefully,the table helped you
identify some other suitable models with
the screen size you’re after.
Acer hearts
Your group test of the latest laptops
was very welcome,particularly as Iam
one of those readers looking to buy anew
everydayWindows 10 laptop before the
expiry of Windows 7inJanuary.However,I
was surprised you didn’t include the Acer
Aspire 5, which you regularly recommend in
your ‘Best Buys’ pages.
Iwas looking forward to acomparative
review of the most recent model of this
machine in the Value range.Iknow you
included the Acer Nitro 5, but it’s primarily a
gamingmachineforthoseonalowerbudget.
Would you consider reviewing the Aspire 5
again soon, even separately?
Star letter
Guilty as charged
Much as I, and Iamsure other
readers, appreciateyour mobile
phone reviews, there is frequently,
probably invariably,one glaring
omission from both the text and the
specification box.
Forexample,inShopper380, you review
two expensive phones: the OnePlus 7and
the Sony Xperia 1. In neither case do you
point out that these flagship phones lack
wireless charging.
As farasIamconcerned, that is an
Achilles heel forboth. Isuspect the
same foranyone else who has become
used to putting their phone down on a
charging stand as soon as theyget to
the office or return home.Therefore,
however good or bad, theywould simply
not get intoashort list.
If asmartphone fails abasic
convenience test, who cares about
Geekbench scores, colour gamut or
other esoterica? Even Apple,albeit late
in the day, as with NFC, has realised that
wireless charging is abasic function.
JohnTanzer
Wireless charging is indeed an important
feature formany,although it’s still not nearly
as common as old-fashioned wired charging.
Hopefully this will change as manufacturers
simplify things by supporting different charging
standards, as Samsung does, and also start
including charging pads in the box rather than
making them an additional expense.
❱❱Write in and win
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⬆Sony’s Xperia 1: great, but no wireless charging
