Avoid sites with deals too good to be true, like BuyDig. Buying a refurbished model is another excellent way to save money. As soon as your laptop arrives, open the box carefully, keep all the parts and accessories, and give the computer a thorough test drive.
Wirecutter Deals editor Nathan Burrow told us that the best deals on laptops come around the holiday season, starting in November and running through Christmas. In this category, we just wanted to find usable laptops. To figure out which components had the greatest impact on general use, we first tested three Windows laptops:. We used each of these configurations for a full day of work, with four to five applications open at once alongside a browser with 10 to 15 tabs. In these tests, we found that flash storage was the most important component, followed by a decent processor, with 4 GB of memory being the best compromise to make if you need to.
More memory still feels much better to use and will run Windows well for years to come. Then we tested the Windows laptops and Chromebooks that met our criteria by using each for at least a day of ordinary work and video calls to get a feel for their performance, screens, keyboards, and trackpads. For Chromebooks, we had at least 20 browser tabs open, including Google Docs, Google Sheets, streaming music, Slack, and a variety of other sites.
For Windows, we had five to 10 tabs open at a time, as well as the Spotify and Slack applications. We also tested the laptops by opening large Excel spreadsheets, page Word documents, and page PDF files. Although previous-generation processors will likely feel just as fast—and we recommend them if you find a good laptop that uses one—stock of such laptops is even iffier than for current-generation models.
The Acer Aspire 5 AA3 is fast enough, but it has an awful TN screen that looks harsh and has poor viewing angles. Its keyboard also feels stiff and cheap. The Gateway Similar to the Gateway, the HP Laptop 15z-ef is fast enough but also has a bad screen and poor build quality. Its keyboard and trackpad also feel unpleasant and make a rattling noise when used.
It also has poor build quality and terrible speakers. The Dell Inspiron 14 and Dell Inspiron 15 were previously picks, but Dell has since discontinued both models. If you find them at another retailer, both are still solid options.
We tested a Zoom call alongside a couple of open browser tabs, and we encountered connection dropouts and audio delays of more than 30 seconds, which made conversation impossible. Cale Hunt, eMMC vs. Best laptop deals for Best laptop deals chosen by Which? How to buy a second-hand or refurbished laptop Do you want to cut the cost of your next laptop?
Best laptops for students We round up the best laptops for students from our expert lab tests to help you find the very best student laptop for school, college or university life. How to speed up a laptop or computer Viruses, bloatware and your settings can all cause your computer to run slowly. Intel processors explained: What is Core i3, i5, i7 and Pentium? Which laptop brand to buy in Unique Which? Windows 11 requirements: check if your computer is compatible Use our free Windows 11 tool to see if your PC meets Windows 11 requirements.
How to free up disk space Hard drive full? Best video calling apps We've put video calling apps through security and quality tests to help you choose the best. What is LappyList? Please Read First. Disclaimer The laptops listed in each section are the best laptops available for each subject and class only in our educated opinion.
Component Descriptions The descriptions and definitions listed in the menus below are NOT just for the technologically novice or the computer illiterate. Not sure what laptop is best for your needs? Processor CPU. What is it? How much do I need? Take the Intel Core iHQ again. You can break the processor name down like so: Intel Core — Brand The Brand is pretty self explanatory. Intel Core processors are the top end of Intel processors, not to be confused with Intel Pentium or Intel Celeron lines which are lower end, respectively.
For example, in the Intel Core brand there are the i3 processors at the bottom, then the i5, then the i7 at the top. The lower the number, the older the processor, and therefore the lesser the technology. In this case, the higher the number, the more powerful the processor.
Minimal jumps in numbers are generally minimal jumps in power. H — Processor Line The processor line is incredibly important and incredibly easy to confuse! Here is a breakdown of ones you will encounter: H — H igh Performance Graphics — These processors are soldered onto the motherboard and generally more powerful graphics technology than others although not always.
M — M obile Processor — The M series processors are just the standard, removable, Intel mobile processors. Y — Extremel y low power — This is the weakest of the Intel Core processors and is also the most efficient, resulting in the best battery life. Q — Letter Suffix The letter suffix just signifies additional information about the processor. Q suggests that the processor is quad-core, so it can be assumed that if there is no Q in the name of the processor, it is not quad-core, with the exception of the X suffix, which means Extreme Edition, and that X also implies quad-core.
What about AMD? Only heavy gaming machines and workstations will utilize a quad-core i7. The best AMD mobile processors are currently comparable to the slowest Intel processors. No AMD hate, they just have no ground in the mobile market at the moment. Graphics GPU.
Dedicated vs. Integrated A dedicated GPU is a unit with its own processor and especially fast memory dedicated to graphics, while an integrated processor is a small, but dedicated section of the CPU that is designated for graphics processing, but has no dedicated memory and uses system memory.
Brands Nvidia makes the most powerful mobile graphics on the market at the moment, bar none. RAM Memory. What about the RPM? What will a faster HDD not do? It will not make everything faster. It will not improve gaming performance. Why is it better than an HDD? What is a Hybrid SSD? What about these M. What is resolution? What impact does resolution have? Is there such thing as too high of resolution?
As far as viewing angles go, the difference is substantial. TN Panel vs. IPS Panel viewing angle comparison As before mentioned, there is also a noticeable difference in color reproduction. IPS vs. TN viewing angles and color reproduction image by popculturegeek on Flickr. What does battery life really mean?
What can I do to improve battery life? Do brands matter? Kind of… Sometimes… It depends? You get what you pay for The brand on its own does not dictate the ultimate quality of the machine, and that should never be assumed.
Warranties and Support This is where brands actually do start to matter, but there are definitely some divisions here within brands as well. Be in the know Intel's main processors are the Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9.
The Core i3 is the least powerful, the Core i9 is the most powerful. We usually drop the "Core" from the name because it gets repetitive. Within each of these chip lines, Intel uses cryptic strings of numbers and letters that give you more information about that chip's capabilities and when it came out. Learning to decipher it will help you make better buying decisions. Here's Intel's guide to its model naming. Intel Core iU is how a laptop manufacturer's websites might list the type of processor.
Let's break it down. The first numbers "10" refer to the generation; in this case it's a 10th-generation chip. The iU would be a ninth-generation chip, or one that's probably a year or so older. The next two or three numbers "" are related to performance. The higher these numbers are, the more powerful the chip is. This is only true within that chip line, though. The i7 chip is always more powerful than the i5, and the difference is greater than the difference between any two chips in the same chip line.
The letter at the end of the chip name "U" in our example is Intel's designation for the chip's purpose. For laptops, the letters you'll see at the end are Y, U, and H. The only one you need to worry about are the Y series chips, which are optimized for battery life. That's good if you're frequently away from a plug for long periods of time, but that added battery life comes at the expense of some performance.
The next two numbers don't have much impact on anything. Other letter designations include U for ultra-low power. Is there a huge difference between Intel and AMD chips? My experience, testing dozens of both every year, is that … it depends. Generally speaking, an Intel i5 is indistinguishable from a Ryzen 5, outside of very specific benchmarks. They're similar when you're doing things like browsing the web or editing documents.
The same goes for the Intel i7 and Ryzen 7, and the Intel i3 and the Ryzen 3. Graphics performance is the other area you'll notice a difference. In my testing, in both benchmarks and real work use, AMD's integrated graphics tend to perform better than Intel on graphics-intensive tasks—think editing video or playing games.
Intel's most recent series of chips have closed that gap significantly, but AMD still has an edge. You may benefit from buying an AMD machine if you're a video editor or gamer, but what you most likely want is a dedicated graphics card. More on that in the GPU section below. If you're a typical user who runs a web browser, Microsoft's Office Suite, and perhaps even some photo editing software, we recommend a laptop with an Intel Core i5 eighth-generation or later processor.
If you can afford it, an Intel i7 chip makes a nice upgrade and will make your laptop feel snappier. The extra power often means shorter battery life, though, so you'll need to balance that with your needs. A gaming laptop, for instance, would use an i7 or i9 chip, but an i3 or i5 is usually fine for less demanding tasks. Likewise, for the average user the AMD Ryzen series will suffice, but the Ryzen makes a nice upgrade—again at the cost of battery life.
If you compile software, edit video, or work with very large databases you're going to want more processing power than the rest of us. I suggest an Intel i7 or Ryzen 7.
You'll also want to load up on RAM, but we'll get to that in a minute. Chrome OS is built around Google's Chrome web browser and runs most software directly in the browser. That means it doesn't need big, powerful Intel chips. That's the theory, at least.
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