Which portable system to choose and based on what criteria should one do the research to cover it with as little money as possible?
Η market is full of laptops suggestions for every need: big, small, cheap, expensive, with touch screen, extra cooling, RGB lighting and whatever you can put in your mind. The variety that you will find on the shelves of stores, however, apart from awe, also creates indecision.
Which portable system to choose and based on what criteria to do your research? Let's start by looking at everything you need to know.
Size and weight
So laptop, a portable system that you can take with you wherever you go. But is that the case? What you need to clarify before you even start looking for the laptop of your choice, is how often you will carry it with you.
It is e.g. to pick him up on a daily basis from home to the office or school and back again? You travel often with you backpack; Does your schedule include daily appointments that you need to bring your laptop with you?
If you answered "Yes»In any of the above, then it would be good to find a model relatively compact -at 13 or at most 14 inches- and weighing no more than 1,5 kg in order to make your life easier. Otherwise, you can look for something heavier at 15 inches since your movements will be more limited anyway.
Autonomy
So if you are traveling with your laptop, the last thing you want is to have to take its charger with you - extra weight, extra volume and in the end who wants to mess with wires? So the second point you need to focus on: the battery or rather the autonomy.
The system you will end up with should be as durable as possible away from an outlet. The eight hours of typical use should be your basis, although obviously the more the better. Note this "typical use" since we are talking about use with Wi-Fi enabled and a reasonable screen brightness option (as if you were working normally).
This way you will be sure that even if you have to be on the road for a whole day, your laptop will have no problem supporting you.
Features and upgradeability
One useful thing to keep in mind about your laptop is that the upgrade options are clearly more limited than a desktop. Therefore, when choosing a system, keep in mind that you are essentially "marrying" an important part of it that is either difficult to upgrade or not upgrade at all - motherboard, processor, graphics card.
Yes if you need to make some changes (see RAM or disk) you will be able to do them, but make sure twice that the "frame" of the computer will meet your needs, requirements and "wants" in the long run. Do not worry so much about the screen: although you can not change it -obviously- you will be able to adjust the viewing experience you will enjoy, as we will see a little below.
Role
Do you want a gaming laptop? Is it portable? Do you prefer a 2-in-1 and if so, with a rotating or detachable screen? Another thing you should come up with before you start your market research is the type of system you need. In short, how are you going to use your computer, what exactly do you want it for?
The answer to the above questions will determine the type of system you are looking for. For example, if you intend to "force" your system with demanding applications (eg rendering) or video games, then it would be good to be accompanied by a powerful cooling system.
If you do office work again, then a little emphasis on RAM would ensure comfortable multitasking. The more or more sophisticated what you want, of course, the higher the price of the system will be.
Peripherals & connectivity
For last we left the field of connectivity. Know that an already good laptop can "take off" with the right peripherals. Of course, to attach them to it, it must be able to support them. The doors USB-C are now necessary as they not only support top data transfer speeds but even charging on some models!
A HDMI will allow you to connect a larger screen in order to make your work even more comfortable while even if you see that the USB-A they are not enough (for connecting keyboard, mouse, disks) you can increase them with a dongle.
When it comes to wireless connectivity, all systems now come with Bluetooth while it would be good to chase the latest networking protocol (Wi-Fi 6 or 802.11ax) for the highest possible speeds.
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2 reviews
Do you often carry it back and forth? Yes, it would be good to be light, but the first thing anyone should be interested in is what job they want to do with the computer, because in the end the 500 extra grams in the backpack will not sour as much as a faulty operating machine would sour.
So: Are you going to work long hours there? Will you be dealing with office applications, maybe photo editing? We automatically forget the 13 and 14 inches. 15,6 ″ minimum. With Full HD resolution at worst. And the IPS panel should be very basic, even with basic color coverage. (if we want photo editing and we are interested in colors, panels with 99% sRGB at least…).
So no, we will not care about the weight if it is something we will work on for many hours every day. It should have a comfortable and relaxing screen.
Autonomy is important and I agree with the article. We are basically between machines with standalone graphics cards or built-in. Typically, something with a standalone graphics card will last a maximum of 5 hours. Usually around 3-4 and reaches 5 to 6 hours if it is a low power dedicated GPU like Nvidia's MX series.
Also a key feature is the processor. The new Ryzen processors offer up to 2 or 3 hours more autonomy than their Intel counterparts. In general, however, if it is a laptop with a built-in graphics card, it is not difficult to find one that will work for 7 or 8 hours.
As for connectivity… I will be honest, it does matter, but you will soon realize that unless you are using the laptop as a desktop replacement, you do not need much connectivity…
For example, you may never use an Ethernet port on a laptop. Most people do not use it… Card reader; Ba… Rare… Most laptops have USB 2.0 speeds, so those few who need it will prefer the outside.
You will realistically need:
At least 2 USB ports and at least one must be USB 3.0. One will be for mouse and the other for other peripherals τε You prefer these ports to be USB-A (full size USB).
It is good to have an HDMI port, but a small percentage of users will use it…
As for Type-C: a new world of wiring opens up… From there you can get what is missing from the existing wiring. If it supports Power Delivery, there you leave the charger at home and circulate with powerbank loosely. Very useful port, but depending on if you are missing ports on the laptop and if you will use it for charging, you will need either one or two but maybe none of them.
These more or less επαγγελμα My professional opinion is that a laptop should have a good screen, in a size that corresponds to the work we do, with a keyboard as best we can have at each price level and depending on what work we do, with the appropriate internal characteristics. Although the weight adds to the "sexy factor" when it is light, we will usually work on it at the table, so make sure it has what you need. Autonomy is directly related to whether we will play games (or run programs that need GPU resources) or not and whether we will go to an AMD machine or not. I have nothing else to add. Unfortunately the issue of webcam and speakers is a painful story and I suggest you try the machine before you get it. The microphone theme as well. A
Well done Angele (we hope we fell in the name),
Even if it is a professional and thorough answer and thank you for the effort you made to write all this ..
We hope that's all you wanted to say, and that the maximum font size set for the answers did not cut you off.
Dimitris Dagkalidis (Community Manager)