How to choose a laptop is not an easy task, in addition to the number of manufacturers that we find in the market, we also have to add everything we need to know about them, both in hardware and in design and performance. That is why we offer this small article in which we will learn the keys to choosing a good laptop.
Prepared? In this tutorial, we will explain step by step how to select the best laptop according to our needs.
If we must highlight something from the laptops of the current era, it is the overwhelming power that it can offer us, especially the Best laptop for adobe illustrator. Computers with truly fast processors and graphics cards that offer almost desktop-like performance. Of course, the price has also risen compared to those of other years, placing us in astronomical figures and exceeding 2000 even 3000 euros.
How to Choose a Laptop: What are you Going to Use it for?
It may seem silly, but it is something basic that we must ask ourselves before buying a team. It will depend on spending the salary of half a year or paying only 500 euros. Let’s see the use that we can give to a laptop and more or less where we can move in terms of characteristics:
- Gaming: we will need a laptop with a dedicated graphics card, and at least 16 GB of RAM along with a Core i5 or i7 processor. Here we distinguish between Nvidia GTX cards of the previous generation, with considerably cheaper prices, and new generation RTX cards with more expensive equipment, but with performance almost on par with a desktop computer. Not important size or weight, what counts is gross performance and efficient cooling.
- Office automation and studies: here we are going to need a medium-sized laptop, with a 15 or 17-inch screen and, if possible, an ultrabook for better manageability. Ideally, it should have good autonomy and normal hardware, Core i3 or i5, and without the need for dedicated graphics.
- Design and CAD: we are also going to possibly need a dedicated graphics card, and unless we need ray tracing, we can opt for one of the previous generations, for example, GTX 1050 Ti or 1060. A good screen, yes, 15 or 17 inches with good calibration and color. It would not be a bad idea if it included Thunderbolt 3.
- Multimedia: we do not need a powerful team for these tasks. Something cheap, with ample storage, if possible hybrid with SSD + HDD of 1 TB and integrated graphics that will be able to reproduce content at any resolution.
- Travel: portability is the key here. An ultrabook with a 15 or 13-inch screen will be more than enough. Aluminum for good durability and a battery of great autonomy with the help of a little powerful hardware and little consumption.
Everything will depend in part on the taste of each user and what they want to spend, but with these basic notions, we can have suitable equipment for different needs.
Basic Hardware Performance or Autonomy
The basic hardware of a laptop includes the processor, RAM, storage, and graphics card, which we will discuss in a different section, as well as storage. For the most advanced and gamers, we can also take into account the chipset and the hardware expansion capacity of the motherboard.
Intel or AMD
The truth is that here where we have more possibilities is in Intel, there are many more laptops that mount Intel CPUs than AMD, especially gaming laptops like AORUS. The star processors are the Intel Core in its different versions, which we can also clearly identify for what use they are oriented:
- Intel Core i3 8130 and variants – Ideal for multimedia, office, and travel laptops. With an interesting power and very low consumption, they will be able to perform all kinds of undemanding tasks.
- Intel Core i5-8250 and variants: it is a somewhat more powerful processor in multitasking, especially, and that some low-end gaming equipment mounts it. That we want something a little more bearing is a very smart option to buy an i5.
- Intel Core i7-8750 and i9-8950 and variants: These processors have 6 cores and some of them are overclocking. They are mounted on high-end gaming equipment and design laptops. Do not expect great autonomies, because here raw power prevails.
- AMD Ryzen 3, 5, 7: The same can be said of laptops that incorporate Ryzen as a processing core. They are the minority, but the Ryzen 3, 5, and 7, with up to 6 cores, are from the lowest to the highest power.
We do not recommend buying a laptop with Intel Celeron, Intel from the Y or M family, because they offer us very low performance compared to the Core. Although they will be recommended for users who want something very basic and with very low consumption.
RAM
The situation is similar to the previous one, although easier to summarize and understand. The more RAM we have, the more programs we can run simultaneously. Windows can consume up to 4 GB if it has memory to spare, and more if we start opening applications.
That is why we recommend an amount of memory equal to or greater than 8 GB, and of course, it will have to be DDR4, which is the one that has been installed for a few years now. The favorite speed will be 2666 MHz, installed in most mid and high-end laptops.
But most important of all is that the motherboard has the capacity to expand this memory. So, when buying a laptop, even if it only has 4 GB of RAM, we are going to find that it has two SO-DIMM slots inside and that its specification makes it clear that the memory is expandable.
Graphics Card
Virtually all notebooks have integrated graphics inside, specifically inside the CPU. In addition, they are very valid for most tasks such as browsing, watching 4K content or even graphic design.
But if we want to play games, we want to render videos or work in CAD / CAM design, it is best to have a dedicated graphics card, yes, as it happens with desktop computers.
Lower-end gaming systems or workstations of the previous generation have Nvidia GTX 1050 while mid-range models have GTX 1050 Ti or GTX 1060, and high-end models have GTX 1070 or 1080. They are very powerful cards in Max-Q design (ultra-thin) highly recommended to play and design, and they are also cheaper equipment than those that come with the new generation cards.
Thus we come to the new generation gaming laptops, inside we have Nvidia RTX 2060, 2070, and 2080 Max-Q with ray tracing capacity, much more processing capacity, and giving a performance of 70% compared to desktop models, but consuming only a third. They are very expensive but very powerful equipment. Soon we will also have laptops with Nvidia GTX 1660, 1660 Ti, and even 1650, which are also next-generation mid-range graphics.
