As much as Steve Jobs would like it, we do not live in the post-computer era. Laptops are still an important part of our lives - so we can work at home, in a cafe, on an airplane, in a sauna, in steam. However, manufacturing companies are constantly increasing speed, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to understand all this variety of inches, cores, frequencies and kilograms. In this regard, the highly respected hipster publication The Verge has prepared a colorful guide for choosing the right laptop for you.
We present here the Russian adaptation of this material, which is also suitable for young Russian startups. Surely some of you will find the text to be the embodiment of obviousness, but do not rush to announce your superiority over those who do not understand hardware - it is better to share your wisdom in the comments, because we must have missed something interesting and important.
The “iron” sphere changes every month, and it is difficult to make any universal choice. This article will help you find the right laptop for you. Or, at least, you will know where to poke in the preferences settings on Yandex.Market and what is a GeForce or Core i5.
How to use this guide
You can constantly drive a Toyota or buy furniture from Ikea, but you can't buy a laptop based on a brand alone. The quality varies from model to model - it doesn't matter what logo is on the lid. It is also worth paying attention to the cost, because starting from a certain price category, the quality decreases very much.
For greater objectivity, we have identified several categories of users, where you can trace some gradation - from those who only surf and read mail, to those who want to run "Crisis" at maximum speed. Instead of scrolling down and looking for yourself, try to read the whole thing - this will help you structure your knowledge about the world of laptops and understand that there is something else besides a powerful graphics card in a gaming laptop.
The conversation will mostly be about hardware, but you will have to choose an operating system as well. If you are not a red-eyed Linuxoid, then there are few options - Windows or Mac OS X. And there is no wrong choice here - Windows is well configured, Mac OS X looks nice, both have a lot of useful applications and drivers. Users from almost all of our categories can afford a Macbook, and a PC is definitely for everyone. So it's very convenient to start with the choice of OS, but this is more a matter of religious preference - in any case, you can't go wrong.
So, it is very important to understand what type of user you are.
1. I want to be a startup
Look at any laptop in the store - does it look like a quality product or like a piece of junk?
If you browse pages, write letters, sometimes fill in cells in Excel spreadsheets, then even the minimum equipment will serve you for several years. However, there are a few important things to focus on.
The trick is to find a laptop that isn't expensive, but isn't cheap either. It is very easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. Look at any laptop in the store - does it look like a quality product or like a piece of junk? Will you be able to use this keyboard and touchpad for two or three years? Material and details are less important here than build quality and design - the outside points to the inside, that is, if the manufacturer hacks from the outside, then he does it everywhere.
Intel Atom processors help cut power consumption and improve battery life on devices like the HP Envy X2. But even despite the well-known brand, these processors are not as powerful as we would like - and if you don't really need performance, then consider getting a tablet.
As for the more powerful Intel Core line, look for the letters Y and U at the end of the chip model number. These series allow you to increase performance in jerks, due to which the system heats up much less, which is very good for those laptops that are too thin for the built-in cooler. Of course, you have to sacrifice speed, but the Haswell series is on the way, which, moreover, involves a serious increase in battery life from a single charge.
Manufacturers always list the maximum possible battery life, but always count on at least 70% of what is claimed, or even less. This doesn't always work - for example, the new Macbook Air is capable of running even longer than the advertised 12 hours.
Many thin and light laptops like the Toshiba Kirabook (marketers coined the term “ultrabook”, but don’t bother yourself with all sorts of one-day neologisms) replace the usual hard drive with an SSD, which works noticeably faster, and is also assembled monolithically, that is, it is not afraid of shaking and falling . Flash memory is still quite expensive, so for the sake of speed, you will have to sacrifice volumes. But the difference is obvious - laptops with SSD start up and work much faster. In some laptops, SSD and HDD are combined - files are stored on the hard drive, and the flash drive is used as a kind of cache. In any case, you can always buy an external HDD and store "heavy" files there.
The keyboard backlight is not available on all models, but it will definitely be a serious trump card, especially if you have to work on a night plane or an evening park - who knows where your travels will take you. Since we are choosing a compact laptop here, the screen will be clearly less than 17 inches - it would be logical to look for a laptop with a video output for connecting an external monitor. An HDMI port would be a good option for Windows laptops, but Macbook owners have had the dubious pleasure of looking for accessories for a Thunderbolt/Mini DisplayPort port. Look for as versatile options as possible - when a manufacturer clings to its own standard, cables and adapters are unreasonably expensive.
Some laptop models have a mobile communication chip, but this is a rare and expensive thing. It's always easier to find a Wi-Fi point somewhere or stick to your phone as a modem, or even buy a 3G whistle.
3. I want to watch movies
Sometimes a laptop is more than just a laptop. It can serve as a digital entertainment center by combining TV, music center and media player
Sometimes a laptop is more than just a laptop. It can serve as a digital entertainment center by combining TV, music center and media player. A high resolution screen is definitely needed in this case, but not all 1080p displays are the same. Brightness is good, but try looking from different angles; check for image distortion or color inversion.
Make sure the display is bright enough to ignore the light from the lamps; soft enough not to destroy your eyes at night; that black and white don't look like yellow and grey. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a laptop that honestly displays black - and that's all you need for a good movie night. Glossy or matte screen is a matter of personal preference, glossy looks cooler, but matte will work better outdoors.
Of course, even the best laptop will sound worse than average external speakers, but some laptops definitely sound better than others. The best way to test this is to crank it up to full volume and then play a fast-paced movie trailer and a few songs from various genres. High frequencies will often give off metallic notes, and weak bass will make a stormy movie scene insipid. The built-in subwoofer is usually fine, but don't be fooled by meaningless branding: a Beats Audio sticker is by no means guaranteed to sound amazing. As a rule, the best speakers are located along or on top of the sides of the laptop and are directed towards the user.
Music collections and video collections are not getting smaller, so look for more space - 1 terabyte should be enough for a while.
In this category, you don't need to chase incredible battery life, but you should make sure that the battery does not die right in the middle of a movie that you are about to watch while sitting on the couch. In general, you will come across laptops with a run time of 3-5 hours, cool screens and speakers always take a lot of energy. There are exceptions, but they are few.
4. I want to make movies and music
Find a laptop with at least four cores
If you are seriously involved in video editing or working with sound, then you should pay attention to the speed of the processor and RAM. Find a laptop with at least four cores - for example, an Intel Core processor labeled QM (quad-core), not U (ultra-low voltage) or M (mobile). You'll want at least 8GB of RAM, and 16GB or 32GB will reduce rendering time and allow you to run Photoshop, Premiere, and GarageBand at the same time without much delay.
