How to choose a laptop by parameters. Common mistakes when choosing laptops

Modernity does not cease to pamper a person with a variety of technological innovations. The rapid passage of time makes us become more mobile and in any difficult situation to have at hand a reliable technical tool with which you can quickly influence the course of events. Oddly enough, it would seem, a simple question: “How to choose a laptop?” Is actually a very complicated one.

Because the final result should meet expectations. In other words, paying tribute to one or another modification of the device, the buyer should take into account the harmonious combination of many factors. Indeed, the realities of the present are literally saturated with the convincing facts eloquently proving: people buy not at all what they need, often unjustifiably relying on the wrong “horse”.

How to choose a laptop?

So, to all those who want to thoroughly understand such an important question: “Which laptop to choose?” - is dedicated to ...

A few words of farewell

The article is intended to free the reader from the yoke of commercial temptations, and also helps to avoid common mistakes when buying a laptop. Available recommendations are simple and easy to use. For those who are poorly versed in the technical terms of the IT industry, this article will become a kind of revelation. And if the information presented does not make each reader an expert, then it will certainly contribute to the right choice.

The subject of desire - a laptop

Suppose you still realized that the unlimitedness of our desires and the exacting circumstances of the present appeal to a trustworthy, and most importantly, an effective assistant. A stationary computer cannot satisfy the needs of today's time, since such devices are devoid of compactness and autonomy. As a result, the question “how to choose a laptop?” In its decision should first of all meet the requirements of the highest comfort.

Of course, the quality of the product is fundamental to the continued use of the purchased device. The universally known name (brand), “authoritatively” placed on the panel of a portable PC, does not always correspond to the truth of polyphonic advertising: “Our products are exactly what you need!”

Cunning marketing tricks sometimes simply neutralize consumer freedom of choice ... Exclusively for the above reason, even advanced users will find themselves in the position of a “fairy hero”, allegorically seeing the cornerstone - the problem of “what parameters to choose a laptop for?”

A few words about the subject of conversation

Of course, a compactly implemented electronic machine is still the same computer, although somewhat transformed. The fact is that miniature requires some “technical sacrifice”. A striking example of this is netbooks. For the sake of small size, the device lacks an optical device for reading and writing information (CD / DVD drive). However, the main problem with compact gadgets is the effectiveness of cooling systems. After all, the “power” of the laptop is due precisely to the internal electronic filling, and the processor is accompanied by considerable heat dissipation. By the way, a good gaming laptop is also equipped with a powerful video card, the performance of which also depends on the productivity of the implemented cooling scheme.

The brightness level of the screen, the operation of resource-intensive programs and the number of simultaneously used communication modules directly affect the consumption of electricity. Since a portable device is, by definition, a mobile computer, a rechargeable battery is a laptop’s autonomous performance. It is the manufacturability of the battery, its capacity and energy efficiency of the system components that determine the duration of the "life" of a portable device. Further - everything is much simpler.

How to choose a laptop: no error

In order to indicate a guideline of their preferences, the consumer should pay attention to a number of important issues.

For what purposes is a laptop purchased?
In what mode will it be used?
How much money is the buyer willing to spend?

These are probably the most important criteria for optimal selection. However, a significant addition to all of the above will be a series of recommendations that will help the reader more clearly outline the boundaries of his “want” and real need.

Laptop Classification

Notebook manufacturers offer a fairly wide range of products. As a rule, the lineup of laptops is divided into several main classes:

Office
Multimedia.
Gaming.
Professional.

Each branch of the classification has its own distinguishing features. The final level of productivity and operational comfort lies in the features of the configuration. Various configurations of laptop PCs and determine the scope of their application, and are also the basis for the user at the moment when you need to choose a laptop by parameters.

Electronic beauty

The design of the device is probably the first thing anyone who decides to buy a laptop is faced with. However, not every laptop that catches the eye of many is gold that glitters. Before blindly believing that the subject of your customer “lust” is the very thing that will serve you faithfully, think carefully. Know: impulsiveness at the moment of practical choice is your worst enemy.

The housing of budget laptops is usually made of plastic: hard or soft. Relatively cheap manufacturing technology, as a rule, sins with natural consequences: brittle - cracks, soft - scratches.

The middle price segment is a higher-quality plastic of various complexity. For example, multilayer spraying allows you to keep the color or texture of the surface of the laptop for a long time almost unchanged.

Professional models are primarily reliable devices. Therefore, in search of an answer to the question: “How to choose a laptop?” It should be borne in mind that business-class portable devices have “titanic” housing properties.

Competing manufacturing companies are quite inventive. The originality of the design and ergonomics of manufactured laptops today is truly unpredictable. So even an office laptop may well look like an extra-class device.

First recommendation: body mechanics

The structural part of the top cover interacts with the main part through special mechanisms, which, in general, is understandable. Nevertheless, quite often there are models in which the angle of the display part of the case is strictly 45 °, and this, as practice shows, is not too good. By the way, the flexibility of the lid must have a certain degree of stiffness, and at the same time it should open without much effort with one hand.

Display

Agree, the video on the big screen looks much more spectacular than on the small one. However, the choice of a suitable display resolution and the manufacturability of its execution depends solely on the needs of the user.If you are a photographer and do not know how to choose a laptop for work, then this paragraph should be studied thoroughly, since visual perception is the main meaning of your profession. However, the rest of the group of readers will also not be left without attention. Indeed, a lot depends on the type of screen ...

IPS-matrix is the most acceptable option for almost any solution. However, the “affordable” portable PC equipped with such a display cannot have the characteristic. Perhaps in the near future, the budget class of portable electronics can boast of fantastic realistic images.

The TN-matrix is a reasonable compromise between the quality and favorable visual sensations. Web surfing, text editing, watching videos and using many other options - this is a competent choice for both beginners and advanced users.

Which laptop to choose for games? This is a multi-stakeholder issue. However, the size and resolution of the screen, as well as the mass of visualization parameters associated with them, nevertheless have some kind of objective preference scheme.

The higher the screen resolution, the better!

The 16:10 aspect ratio is most preferable for Internet surfing, working with office applications and graphic editors.

The best game option is a vector score of 16: 9. By the way, for watching high-resolution video, this aspect ratio is more than acceptable.

The diagonal of the display, in fact, is not a critical indicator of the "omnipotence" of a compact PC, but, nevertheless, qualitatively affects the perception of the information displayed on the screen as a whole: whether it is video, a game or viewing and editing graphic content. If a peculiar dilemma has arisen before you: “Laptop or tablet, what to choose?” - then preference should be given to the device closest to your lifestyle.

Indeed, for reading electronic books, viewing correspondence and launching non-resource-intensive games, a miniature gadget is enough. It is worth noting that today on the market of mobile devices some computing devices of a hybrid type have appeared, in which two representatives of portable equipment “harmoniously” coexist: a tablet and a laptop. However, the functionality of one depends on the capabilities of the "partner".

Second block of recommendations: light and shadow

Perhaps, the dear reader has heard or read that the matrix may have dead pixels. The mentioned term is quite simple in explanation - this is when the display point does not change its color even when the dynamics of the image require it. For this reason alone, it is worth paying attention to the quality of the displayed image.

An elementary launch of the color palette diagnostics will help you identify defects in the spectrum of colors. It would be useful to provide for a “light” sphere of use of a laptop, if an essential condition for future use is present - bright sunlight. Most likely, a portable PC with a matte display surface is suitable for you.

By the way, sometimes it is worth paying attention to the acceptability of the viewing angle. You must admit that not everyone will like it if a person nearby is unceremoniously looking at the photos you are viewing or unobstructedly reading the confidential information displayed on the screen of your laptop.

CPU

In order to choose a laptop by parameters, you need to be aware of the boundaries of what you want. In other words, to understand the main purpose of acquiring the device and be firmly convinced that the installed central processor has the necessary computing resources to solve future problems.

Two solutions

Well-known leaders in the design and manufacture of CPUs are Intel and AMD.For those who do not keep pace with the development of the IT industry in the field of high technologies, it must be understood that, despite the identity of the aspirations, Intel Corporation is somewhat more successful in the above area. However, Advanced Micro Devices offers its customers more affordable prices for their products. And if you have a problem: “Which laptop to choose for study?”, American AMD can offer you a good budget class option.

Now in order:

To solve office problems, any 2-core processor, the clock frequency of which will not exceed 2,000 MHz, is suitable.

Resource-intensive programs will require four or more cores, and 2,500 MHz will be exactly the indicator that will allow the user to effectively "deal" with the inexorable onslaught of an endless pressure of data.

Do not forget about the ultrafast microprocessor memory. The larger the cache, the faster the processing of data.

The newer the socket type, the higher the bus frequency, the speed of data exchange with the system board depends on this.

Well, the last reasoned argument in favor of a productive solution to the question “how to choose a processor for a laptop?” Is the software of the future and the processor core intel i3 - a promising tandem of “understanding” between the software product of the relative future and the ability of the installed processor in the present. Average price and great features ... the choice is yours!

Hearty recommendations for future performance

Of course, for those who consider themselves to be a confident user, this article is not what “the inquiring mind of an expert was looking for,” but you, dear reader, should take into account that the capabilities of a computer do not always correspond to their intended purpose. Why does the student need enormous resources of an 8-core CPU, or who said that to play Warcraft, you need to enlist the support of a 3.2 MHz processor?

If the buyer expects a long period of use of the equipment, then it is necessary to anticipate such a moment as the uncontrollable "evolution" of software ... In this case, it will not be superfluous to have a new CPU on the portable device - Intel i7. After all, upgrading the hardware of a laptop is fraught with a lot of inconvenience, since in most cases it requires the intervention of a specialist.

RAM: the shortest excursion for the uninitiated

The solution to the question: "How to choose a laptop for home?" Should be based, first of all, on forethought. Indeed, in the future, a portable device can become an assistant to each family member or will certainly be used versatile. Therefore, the "safety margin" of the RAM of the computer must be appropriate.

A simple example. There are minor children in the family - they will download resource-intensive games, a small child will want to watch cartoons, the wife is not averse to talking with her friend via Skype, and her husband cannot live without online football broadcasts. As you know, RAM should cope with all this so that the laptop does not slow down or hang. To date, laptop computers are equipped with four gigabyte memory slots, which, in general, is the configuration standard for a modern computer.

However, the user always has the opportunity to independently expand the amount of RAM. In order to add additional “gigabytes of efficiency”, you need to know what type of memory is used in your device and whether the operating system is able to work with the established potential for high-speed capabilities.

Graphic Reliability

A good gaming laptop is always equipped with a powerful graphics card. Modern shooters, rpg or simulators are quite voracious applications. And if the user expects to get the most out of virtual battles, then the graphics chip is simply obliged to meet the requirements of today's gaming industry.

As a rule, the average level of a gaming laptop involves the use of a one-gigabyte graphics module. Representatives of the lineup have two gigabytes of video memory, and even more. Of course, the nominal amount of the video chip is not the only parameter of the productive ability of a compact computer.If you want to get a quality solution to the question: "Which laptop to choose for games?" - then you should be guided by a few more concepts:

The width of the memory bus is measured in bits and is one of the important speed indicators of the video capability of a graphics adapter.

Texture fill rate is, so to speak, the meaning of the realism of visual perception. The unit of effectiveness of the image displayed on the screen, that is, a parameter that determines the number of displayed pixels per second of time.

The discreteness of the video card allows us to expect a forced modernization in the future, since the integrated graphics chips are practically devoid of the possibility of replacement.

The type of video memory also affects the efficiency and speed of the graphics played by the laptop.

Iron Data Security: Notebook SSD

How to choose a hard drive, and what type of drives should you prefer? A rather serious question. After all, the user should count on the fact that his data will be safely stored, and the favorableness of the work will be expressed in the high-speed ability of the installed disk - information storage.

SSDs are incredibly efficient and less volatile than their mechanical cousins. However, due to a significant difference in price and a minimized indicator of the nominal volume, HDD technologies often lose.

SSD for laptop: how to choose?

However, some laptop modifications can accommodate two types of drives. For example, SSD - 256 GB for the operating system and 1 TB HDD for data storage today is the best option for those who appreciate speed and relative unlimited storage of information arrays.

It is worth noting that for most buyers who asked the question: “How to choose a laptop for a student?” The most acceptable configuration is taking into account the SSD-drive. Because the mobile lifestyle of young people is extremely dependent on the favorable conditions of autonomy and the speed of data processing.

Laptop communication features

The number of connectors for the periphery can be completely different. The budget class of laptops is necessarily equipped with several USB ports, and may also have COM and VGA connectors. In a word, there are a lot of configurations. However, you should consider the optimal scheme of communication connectors, which, in principle, is not difficult to do.

Laptop internet

How to choose the most suitable model from the variety? Simple enough! The main thing is the presence of a network card. It is desirable that the device has at least one wireless module: Wi-Fi or Bluetouch.

Multimedia

To watch high-quality video on a large screen, the laptop must be equipped with an HDMI connector. For lower resolution, S-Video, DVI port can be used.

Extended capabilities

If it is necessary to use external drives, the user can count on a comfortable connection via the e-Sata connector. The presence of a built-in card reader will also be an absolute plus, since today almost all portable devices use memory cards of various formats.

“Non-volatility” laptop

The most important advantage of portable equipment, of course, is autonomy. The duration of the device when the external power source is not available depends on the type and nominal capacity of the battery. The cost of a laptop often depends on the manufacturability of the applied energy-saving scheme.

The compactness of the device and the duration of autonomous operation are two warring camps of the general “usability of war”. The resolution of the screen and its diagonal are the main consumers of the life-giving energy of the battery. However, the operation of the mechanical type of drives, the autonomous use of an optical drive and the number of simultaneously involved programs - all this inexorably leads to a loss of energy.The only effective way to maintain "electrical independence" is to lower the brightness of the display, turn off background applications and, of course, provide for a comfortable transition to an additional stand-alone power source.

Practical accessory and alternative energy source

Question: “How to choose a bag for a laptop?” - directly related to the above paragraph. Indeed, the working potential of the battery depends on the ambient temperature. Transporting a laptop in winter in a shopping bag is a ridiculous example, however, a laptop bag without a heater is practically inferior in efficiency to nothing. Although it saves from reprehensible chuckles from the side. The capacity of the accessory should be governed by the size of the portable device.

Reliable straps, belts and tabs that protect against shock will significantly increase the chances of getting out of a crowded minibus with an intact device. It is worth noting that some bags for carrying laptops are equipped with special additional batteries, and can also be equipped with various gadgets that are capable of generating electrical energy. Therefore, it makes sense to acquire not only the aesthetic extension of your laptop, but also enlist some technological energy support.