Buyer's Guide: Laptops - DigitalVersus

Buyer's Guides

Buyer's Guide: Laptops

Excellent growth that has really taken off in the last few years has left laptop computers outselling desktops. You can now find a whole range of laptops, and an equally wide spread of prices. But which one is the best for you?

Fabien Pionneau
Published: December 10, 2009

Thinner, Lighter

Apple's Macbook Air started the trend: laptop manufacturers are now racing to produce computers that are as thin and light as possible.

What can you expect from one of these slimline models? Right now, most of them rely on Intel's CULV platform, or, more rarely, AMD's Puma system. Their ultra low voltage CPUs require very little energy and produce little excess heat. As a result, the battery life is longer and less space is taken up by cooling equipment.

These laptops are powerful enough for office use or surfing the web, but you quickly reach their limits when it comes to more taxing work like photo and video editing or video games. That said, we still think they represent the future of laptop computers. What we really want to see is truly portable computers, with decent displays, comfortable keyboards and solid battery life--and above all, better performance than a netbook.

Which laptop is right for you? You can read all of our tests in our two dedicated articles: one for notebooks and one for netbooks. Alternatively, you can get straight to business, by looking at our selection of the best devices at the moment.

You can find all sorts of laptops online and in stores. From ultra-portable, lightweight models for under £300, to super powerful multimedia machines that can rival the performance of a desktop computer. We've divided our selection into four categories to help you choose:

10'' to 12''	Everyday Laptops

Small but powerful	Multimedia & Gaming

Developments in 2009

For Windows users, the biggest change this year was undoubtedly the arrival of Windows 7 in October, replacing Vista. The latest version of Microsoft's OS is more stable and has benefited from plenty of optimisation: in short, it's a real improvement. One example of this new simple approach is that you can avoid installing a lot of drivers. Being able to turn your computer on for the first time and have it work perfectly from the start is one of Apple's strengths, but it's something that Seven brings to Windows laptops. The new OS is gradually taking over, even on netbooks which will soon leave XP behind.

It's up to you to choose between a Mac and a PC though. It's clear that entry-level PCs start much cheaper, though, with a wider range of options. Netbooks can cost as little £250, and some 15'' laptops are less than £500. Apple's range of laptops starts at around the £1000 mark, but the excellent manufacturing, quality components and Mac OS X software mean they're computers that aren't likely to go out of fashion soon.

On both sides of the divide, things are progressing in the same direction. Battery life keeps getting longer, for instance. A mid-range general-purpose laptop like the Dell Studio 15 lasts 2 hours 30 minutes, but plenty of computers we've tested go beyond 5 hours. It's an important criterion that we measure and include in every test. There are also improvements in 3D and HD video, with real graphics hardware inside--even for netbooks!

Our Favourites:

10" to 12'': netbooks and mini laptops

For a while, netbooks--small, cheap laptops with tiny screens--battled it out with ultra-portable notebooks. Those days are over, though, and the two segments have merged to produce a range of laptops with 10''-12'' screens weighing around 1.5 kg and costing anywhere from £249 to £500. Their main role is for doing everyday office work: there's no need for a powerful graphics card or the latest processor, but we do look for excellent design and the longest battery life to make up for the other gaps on these small laptops. However, it's worth noting that those that include an Intel Atom CPU are around five times more powerful than those that rely on an Intel Core 2 Duo, so don't expect too much from the latter ...

Under £250
Just what we want in a netbook: comfortable to use and long-lasting battery life

Samsung N130

STORES	£
Ebuyer	229.12
Misco UK	244.39
OYYY	253.66



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The Samsung NC10 was a huge success. Its miniscule touchpad made it hard to use, but that didn't stop it becoming a best-seller (we suggest you try it with a mouse if you have one). The new N130, though, corrects that problem and has the same strengths as its predecessor without being any more expensive. It did lose around 30 minutes of battery life along the way, though.

If you still want a larger touchpad and better battery life, try the N140, which is a little more expensive.

HD video, 3D and a 11.6'' screen
A sign of things to come in 2010: bigger, easier to handle and with HD

HP Compaq Mini 311C

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This is the second netbook to feature the NVIDIA ION graphics chipset and we only finished testing it last month. Despite not scoring as highly as the Samsung N510, we still recommend it here as it costs £150 less based on the RRP, and around £100 less online, which is still a considerable saving for comparable performance. The main advantage of the N510 is a more comfortable design and a matte screen.

With both laptops though, what we're interested in is the ION chip, which improves gaming performance, faultlessly decodes HD video that leaves other notebooks spluttering and speeds up other tasks like video rendering and photo editing.

Small but powerful: easy to use but still thin and light

Just because you demand a large screen on a laptop you use every day doing mean you want to carry a dead weight around with you. Keeping in line with current trends (see inset), these two laptops are stylish alternatives: thinner, lighter and more attractive than more traditional models. Impressive materials are often involved, including aluminium and magnesium.

PC: an ultra-professional ultra-portable
A 12'' matte display in a magneisum frame

Toshiba R600-12N

STORES	£
Technoworld.com	1612.32
Ebuyer	1619.57
OYYY	1684.94



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With a lightweight magnesium shell, a fast SDD hard drive and dual-core CPU, the Toshiba R600 is a treat to use on the go. While plenty of laptops do without, the R600 still includes a DVD burner. We tested the R600-12N, but less fully-featured versions are also available, so make sure you pick the right one.

The professional look and feel also applies to the price, so you might prefer the less expensive Samsung X360, which is slightly larger with a 13.3'' but weights under 1.3 kg.

Mac: small and stylish
A Mac for under £1000

Apple MacBook 13''

STORES	£
Ebuyer	975.25





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This is a very stylish laptop, but it's the battery life that impressed the most, along with its huge trackpad and the improvements in 3D graphics.

The price--which is higher than a similar entry-level PC--puts it out of many people's reach though, and the limited hardware and 13'' screen are less impressive. The display makes for a small, portable laptop, but that doesn't make it ideal for everyday use.

Everyday Laptops

When you have a screen that stretches from 14'' to 17'', your laptop needs to be able to do any task you throw at it. In this range, we're looking for a good compromise between value and performance. That explains the arrival of dual- or quad-core CPUs, at least 4 GB of RAM, larger hard drives but above all dedicated graphics cards that can handle 3D games and HD video.

If mobility is important, you should stay in the 14''-15'' range, while 16''-17'' laptops (which weigh in at around 3.5 kg) are mores suited to users who don't need to move their laptop around too much.

PC: an all-rounder for a friendly price
Lots of customisation on a 15.6'' screen and a quand-core on the inside

Dell Studio 15

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This laptop is the very model of a traditional laptop. There's nothing wrong with that, because this is a well-rounded computer that's suitable for a wide range of tasks: photo editing, video, gaming, and, of course, surfing and office work are all fine.

You get your money's worth with Intel's latest generation processor, a dedicated graphics accord and a good quality build.

And as it's from Dell, you can customise the laptop with your own choice of components including a better display or a heftier battery.

Mac: more stylish, more features, but also more expensive
This slab of aluminium won us over

Apple MacBook Pro 15''

STORES	£
AJ Electronics Ltd.	1275.00





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The 15'' MacBook Pro is a real success: it's powerful, with excellent all-round features and an impeccable finish. It's expensive, but the quality on offer is better than its direct competitors. The connectivity options aren't particularly diverse, though, and we don't like the glossy screen. That said, it's still better than the displays on the majority of current laptops.

A big scren wherever you are
A 17.3'' screen leaves room for a numeric keypad

Dell Studio 17

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With a large screen and a keyboard that's large enough to include a numeric keypad, working with the Dell Studio 17 is a real pleasure. It's recently been updated, with a leap in performance, mostly thanks to the Intel Core i7 CPU.

You do have to make some compromises on mobility, though, as at 3.5 kg you don't necessarily want to be carrying it around with you all day. Still, it's a very good laptop, suitable for a wide range of tasks and provides an experience that's not too far removed from a desktop computer.

The four basic versions offered by Dell have recently changed to include new graphics cards from ATI's series 4. This kind of performance at this price is excellent value for money.

Multimedia & Gaming

With screens measuring up to 20'', these multimedia laptops can easily replace a desktop computer, clearing out a lot of cables and the main part of the computer, which isn't always a very aesthetic addition to your front room. Despite weighing almost 5 kg, you can still move these computers from one room to another more easily than a traditional computer.

An alternative comes in the form of 'gaming' laptops, entirely dedicated to video games. The target market is gamers who want access to their favourite titles wherever they are. Often with top-quality hardware, you can say goodbye to portability and battery life and welcome a much higher price tag in their place. Unfortunately, these laptops depreciate very quickly because they're aimed at a segment that demands ever-more powerful graphics performance.

A transportable multimedia computer
A Full HD 18.4'' screen to make the most of Blu-ray

HP HDX18

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This transportable laptop from HP is perfect for video thanks to its 18.4'' screen, Blu-ray player and built-in TV tuner. Unusually for a laptop, it also includes quality speakers.

We were, however, disappointed by HP's choice of glossy components as well as the disappointing display and touchpad. Everything else is absolutely fine and it's more than capable of doing anything you ask of it.

It isn't afraid of video games, though you may well prefer the Asus W90VP if you're a real gaming nut (with deep pockets …)

Gaming without (too many) concessions
Crank up the framerate on a 17'' Full HD screen

MSI GT729

STORES	£
Ebuyer	1401.25





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The MSI GT729 is almost identical to the MSI GT725 that we tested. Both include a CPU and graphics card that are capable of running the latest games at native resolution with plenty of detail. Gaming on these machines is great fun.