Budget laptops buyer reviews: A laptop screen contains millions of tiny pixels, each lights up in different colours and in combination are used to display an image. The screen resolution is simply the total number of these pixels. The higher the number, generally, the sharper and crisper images will appear. Today, most screens come with a minimum of 1920×1080 pixels – also known as Full HD 1080p, but there are laptops available with a 4k display too. Generally, as a rule, the higher the screen resolution, the more battery power the screen will use and also the more processing power it takes to display an image. This is why you will notice a lot of laptops with 4k displays also feature a dedicated graphics card.
The parallel evolution of powerful tablets and laptops’ emphasis on touch capability haven’t just encouraged the growth of those individual categories—they’ve created one that combines them. Hybrid systems, a.k.a. 2-in-1s, are capable of functioning either as a laptop or a tablet, depending on what you need (or want) at any given moment. This gives you a lot more freedom when interacting with the device, and makes it more functional in more places. There are two types of 2-in-1. The first is the convertible-hybrid, which transforms from a laptop to tablet and back again by rotating all the way around on the display’s hinge. You can also stop at various positions along the way, if you want to stand the screen up on the keyboard like a kiosk display, or if you want to balance it on its edges, tent-style, so you can use just the touch screen in very little space. This design is best if you’re interested in a tablet, but expect to need a good keyboard with some frequency.
The Asus Vivobook E200HA is a brilliant little netbook that weighs less than a kilogram but still manages to pack all the features you could want from a budget laptop. With 12 hours of battery life in normal usage and a dinky footprint, this is the most baggable laptop we’ve ever tested. With that crazy low price and weight come performance compromises – but if you only use a few browser tabs at a time, you’ll be right at home. Since we reviewed this lovely little netbook, the price has dropped to below £200 at most retailers, although it varies week by week. Find even more details on Best Gaming Laptops.
If you’re a creative professional and want a Windows laptop that’s more powerful than an ultrabook, with a larger, higher-resolution screen and a faster graphics processor, you should get what we call a power notebook. These are ideal if you’re an audio, video, or photo editor, or if you do a lot of 3D modeling, but you still want something fairly light and portable.2 They’re pricey, though, so expect to pay upwards of $2,500. Laptops with color-accurate screens and enough power for creative professionals are expensive. Power notebooks also tend to have shorter battery life than ultrabooks, because of their larger, higher-resolution screens and power-hungrier processors. And because they’re thin and light enough to be reasonably portable, these laptops are often not as easy to upgrade as chunkier business or gaming laptops.
When it comes to the best Chromebook laptop, you have a choice between two stark alternatives. There’s the premium Chromebook Pixel, which we list further down this page, and then there’s the excellent Asus Chromebook Flip C302, which combines premium features in a much more affordable package. For many people, Chromebooks are excellent and affordable laptops that are perfect for students, and the Asus Chromebook Flip C302 is easily one of the best Chromebooks, and one of the best laptops, money can buy. It comes with an Intel Core processor, full 1080p display, touchscreen, backlit keyboard and USB-C port. Discover even more information on here.