Surface treatment
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Glossy. A glossy surface improves the overall picture quality: other things being equal, the picture on such a screen looks brighter and more colorful than on a matte one. On the other hand, pollution is very noticeable on such a surface, and in bright external lighting, a lot of glare appears on it, which can greatly interfere with viewing. Therefore, instead of the classic gloss, laptops are increasingly using an anti-reflective version of such a coating (see below). Nevertheless, this option still does not lose popularity: it is somewhat cheaper than the “anti-glare”, and in soft, relatively dim lighting, it can even provide a more pleasing image to the eye.
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Matte. Matte finish is inexpensive and does not form glare even from fairly bright lighting. On the other hand, the picture on such a screen is noticeably dimmer than on a similar glossy display. However, this moment can be compensated by various design solutions (primarily a good margin of brightness); so this option can be found in all categories of modern laptops — from low-cost models for working with documents to top gaming configurations.
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Glossy (anti-glare). A variation on the glossy finish described above, designed to reduce glare from external light sources. Such screens really glare noticeably less than traditional glossy ones (or even do not give glare at all); at the same time, in
...terms of image quality, they are at least superior to matte ones. So it is this type of coating that is most popular nowadays.Response time
Screen response time to a control signal — in other words, the time between the receipt of such a signal on the matrix and the switching of pixels to a given mode.
Theoretically, the lower the response time, the better the screen handles with dynamic scenes, the higher the frame rate on it can be achieved. At the same time, it is worth noting that almost all modern matrices have sufficient response speed to effectively process the classic frame rate of 60 Hz — and, recall, it is quite enough for most cases. So paying attention to this parameter makes sense, first of all, if you are purchasing an advanced gaming model, the screen of which operates at a frame rate of more than 60 Hz. In other cases, the response time is often not indicated at all.
Refresh rate
The frame rate supported by the laptop screen. In fact, in this case we are talking about the maximum frequency; the actual frame rate may be lower than this value, depending on the content being displayed — but not higher.
Theoretically, the higher the frame rate, the smoother the movement on the screen will look, the less moving objects will be blurred. In fact, the situation is such that even in relatively modest modern laptops,
60 Hz matrices are installed — in general, this is quite enough for the human eye, since a further increase in speed (
90 Hz and higher) does not significantly improve the visible “picture”. However, in high-end gaming and multimedia models designed for demanding users, higher values —
120 Hz,
144 Hz,
165 Hz and even
higher, namely
240 Hz and
300 Hz.
Brightness
The maximum brightness that a laptop screen can provide.
The brighter the ambient light, the brighter the laptop screen should be, otherwise the image on it may be difficult to read. And vice versa: in dim ambient light, high brightness is unnecessary — it greatly burdens the eyes (however, in this case, modern laptops provide brightness control). Thus, the higher this indicator, the more versatile the screen is, the wider the range of conditions in which it can be effectively used. The downside of these benefits is an increase in price and energy consumption.
As for specific values, many modern laptops have a brightness of
250 – 300 nt and even
lower. This is quite enough for working under artificial lighting of medium intensity, but in bright natural light, visibility may already be a problem. For use in sunny weather (especially outdoors), it is desirable to have a brightness margin of at least
300 – 350 nt. And in the most advanced models, this parameter can be
350 – 400 nt and even
more.
Colour gamut (NTSC)
The colour gamut of the laptop matrix according to the NTSC colour model.
Colour gamut describes the range of colours that can be displayed on the screen. It is indicated as a percentage, but not relative to the entire variety of visible colours, but relative to the conditional colour space (colour model). This is due to the fact that no modern screen is able to display all the colours visible to humans. However, the larger the colour gamut, the wider the screen's capabilities, the better its colour reproduction.
Specifically, NTSC is one of the first colour models created back in 1953 for colour television. It is not used in the production of modern LCD matrices, but is used to describe and compare them. NTSC covers a wider range of colours than sRGB, which is standard in computer technology; therefore, even a small number of percentages in this case corresponds to a fairly wide coverage. For example, a value of
72% or more in NTSC is already considered a good value for use in design and graphics. At the same time, the same NTSC figures on different screens may correspond to different sRGB figures; so if accurate colour reproduction is decisive for you, these details should be clarified before buying.
Also note that among individual monitors, it is easier to find a screen with a wide colour gamut; while it will also cost less than a laptop with similar display characteristics. So choosing a laptop with a h
...igh-end screen makes sense mainly when portability is as important to you as high-quality colour reproduction.Model
The specific model of the processor installed in the laptop, or rather, the processor index within its series (see above). Knowing the full name of the processor (series and model), you can find detailed information on it (up to practical reviews) and clarify its capabilities.
Code name
The code name for CPU installed in the laptop.
This parameter characterizes, first of all, the generation to which the processor belongs, and the microarchitecture used in it. At the same time, chips with different code names can belong to the same microarchitecture/generation; in such cases, they differ in other parameters - general positioning, belonging to certain series (see above), the presence / absence of certain specific functions, etc.
Nowadays, the following code names are relevant in Intel processors:
Coffee Lake,
Comet Lake,
Ice Lake,
Tiger Lake,
Jasper Lake,
Alder Lake,
Raptor Lake (13th Gen),
Alder Lake-N,
Raptor Lake (14th Gen),
Meteor Lake (Series 1),
Raptor Lake (Series 1),
Lunar Lake (Series 2).
For AMD, the list looks like this:
Zen 2 Renoir,
Zen 2 Lucienne,
Zen 3 Cezanne,
Zen 3 Barcelo,
Zen 3+ Rembrandt,
Zen 3+ Rembrandt R,
Zen 2 Mendocino,
Zen 3 Barcelo R,
Zen 4 Dragon Range,
Zen 4 Phoenix
Zen 4 Hawk Point,
Zen 5 Strix Point.
Detailed data on different code names can be found in special sources.
Processor cores
The number of cores in the laptop CPU.
The core is a part of the CPU designed to process one thread of instructions (and sometimes more, for such models, see "Number of threads"). Nowadays, in laptops you can find
dual-core,
quad-core,
six-core,
eight-core,
ten-core,
12-core,
14-core CPUs. Also note that recently configurations with different types of cores as part of a single CPU are gaining popularity. Such chips are built on a hybrid architecture that combines high performance and energy-efficient cores. They operate at different clock speeds, have different amounts of pre-installed cache memory and are designed to solve different problems. In particular, such CPUs are found in Intel CPUs (from the 12th generation) and Apple.
Theoretically, more cores means higher performance, especially in parallel computing tasks or when processing multiple resource-intensive tasks at the same time. However, in practice this is true only all else being equal – that is, with a similar microarchitecture, clock frequency, cache volumes and other key parameters. Modern CPUs can vary greatly on these parameters – in itself, a greater number of cores does not mean superiority. This is especially true for dual- and quad-core chips: a mobil
...e-level CPU (for example, Snapdragon, see "CPU series") with 4 cores may well be inferior in capabilities to a dual-core desktop series chip (like Core i3 or i5, which are often used in universal laptops with the "optimal" set of specifications for different tasks). When evaluating CPUs with two or four cores, it is necessary to look, first of all, at the general set of characteristics. But the presence of six, eight or more cores is almost certainly a sign of a powerful CPU. Such equipment is typical mainly for advanced gaming and professional laptops.Total threads
The number of threads supported by the laptop processor.
A thread is a sequence of instructions executed by a processor. Initially, each processor core was designed for one such sequence, and the number of threads was equal to the number of cores. However, in modern CPUs, multithreading technologies are increasingly being used, which allow loading each core with two instruction sequences at once. Such technologies have different names for different manufacturers, but the principle of their operation is the same: during the inevitable pauses in the execution of one of the threads, the kernel does not idle, but works with a different sequence. Accordingly, the total number of threads in such processors is twice the number of cores; such a scheme of work significantly increases productivity (although, of course, it also affects the cost).
