Type
General device type.
In addition to traditional laptops, nowadays you can find varieties such as netbooks,
ultrabooks,
2 in 1 tablet laptops and
transformers. Here are their main features:
— A laptop. Laptops of a more or less traditional format that do not belong to any of the specific categories described below. The classic, most popular screen size in these models is
15.6 ".
13.3" and
14" laptops are considered compact,
laptops with a 17.3" screen are large-format, and larger displays are found in advanced gaming models. At the same time, devices from this category are also very diverse in terms of characteristics and capabilities: they range from “typewriters” designed for education and home tasks, to high-end gaming solutions, and workstations and multimedia complexes.
— Ultrabook. High-end laptops that combine compactness, light weight and advanced features. The diagonal in ultrabooks ranges from 11 "to 14", the thickness of the case does not exceed 21 mm, while the internal equipment usually includes powerful processors, a large amount of RAM, fast drives like SSD and other similar solutions. In addition, many devices from this category are made in a characteristic stylish design and are also designed for
...the role of fashion accessories.
— Transformer 360°. Another type of laptop that can turn into a tablet. However, unlike the laptops-tablets described above, in this case, not a removable keyboard is used, but a special swivel connection of the upper and lower blocks. The design of this connection is such that the top of the device can be rotated 360° and placed face up on the keyboard. Thus, the transformer can be converted from a laptop to a tablet without removing the bottom half; this is the fundamental difference between such models and the “2-in-1” described above. This format of work is generally more convenient — no need to look for a place for the removed keyboard, there is no risk of forgetting or losing it; in addition, the mounting design usually allows you to use the device in the format of a “photo frame” — an inclined tablet on a stand without a keyboard. Thus, transformers have become more widespread today than collapsible laptops-tablets. Their disadvantages include the inability to reduce weight by removing the keyboard. The diagonal of such devices can be from 12" to 17".
— 2 in 1 (laptop-tablet). Laptops that can turn into tablets. In such models, the entire “hardware” (or at least its key components) is placed in the upper half, the screen is made touch-sensitive, and the lower half with the keyboard can be completely separated. From traditional tablets, which can also be equipped with keyboards, such devices differ in three main points. The first is more powerful hardware: in particular, most 2-in-1 models carry full-fledged laptop processors (up to and including Core i7), while tablets mainly use CPUs similar to smartphone chips. The second point is a larger screen size, usually 13 – 15". The third caveat is that the keyboard of a laptop-tablet can include not only a set of keys and a spare battery, but also some system components: a discrete graphics card, an additional drive, etc. .
In general, 2-in-1 models are more versatile than traditional laptops; however, nowadays they are much less common than another similar type of laptop — transformers (see below). This is due to the fact that the removable keyboard is not always convenient: when using a device in tablet format, it usually has to be removed; it is not always possible to find a place nearby for the removed keyboard; besides, it can be forgotten or lost through inattention. However, this design also has advantages: for example, if there is enough tablet on the road, there is no need to carry additional cargo in the form of the lower half of the device.Screen size
Diagonal size of laptop display.
The larger the screen, the more convenient the laptop for watching high-definition movies, modern games, working with large-format graphic materials, etc. Large screens are especially important for multimedia and gaming models. On the other hand, the diagonal of the display directly affects the size and cost of the entire device. So if portability is key, it makes sense to pay attention to relatively small solutions; especially since most modern laptops have video outputs like HDMI or DisplayPort and allow connection of large-format external monitors.
In light of all this, the actual maximum for laptops these days is
17"(17.3"); however
larger devices (18") reappeared at the beginning of 2023. The standard option for general purpose laptops is
15"(15.6"), less often
16", a diagonal of
13"(13.3") or
14" is considered small by the standards of such And smaller screens can be found mainly in specific compact varieties of laptops — ultrabooks, 2 in 1, transformers, netbooks; among such devices there are solutions for
12 ",
11" and even
10" or less.
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.
Colour gamut (sRGB)
The colour gamut of the laptop matrix according to the Rec.709 colour model or according to sRGB.
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, sRGB and Rec.709 are the most popular of today's colour models; they have the same range and differ only in the scope (sRGB is used in computers, Rec. 709 is used in HDTV). Therefore, the closer
the colour gamut is to 100%, the more accurately the colours on the screen will match the colours that were originally intended by the creator of the film, game, etc. At the same time, note that such accuracy is not particularly needed in everyday use — it critical only for professional work with colour; and even in such cases, it is more convenient to buy a separate monitor with a wide colour gamut for a laptop, rather than looking for a laptop with a high-quality (and, accordingly, expensive) matrix.
Pantone certification
This feature means that the laptop screen has received
the Pantone Validated certification.
Pantone is a professional colour system created by the company of the same name and widely used in design and printing. One of Pantone's basic ideas is that each colour should remain the same at all stages of work — from agreeing on a general idea to printing / releasing the final product; To do this, all shades covered by the system are assigned code names, which are used in the work. In the case of laptops, Pantone certification means that when working with materials and software tools that use a given colour scheme, the colours on the screen will match the actual Pantone hues as closely as possible.
We emphasize that there is no question of perfect correspondence (LCD matrices are not physically capable of adequately displaying some shades); in addition, screens with such certification may have different colour gamuts — both in percentages and in the systems used for designation (sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI P3 — see above). However, even if the colour is beyond the capabilities of the screen, it will be displayed as accurately as possible. Therefore, for professional tasks associated with intensive use of Pantone, it is worth choosing monitors with official certification; An example of such tasks is the printing of image printing.
VESA DisplayHDR Certification
VESA DisplayHDR certified, which corresponds to a screen that supports HDR technology.
See above for more details on this technology. And VESA DisplayHDR is an open standard that defines the overall image quality on an HDR screen by a number of parameters — brightness, colour depth, etc. Based on the test results, a screen that meets the required parameters is assigned a certain certificate with a numerical designation. So, the minimum level is DisplayHDR 400, the maximum is DisplayHDR 1400 (although in laptops, as of the end of 2020, there are no screens higher than DisplayHDR 1000). The number in such a designation is indicated by the brightness that the screen must provide: for example, DisplayHDR 400 must produce at least 400 cd / m2. Accordingly, a higher number denotes more extensive display capabilities and more advanced HDR performance.
A separate case is the DisplayHDR True Black certifications. This standard was specifically created for so-called emissive displays such as OLED (see "Matrix type"), which are capable of displaying very deep blacks. The native brightness of such displays is not very high — in particular, the current DisplayHDR 400 True Black and DisplayHDR 500 True Black provide a total screen brightness of only 250 and 300 cd / m2, respectively (against 400 and 500 cd / m2 in the original standards, without the addition " True Black"). However, in terms of black transmission efficiency, such di
...splays surpass conventional HDR counterparts by orders of magnitude, which gives a noticeable increase in image quality — in particular, the mentioned True Black standards with indexes 400 and 500 win even when compared with conventional DisplayHDR 1000. However, it should be taken into account that that this advantage is most noticeable in relatively dim ambient light. Passmark CPU Mark
The result shown by the laptop processor in the Passmark CPU Mark test.
Passmark CPU Mark is a comprehensive test that is more detailed and reliable than the popular 3DMark06 (see above). It checks not only the gaming capabilities of the CPU, but also its performance in other modes, based on which it displays the overall score; this score can be used to fairly reliably evaluate the processor as a whole (the more points, the higher the performance).
Max. RAM
The maximum amount of RAM that can be installed on a laptop. It depends, in particular, on the type of memory modules used, as well as on the number of slots for them. Paying attention to this parameter makes sense, first of all, if the laptop is bought with the expectation of
and the amount of actually installed memory in it is noticeably less than the maximum available. So laptops can be upgraded in RAM to 16 GB,
24 GB a>,
32 GB, 48 GB,
64 GB and even more -
128 GB.
RAM type
Laptops mainly use different variants of DDR (so-called double data transfer memory). Here is a list of common types of such memory:
— DDR3. Third generation DDR RAM. Outperforms outdated DDR2 in terms of speed and power efficiency. However, it is also outdated against the background of the fourth version and new items - DDR5.
— DDR3L. A modification of DDR3 memory that supports operation at a reduced voltage - 1.35 V instead of 1.5 V (Low Voltage - hence the index L). Lower voltage contributes to both lower power consumption and better performance. Note that conventional DDR3 memory cannot be installed in such a slot, while the reverse option is quite possible.
—
DDR4. A memory standard released in 2014. Introduced further improvements in speed (up to 25.6 GB / s in the future) and energy efficiency. The most popular among laptops of recent years of release.
—
DDR5. The procession of the fifth generation of the DDR standard began at the turn of 2020-2021. It provides for approximately a twofold increase in memory subsystem performance and increased bandwidth compared to DDR4. Instead of a single 64-bit data channel, DDR5 uses a pair of independent 32-bit channels that work with 16-byte packets and allow 64 bytes of information to be delivered per clock on each channel. New memory modules require a voltage of 1.1 V, and the maximum volume of one DDR5 bar can rea
...ch an impressive 128 GB.
It is worth noting that different types of RAM are not interchangeable.
Some laptops have LPDDR4, LPDDR4X, LPDDR5, LPDDR5X RAM. It was developed by a specialist for mobile devices and is non-expandable, since the corresponding memory modules are built directly into the motherboard. The use of "RAM" standards LPDDR is determined by the achievement of an optimal balance between the performance of the laptop, its size and battery life.