Buyer’s Guide – laptops

Following up on the previous article regarding IT fairs, some of the readers may be waiting for COMEX 2015 on the 3-6 September to clinch a deal on a laptop. A laptop can be a hefty investment for many people, typically ranging from $900 to $2200. Given the plethora of options that laptop manufacturers offer, one may easily be overwhelmed by the choices. This is a question that I get often - “What laptop should I buy?” Ultimately, the choice of laptop rests entirely with you, the buyer yourself, but in this article I will guide users to select the laptop that will be the most suitable for you.

This guide will be tailored for Singaporeans looking to buy a new laptop, or even for your own reading pleasure. For far too long I think that the general public has been misguided by laptop manufacturers to focus almost entirely on the wrong things. I hope to share my views with the public (I shall refrain from using the term 'educate' as I will merely be expressing my opinions) and help them make better decisions.

Typically, the only thing that potential buyers can use to gauge if a laptop is 'good' is the specs sheet that manufacturers provide. Here is an example of a typical specs sheet by HP, and the format will be roughly shared by most manufacturers.

Included in the list are information about the laptop's processor, operating system, RAM, storage solution(s), graphics card (if any), and screen. This seems like ample information for anyone to decide if the laptop is 'good' but in my opinion that is hardly enough for anyone to make an informed decision.

In this article, I will cover somewhat comprehensively (someone would have closed this document after this statement – but I have a summary at the bottom!) aspects that I think are what buyers should look out for inclusive and beyond what is given on the specs sheet, and how to go about testing them. Included are:

1) Processor2) Graphics card3) RAM (Random Access Memory)4) Storage5) Case6) Connectivity7) Screen

There is no ultimate rule for a ‘good’ laptop; rather, the laptop should conform to the user’s needs. I will now examine each component and highlight key features that different types of users should look out for.

Processor

The processor is also known as the ‘brains’ of the computer. It does all the calculations the user or program requires, and a more powerful processor can do more calculations per unit time. This translates to shorter waiting time for programs to start or finish running. Does this mean that a stronger processor is always a better processor?

To answer the question, we have to first understand the different types of processors out there in the market. Intel and AMD hold an overwhelming share of the laptop processor market, and Intel processors are found in the vast majority of laptops. Making an extremely brief generalisation, AMD processors in current laptops are typically APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) and can be mostly found in laptops for the budget oriented. Notable exceptions are Lenovo’s upcoming Y700 with its FX-8800P CPU, and the high end HP EliteBook series. AMD’s APUs typically feature better graphics – its integrated graphics processor has access to its CPU cache which is blazingly fast, and can integrate well with other Radeon graphics card for better gaming performance – and higher clock speeds, but suffer in single threaded operations, thermal performance and battery life. Those on a tight budget can consider getting laptops with AMD APUs as they are perhaps the most cost effective solution for those who require a decent gaming experience (typically MOBA or MMORPG games in lower resolution) without paying above a $1000.

Intel CPUs (Central Processing Units) are widely proliferated in the market and they are what most people will purchase. They come in many varieties and there are many myths surrounding them – worst of all being perpetrated by show salesmen looking to earn some easy commission.

Myth #1: i7 processors are always more powerful than any other processors.Myth #2: A processor with a higher clock rate is always better than a processor with a lower clock rate.Myth #3: A newer generation processor is always significantly more powerful than the old processor.

I will not tackle the myths straight away, but instead shall begin by sharing more on Intel’s product-naming convention as well as the features the chips have.

Intel has several brands and I will cover the following: Core, Pentium, Celeron and Atom. Most would have heard of the mainstream Core series, but lack any real understanding of the differences in processor capabilities. I will elaborate on them later after I touch on the other 3 brands.

The word Pentium brings to mind Pentium IV CPUs from yesteryear. While sharing the same name, Pentium has moved on to be the branding of the upper-tier budget chips and is not the same as the old Pentium IV. Compared to the i3 chips, they have typically lower cache, no Hyper-Threading (HT) and no Turbo Boost (more on that later), but they come pretty cheaply. Even more so is the Celeron brand, the lower-cost budget chips found in the cheapest laptops. Together, the Pentium and Celeron chips are meant for productivity-oriented laptops, and if your primary use for your laptop will be writing articles or basic web browsing and you are on a tight budget, these chips are for you.

The Intel Atom CPU is slightly different. They are not to be confused with the Atom SoC found in phones and tablets. Instead, the Atom mobile processor is designed with a different architecture and is designed to consume very little power. Most devices with Atom CPUs will be a few years old, typically being netbooks from the 2013 netbook craze era, but Intel is still developing them for embedded systems. If you are using a flagship handset from this year, you might not want to consider devices with the Atom CPU as their performance is likely to be similar.

The Core brand is the most widespread brand of processors found in laptops today. Let us see how Intel names their processors.

The i7-5950HQ is a laptop processor, while the 5775C is typically found in desktops. In this article, we will focus solely on laptop processors. The first term in most processors after the Core branding will be the brand modifier – namely i3, i5 or i7. What follows after will be the generation number. Most laptops at the time of writing will be based on the Broadwell architecture, having a generation number of “5”. The 6th generation chips, also known as Skylake, have recently come to the consumer laptop market in September.

The digits following that are the SKU numbers, something like its model number. Higher numbers typically mean better performance but that is of course a generalisation and definitely does not apply to all cases. For example, the i7-4710HQ is 100MHz faster than the i7-4700HQ (but in reality that makes little difference).

Quite surprisingly, it is the suffix that makes plenty of difference. Most people tend to look at the “i7” and automatically assume that it is the most powerful of them all. While it is true to a small extent, the suffix plays an important role as well. Below are typical consumer grade suffixes for the 4th and 5th generation CPUs.

5th Generation

H – High performance graphicsHQ – High performance graphics, Quad-coreU – Ultra-low power

4th Generation

HQ – High performance graphicsMQ – Quad-core mobileU – Ultra-low power

Here, we can see that each processor will have a suffix that determines what it is optimised for. Processors with the U suffix consumer far less power than with the H or M suffix, but offer far less performance as well. Comparing two laptop-grade processors, the 15W i7-4500U (one of the most popular processors last year) with the 47W i5-4200H, the i5 performs 15-24% better than the i7. The brand modifier is not the most important thing to look at when comparing CPUs in terms of performance. Myth #1 (i7 processors are always more powerful than any other processors) – busted.

However, they are in fact important to look at. For all other things kept constant, an i7 will almost definitely be better than an i5, which will be in turn better than an i3. Prior to the Core series, the only thing that consumers can use to compare CPU cores are the clock speeds, but the amount of work done by the processor is based not only on the clock speeds, but also the amount of instructions performed per clock – which were rarely indicated. A Pentium 4 processor would be slower than a similarly clocked Pentium 3! Brand modifiers came along to help to differentiate processors and bring the public’s attention away from clock speeds. Myth #2 (processor with a higher clock rate is always better than a processor with a lower clock rate) – busted.

An i3 processor will have 2 physical cores – computing units – and less cache than its i5 counterpart. It also has Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology and is generally cheaper than the i5. The term “cache” has appeared more than once now, and I think it is useful to touch on CPU cache. Caches on CPUs are hierarchical, and most Intel CPUs have cache levels L1, L2 and L3. L1 cache is the smallest in size but is also the fastest. L2 is larger but slower, and so on.

We can compare cache, memory and storage to a carpenter working on a ladder, and the data required to tools that the carpenter needs. Cache would be the carpenter’s hands, they can only hold a small amount of tools but they are the most readily accessed. Experience and instinct will guide him to place the equipment that he will most likely use next in his hands, like a nail after picking up a hammer. This is similar to how caching algorithms allocate data to the cache so that they can be easily accessed by the processor.

If the carpenter requires some tools that are not in his hands, he will scour through his toolkit that he is wearing on his belt. It can hold more items, but accessing it will take a longer time. Likewise, if the processor is not able to find the data in the cache, it will search the main memory (RAM) for the data it needs. It is not as fast as the cache, but it is still much faster than accessing the storage.

Continuing with the analogy, the storage then would be the workshop down the road. The carpenter, now requiring some specialised tools, will descend the ladder, retrieve the tool, then ascend the ladder again to continue his work. Accessing the storage (Hard disk drive, HDD, or Solid State Drive, SSD) is significantly slower than either the RAM or the cache, so if the RAM and cache are both full, the laptop will be extremely sluggish.

Intel’s Hyper-Threading is a very smart solution to increase the number of threads without increasing the number of physical cores. By analogy again, threads are like jobs, while the cores are like workers. Conventionally, each worker can only do his own job, so each core can only handle one thread at a time. Once the worker is done with the particular job, he can move on to the next one. However, due to the recent skills upgrading programme, the workers underwent training and are now able to do 2 jobs. Instead of merely being able to serve customers food, the worker is now able to cook as well, so while the soup is simmering at the stove, the worker can quickly plate the food for serving. This almost doubles the amount of tasks each core can do, so each i3 chip can handle up to 4 threads at any one time.

The Core i5 is slightly more complicated. Laptop i5s up to the 5 th generation have 2 physical cores and HT whereas the desktop counterparts have 4 cores and no HT. Compared to the i3, the i5 would also have generally better integrated graphics (Intel Iris) and more importantly, Turbo Boost.

Turbo Boost can be imagined as Dynamic Overclocking. When the processor is called on to give its best, and if its limits have not been reached (electrically or thermally), more power will be supplied to the processor for it to run at a faster clock speed until it reaches the limit. This means that the laptop equipped with an i5 or higher will be more able to handle demanding temporary workloads.

The i5 CPUs are the mid-ranged mainstream processors, and while they may not be the best processors, modern Core i5s are able to satisfy most users. They have decent integrated graphics for multimedia purposes, ample processing power for anyone with a light workload, and are generally affordable. Keep in mind that the U suffix emphasizes on battery life rather than performance, but even then, text editing and simple web browsing should not be a problem for the i5.

For users requiring the extra power, they can turn to the Core i7s. Making the relevant comparisons, the i7 CPUs are the best that Intel can offer for the particular use case. Compared to their correct i3/i5 counterparts, they generally have more cache, faster Turbo Boost and better integrated graphics. The i7-4500U performs around 15% better than its counterpart the i5-4200U while drawing roughly the same power.

Does this mean that the i7 processors are the best? Short answer – yes. However, it does not mean that all i7 processors are more powerful than any other processor with a different brand modifier. Each processor is designed with a certain use-case in mind, based on the SKU number

and the suffix, and the i7 processor in that category will be better than only the other CPUs in that same category. The question now is: “Do you actually need the best processor?” The laptop must fit the user’s needs and not the other way round. The user must first understand what he will be using the laptop for, and most of the time, if the user is simply using it for typical office work and web browsing, an i5 or even i3 will suffice. However, if the user is planning to game on the laptop or do some serious data analysis, the user should consider the i7 chip.

The generation number plays a part as well, with each generation providing varying magnitudes and types of benefits over the previous one. For those that are interested, Intel follows an alternating update cycle (known as “tick-tock”) where each die-shrink update will be followed by an architecture refresh. The 5th Gen Broadwell was a “tick”, shrinking from the 22nm to the 14nm node. This means that, with the same physical die chip, Intel can either fit more compute units into the processor, or, fit the same amount of compute units into a smaller die area, reducing raw material costs and transferring the producer surplus to the consumer. The “tick” part of the cycle often brings about greater improvements in power efficiency, therefore affecting laptops and other mobile devices to a large extent. Better power efficiency translates to either smaller batteries needed to provide the same battery life, or increased battery life running on the same battery. Myth #3 (A newer generation processor is always significantly more powerful than the old processor) is not true especially for the “tick” of Intel’s upgrade cycle.

The “tock” part refers to a change in the microarchitecture and usually brings about greater performance increases. Each “tock” usually has a greater impact on the market than a tick as the microarchitecture change means many other things have to change along with it. The upcoming 6th Gen Skylake is an example of a “tock” and it brings with it support for DDR4 RAM (along with it a whole host of DDR4 benefits), increased bandwidth, much better performance and overclocking potential, and a new motherboard is required to handle it. It is typically more expensive to adopt in the first few months. Generally, it affects desktop processors more than laptop processors but that isn’t to say that laptop processors do not benefit from a generation upgrade.

Summary

The many letters and numbers might have left you confused in the past, with the most defining feature (i3, i5, i7) being the only thing consistent over the years. You might have heard rumours about how i7 is better than other processors and decide to fork out another $300 to upgrade the i5-5200U to the i7-5500U – only to realise that there is no noticeable difference in your everyday use scenario.

Suffixes indicate the power required for the processors. (Broadwell) Core M uses 4.5W, -U uses 15W and –H and –M uses 47-57W. Greater power consumption translates to greater performance at the drawback of decreased battery life. Generation 4 to generation 5, processors increase marginally in performance but are more efficient in the consumption of power. Generation 5 to 6, processors get more powerful and can support better hardware. Core i7 is better than i5 but only if the correct processors are being compared, and it might not apply for all use cases. Furthermore, even if i7 is better than the i5, most people rarely need to fully utilise the entire processing power of the chip and the processor is rarely the bottleneck when working on the laptop.

Computer processors have come a long way. For the average person doing reports, small

spreadsheets, note taking, web browsing, media consumption or other non-processor-intensive workloads, an i5-5200U upwards should suffice. Those with lower budget can find some laptops sporting the -4200U going for a great discount, or even go for the extremely low powered Core M processors found in the Lenovo Yoga Pro 3 or the Asus UX 305FA. Those with plenty to spare (e.g. able to claim the cost of the laptop from the company) can consider the i7-5500U especially if the laptop does not support a discrete graphics card. For people doing heavy computational work like content creation, running virtual machines, numerical analysis, CAD or gaming, consider a powerful processor like the i7-4710HQ or even desktop processors like the i7-4790. The drawback is significantly increased power consumption.

In one line: A processor ending with U should satisfy most people, giving ample performance and good battery life, but those who want more should get one that ends with HQ or MQ.

Graphics cardThe graphics card is like a specialised processor. It is like a processor that can only compute

specialised tasks, but it can do so at insane speeds. Most Intel and AMD processors have an integrated on-chip graphics compute units, and are able to provide a reasonable experience to most people. People who require greater graphics power should go for discrete graphics cards, but this usually compromises the battery life of the machine.

In the more recent years, NVidia has come up with something they call “Optimus”, where the laptop is smart enough to detect if the user requires more computing power from the graphics card (e.g. when the user starts to play a game), and fire it up if it is needed. Else, the graphics card will usually remain dormant, consuming extremely little power while the integrated GPU handles the simpler workloads. This often reduces the battery drain by the graphics card, and if the graphics card is actually required, chances are that the user is near a power plug as one would seldom think of doing heavy work for extended periods of time away from power. AMD has a similar technology called “Enduro”.

In the event where the user is desperately craving for a game on somewhere without a plug, like on the MRT, NVidia has a solution called battery boost, where it throttles the frame rates to be at a pre-set 30Hz. This reduces the strain on the GPU, consuming less power but maintaining a roughly playable rate.

AMD cards are better known for their high-end desktop solutions, and their laptop cards take up a very low share of the market.

Most people who do not play games should not require an additional discrete graphics card. The additional card will put strain on your budget, battery life and thermal performance. It will be wise to define activities that will require the graphics card and those that do not. Web browsing, media consumption, rendering of Lightroom and CAD, non-CUDA programming make use of the CPU more than the GPU. Post-render CAD (real time 3D rotation), Photoshop and especially games require the graphics card.

For AMD cards, consumer grade cards are given the brand Radeon, and typically come in the form R5/7/9-M2/3xxX. An example will be the R5 M240. The [5] (of 5/7/9) indicates the tier of the product, with 5 being an entry level card and 9 being an enthusiast card. The [ M] immediately

following stands for mobile, and the [2] (of 2/3) indicates its generation. The [40] indicates the SKU number and is related to its tier. Another example will be the R9 M295X, which is an enthusiast level card of higher performance. An example of an older model is the Radeon HD 8970M.

NVidia’s consumer cards are given the title GeForce and come in the form GT(X) 8/9xxM. An example is the GeForce GT 820M, Intel’s entry level card. The [8] indicates the generation, the [20] is the SKU number and the [M] means mobile, like AMD’s cards. A more recent and powerful card would be the GTX 980M, where the [X] means extreme and the [9] indicating that it is one generation ahead of the 820M. Older models have smaller generation numbers, like GTX 660M.

Workstation class graphics are also available for people who require them for computing specific algorithms. AMD’s FirePro and NVidia’s Quadro are their workstation cards, and are very expensive. They belong to the high-end spectrum, but I would not necessarily recommend them to the average Joe as other than being highly efficient in correctly coded programs, they suffer in providing performance per price in other areas. Roughly speaking, out of 10, the FirePro or Quadro scores a 10 for work and 1 for gaming, whereas an equivalently priced Radeon or GeForce card gives about 9 for gaming and 4 for work. The consumer cards are significantly cheaper and much more balanced than workstation cards, and only those who really know what they are doing and have a high budget should get the FirePro or Quadro.

There will be no discussion of the evolution of graphics cards, their architecture or memory in this article, but instead I shall simply show the performance for common cards. Depending on the needs of the user, they can opt for different cards. I shall make a comparison of common cards against common games below. Entry level cards in the list include the R5 M240 and GT820M, mid-range cards include R7 M265 and GTX 950M, and top tier cards are the R9 M295X and GTX 980M. The number inside indicate the average frames per second (fps) and an fps of above 30 is considered barely playable, and above 60 is good.

BioShock Infinite (2013)Card Medium at 1366x768 (fps) Ultra at 1920x1080 (fps)R5 M240 26.5 -GT820M 31 8.1R7 M265 38 10GTX 950M 102 29R9 M295X 148 65.4GTX 980M 196 65

DOTA 2 (2013)Card Medium at 1366x768 (fps) Ultra at 1920x1080 (fps)R5 M240 31.7 -GT820M 49.5 -R7 M265 55.1 27.7GTX 950M 116.7 66.8R9 M295X - -GTX 980M 116 110

Crysis 3 (2013)Card Medium at 1366x768 (fps) Ultra at 1920x1080 (fps)

R5 M240 - -GT820M 15.6 -R7 M265 21 -GTX 950M 48.1 13R9 M295X 85 31GTX 980M 119 43

Readings are taken from notebookcheck.net

Most cards are able to handle DOTA 2, a game that is not too demanding on graphics. However, more detailed games like BioShock Infinite and Crysis 3 are much less playable on cheaper cards. Depending on the type of games you play, get a card that provides more than 30 fps on the game and graphics pre-set you require. Do check for multi-monitor compatibility as not all cards are able to handle more than 2 or 3 screens simultaneously.

In one line: Get a discrete card only if you need to, to save on cost, weight and battery life, and get the appropriate card for your workload.

RAM

Back to my previous analogy of the carpenter on the ladder, the amount of RAM is the second level check if he has the equipment. While it is slower than on-chip CPU or GPU cache, it is still way faster than accessing storage – or the carpenter’s shed, up to a magnitude of a thousand. The RAM that we use nowadays is volatile, meaning that it does not retain memory when power is cut. This is unlike our storage media like our HDDs or SSDs that are non-volatile to a large extent. Modern RAM is DDR3 or LPDDR3, where the 3 is indicative of its generation and upcoming RAM will be DDR4 for Skylake (Skylake supports DDR3L as well). Computers with older DDR2 RAM will not be compatible with newer RAM and vice versa.

Most laptop RAM use a SO-DIMM (small outline dual in-line memory module) form factor, compared to the desktop DIMM. Hence, one should not buy the cheaper desktop RAM hoping that it will fit in the laptop. DDR4 RAM is better than DDR3 RAM, but by COMEX DDR4 RAM would probably still not be out (To my best knowledge it is offered by Aftershock S-15 and up only). As in my previous article about “Should you wait for IT fairs?”, I suggested that if buyers could hold out for a major improvement in technology, they should, and the 6 th Gen Intel Core is worth waiting for unless you are in urgent need for the device.

A typical question will be “how much RAM do I need?”. This depends on the use case. Having a large RAM is like having a large tool belt, but if the carpenter does not need that much tools, having an excessively large tool belt is redundant and expensive. RAM is used for applications like web browsers, virtual machines, programming, video editing and modelling, and to a lesser extent games. Word documents, opening a single tab on the browser and mail do not take up much RAM. If you belong to the latter, 4GB of RAM should be more than sufficient, and depending on your workload, 8-16GB of RAM will be sufficient for people using applications in the first category. Most people will be using servers for anything beyond 16GB today instead of a laptop.

Instead of being concerned with the amount of RAM, the type of RAM and how it is used is important as well. Opt for laptops that support dual-channel RAM, such as the one shown beside (taken from Aftershock’s website). Dual-channel RAM can be taken to be roughly twice as fast and the speed of the RAM can be seen in MHz at the back (1600MHz in this case). Higher frequencies mean faster RAM (assuming constant latency). Furthermore, a 2x4GB RAM solution in dual-channel will be faster than the 1x8GB solution.

Purchasing RAM separately (e.g. from Sim Lim) we can see the clock speed and latency (CL11 in this case) and it is better to purchase RAM with lower latency (e.g. CL9 is better than CL10, which is in turn better than CL11). Before making the purchase, however, it will be wise to ensure that the laptop is fully compatible with the new RAM.

Snippet of price list of Cybermind

In one line: 4GB RAM is good for people who don’t need that much RAM, 8/16GB dual-channel for those who need.

Storage

In terms of hardware, I will rank storage solution to be the most important factor in the specs sheet. This might come as a surprise to many people who think that the processor is the most important, but an i5-5200U is more than enough for many people already. Storage solution for laptops today come mostly in 2 forms, either being an SSD (solid state drive) or a HDD (hard disk drive). Because of a laptop’s small size, HDDs come in a 2.5” form factor as opposed to the conventional 3.5” desktop variants. SSDs come in more forms like 2.5”, M.2, and mSATA. Those refer to the physical size of the SSD, and it is important to check if the laptop has the correct storage expandability slot.

The reason why I said that storage is the most important factor is because it is where most of the waiting time lies in. Even with a monster processor which can do work really quickly, the carpenter will take significantly longer to finish his job if the speed of him accessing the storage shed is low. Most of the time when the computer is experiencing lag, or is being slow, unresponsive or taking a long time to load, is due to it retrieving information slowly. An SSD will greatly (greatly – it is really significant) improve the overall responsiveness of the laptop as a whole.

I will not go into detail how HDDs and SSDs work, but I think that a basic understanding is important. HDDs store data magnetically onto a spinning disk, and their speeds much slower than SSDs. SSDs store data electronically into flash storage and accessing and writing them takes a short time.

HDDs are better than SSDs because of their monster capacity and cheap price. A 2TB HDD is comparable in price to a 128GB SSD. When stored offline, they are better able to retain information and are more resistant to temperature changes. Their average failure rate is 6 years and they seldom suffer catastrophic data losses in the event of power outage. This makes them suitable for use for an archival purpose.

SSDs are way faster than HDDs in terms of both latency and read/write performance, and they do not have any moving parts, being more prone to data retention when dropped compared to HDDs. They are significantly lighter than HDDs and there is almost no need to defragment your SSD. They are useful as boot drives for programs and the OS itself.

In the middle will be a SSHD solution (solid state hybrid drive) and there are many manufacturers that adopt this, for example Lenovo and Asus. Some Asus UX303 laptops have a main 1TB HDD as a storage drive with a 24GB cache (this cache is not the L3 cache for CPUs). The cache is essentially an mSATA SSD pre-programmed with an algorithm such that it is able to remember which applications are frequently launched and store their startup data in it, resulting in faster performances the more frequently the user uses the program. Other SSHDs have their own built in flash cache.

Storage solutions can also be put in RAID (redundant array of independent disks) if the laptop allows, and many gaming laptops offer multiple solutions in different formats so that RAID can be achieved. RAID basically entails either storage redundancy (meaning more reliable backups) or increased speed. Most people should not be concerned with RAID but those that are interested

can read it up online.

My recommendation to everyone would be to get a SSD + HDD combo, storing boot media into the SSD for responsive performance, and having a large and cheap HDD for storage of photos and videos. I used to believe that SSDs were too expensive for its price, but seeing my boot time drop by a factor of 10 to 4s and using a responsive system made me acknowledge the SSD as an important investment. I will emphasize again how much I personally enjoy using a system with an SSD and I would encourage readers who have not experienced a full SSD laptop to try to do so before purchasing a laptop without.

In one line: Get a laptop with a SSD + HDD combo, else a SSD and an external HDD.

Case

This is the most important hardware that is not on the spec sheet in my opinion and the make or break for many users. Most manufacturers have many models offering a whole range of processors and graphics cards, but each manufacturer has their own unique design style and I think that it is the case of the laptop that brings out its personality.

The case varies wildly from manufacturer to manufacturer and even within itself. Many laptops have a conventional clamshell design, and more recently convertible designs have sprouted out. Even so, different manufacturers have different takes on convertibles, most famously is Lenovo’s Yoga double hinge implementation (which was then adopted by almost all other manufacturers), as well as Acer’s R13 Ezel Aero HingeTM and Asus’ Transformer Book series. This is entirely the user’s preference and there is no hard rule; most importantly, the user should go down and try out the convertible that he is interested in and ensure that he really enjoys the design.

I will briefly touch on important parts of the case of the laptop, and why they matter. First would be the material used to make the laptop. Most laptops for the lower price bracket are made using plastic with the notable exception of the aluminium Asus UX305. While many tech sites lament the use of plastic, I find plastic to be acceptable when 2 conditions are met: the laptop stays in one spot most of the time and it is effectively cooled. The biggest drawbacks of plastic is that it does not conduct heat away as efficiently as compared to an aluminium body, and is generally weaker than metal. This means that in order to provide the same amount of protection, more plastic has to be used and this translates to increased weight. There are, however, different types of plastic, and some forms of plastic are comparable in structural integrity with aluminium. Some might be led to think that the usage of plastic immediately gives the laptop a cheap feel, and while this may be correct if the type of plastic is inferior, there are some laptops that feel great even though made with plastic, like Lenovo’s G50-70. This said, when getting a laptop made of plastic, be sure to take into account its thermal performance. The Asus K series, for example, was prone to overheating.

What is more important than the material is that the case holds well. Even aluminium cases are known to flex under light pressure. During testing, do depress the keyboard in between the letters j and k with moderate pressure and observe any noticeable flexing. Do the same thing on the left and right palm rests. This seems weird, but it is an indication as to how well the laptop holds up against everyday usage and more importantly, it affects people who do intense typing

regularly. If the area in the middle of the keyboard depresses every time the user types on it, it can prove to be a real annoyance if this carries on for a long time.

While testing out the case, also test out the thermals on the same areas, as well as the exhaust areas. The computers on display will usually be left on idle or looping a video for quite a while, and make sure that the exhaust is facing away from the area where you will be usually using the mouse – right for the majority of Singaporeans. These thermals do not indicate how hot or cool the chip is running; a separate program like CPU-Z is needed. However, they are important especially if the user is planning to use it not on the table but on his lap. If the surface area is noticeably warm, it can be annoying to use the laptop for prolonged periods of time. This is another aspect that is usually left out of the specs sheet – or worse, given misleading names into thinking that the cooling performance is better than it actually is. The Asus K series has IceCool Technology that makes the palm rests feel cool to the touch (as it is aluminium), but in actual fact the internals are placed together without sufficient cooling such that it is actually prone to overheating.

Some business laptops carry the MIL-STD-810 specification, which showcases their resistance to falls, vibrations, dust and temperatures etc. Laptops with this specification are usually more expensive but generally have an outstanding build quality.

Another important aspect of the case would be its weight. For people who bring along their laptop most of the time, a good guideline would be below 2kg. Most thin and light laptops of screen size 14” and below can be found below 2kg, with below 1.6kg being comfortable and below 1.3kg being really easy to carry about. The Lenovo Yoga Pro 3 weighs a mere 1.19kg, and can be easily carried around with one hand. For laptops that function as portable desktops – which is the more common case for non-students – try to keep it below 2.5kg. Anywhere above that would be a real burden on the back or arms, and unless the user is really keen on exercise, it will be a real hassle to transport it around. This is one thing that people tend to overlook as it is not always included in the specs sheet, so be sure to carry it around when handling the laptop display set.

The keyboard and touchpad are really important as well. Many people use the laptop on its own, in the absence of an external keyboard or mouse. I think that it is important to get a keyboard that you would really enjoy typing on. When trying out the display set, press “Win” + “R” and type in notepad.exe, which will bring up the notepad application. Type in a few lines of text that are typical of what you would type in everyday life, be it students’ notes, data on the spreadsheet or lines of code. This is especially important for programmers and engineers who input large amounts of numerical data on a laptop below 14”. It would be really horrible to input all the “;”, “{}” etc. if the keyboard makes them really tiny. Most users should take note of the feeling of the key when depressed – the amount of pressure, the tactile feeling, and the drop of the key. It is personal preference – while I hate the keyboard of the 2015 MacBook, there are others who enjoy using it. Likewise, some people prefer the conventional trackpad and some like the newer clickpad, but regardless of the choice, it is good to try out the responsiveness and accuracy of the touchpad before making the purchase of any laptop.

Lastly, it would be the aesthetics of the laptop. Some people love the look of the carbon fibre Dell XPS 13, some prefer the clean MacBook. Many dislike the conventional plastic Clevo cases but I think it hides raw power under a deceptively normal case. Others prefer loud and bold designs like the Asus ROG series and some prefer the professional looking Gigabyte P34. Many dislike the smudgy glossy plastic found on way too many laptops. It all boils down to personal

preference and I think it is important to get a laptop that you think looks good and would not mind using it for the entire lifespan of the laptop.

In one line: get a laptop that is as light as you require, does not flex significantly under pressure, and has a design that you really enjoy – there is no point in getting a laptop that you dislike using.

Connectivity

This is a small area is might be overlooked by many members of the public, but is quite important to people who move about often, and require internet. The typical host of ports include USB, RJ45, some form of display output, card reader, and audio jacks. More USB ports are better, and USB 3.0 ports are better than USB 2.0. Some thin and light laptops do not include a RJ45 (some know it by the terms ‘Ethernet’, ‘LAN’ or ‘Gigabit’) port and use a RJ45 to USB connector, eating up one available USB port. The card reader will be useful to photographers or videographers, or anyone who uses SD or microSD cards as their main form of storage.

The epitome of limited connectivity is the 2015 MacBook 12. Featuring only a single USB type-C and a headphone jack, it is not easy to connect it to multiple I/O (input/output) media. Opt for laptops that have at least 3 USB ports, RJ45 and a card reader if needed. A laptop typically has one or 2 display outputs, and the 3 most common connectors for laptops are VGA, HDMI and DP (DisplayPort). The user should predict the ports that he thinks that he will require. For example, if he is working in a school or office environment which uses many old projectors, the laptop should preferably contain a VGA output, but he is provided another monitor to work with that has DVI or HDMI input, the laptop should have a HDMI port. The adoption of DP is slow except for the more expensive monitors, but professionals working on colour critical work on the Dell U series monitors should get a laptop with the DP output.

If a laptop does not have RJ45, or if the workplace does not allow the use of LAN cables, the WiFi module then becomes critical. Many laptops now support wireless 802.11n standard, but better laptops support the better 802.11ac. This is seldom reported by the manufacturers and only shops like Aftershock allow you to pick and choose the WiFi module, but if you ever had a choice, opt for the faster ac standard. As 802.11ac routers get more common due to the rapid adoption of 802.11ac-capable smartphones, laptops equipped with the WiFi module get to benefit from increased speed and less congested data stream of 5GHz. Opt for modules that are 2x2 802.11ac, where the 2x2 means 2 transmit, 2 receive modules (as opposed to the cheaper 1x1, one transmit, one receive) as that will give you theoretically the best performance and reliability.

In one line: Opt for laptops that have at least 3 USB ports – better if they are USB 3.0, RJ45 and a card reader if needed, the correct display outputs and preferably laptops which has a 2x2 802.11ac wireless module.

Screen

This is another area that is under-publicised. What is included in the specs sheet typically include the screen size, resolution and the backlighting. While those are important, what I think

that most manufacturers should include is their panel technology instead of putting it as a generic TFT (thin film transistor).

Let me begin with screen size. This is a very personal choice again, and typical screen sizes for mobile warriors are 13.3” and 14”. This is a good size for people who carry their laptops around most of the time, and typical weight ranges from 1.2-2.0 kg in this category. People that use a 15.6” screen typically leave it in one spot most of the time, but are able to bring it around if they need to. They benefit from more screen real estate and this is my personal favourite screen size. They weigh around 2.3-3 kg. 17” and 18” laptops are typically used for gaming or programming, accommodating beefier internals and are essentially a desktop replacement. They seldom last long away from a socket and they exist as desktops that can be transported around in dire situations. Depending on the user’s need, choosing the right screen size is important.

Many people are overly interested in screen resolution. The resolution of the screen describes the number of pixels in the screen. The larger the resolution, the more amount of information can be displayed on the screen. It is often confused with the sharpness of the screen, which is more closely related to the pixel density, usually given in pixels per inch (ppi). While Apple defined the Retina Display to have more than 220 ppi for laptops, it being the point where the human eye cannot discern individual pixels at the appropriate viewing distance, most people would be fine with a much lower pixel density. As a guideline, the bare minimum should be WXGA for 14” and below and FHD for 15.6” and above.

Common terms describing screen resolution include:HD (WXGA) 1366x768HD+ 1600x900FHD (1080p) 1920x1080WQHD (1440p) 2560x1440WQXGA 2560x1600

What is more important is that the user must enjoy working with the screen. A high resolution screen might have poor backlighting or use a cheap panel and would cause much strain to the user, not to mention display scaling issues on some programs. A lower resolution screen might use a high quality panel. The potential buyer should go down to the booth and conduct the following test: open up a video or photo, view images with stark contrast and bright colours while varying the viewing angle and brightness and see if there is anything that he dislikes about this display.

Most laptop screens use LCD/LED backlighting. When looking out for backlighting, opt for one that provides a good white balance, is bright enough at 250cd/m 2 , and has uniform distribution of backlighting. It can be tested out by opening a PowerPoint slideshow and going to the end of the slides, which will give a black screen. Any uneven lighting or hazy effect will appear in the dark scenes of movies as well, so poor quality backlight should be avoided. The backlight needs to be bright enough to make sure that working in the sun will not be a problem.

I personally prefer matte screens as they do not attract fingerprints nearly as much, and it is much easier to read under harsh lighting conditions. The drawback of matte screens is that it might introduce a degree of graininess and loss of detail as compared to glossy screens, so it is good to find a balance between the two screens. Most touchscreens are glossy with the exception of the ThinkPad Carbon, so there is not much choice there.

What more people should be concerned with is the panel technology, and whether it is a TN (twisted nematic) or IPS (in-plane switching). A TN panel is often found in cheaper laptops. It offers better GTG (grey to grey) response times, but it has many drawbacks compared to the more expensive IPS display. An IPS panel gives better colour reproduction and much better viewing angles (typically 178/178 compared to the 170/160 of a TN panel) and it is hard for the reader to fully appreciate it unless he sees the difference for himself. A simple way to test if the display of the laptop is TN or IPS is to lower the hinge while viewing a dark background, and when your eyes are almost parallel to the screen, if the screen exhibits a large colour shift from black to white, it is probably a TN screen. Most manufacturers describe their screen as TFT, which encompasses both TN and IPS, but if they were actually using an IPS display, chances are they will be advertised.

An example of a TN (left) against an IPS (right), image taken from ihacks.com

Speaking of hinge, hinges are especially important if you are planning to use in on the go, on trains and the like. Perfect hinges should have 2 qualities. First, you should be able to open the lid of the laptop using just one hand, where the weight distribution of the laptop is just nice to counter the friction. Examples of laptops which can achieve such an effect include Asus UX305 and the Dell Inspiron 15 3542. Second, the hinges should be resistant to wobbling, which can be extremely frustrating when the user is working on a report on a bus ride. An example will be the 2015 XPS 13. This is especially important for devices with touch input – it will be torturous for the user to prod at the screen with it oscillating at every touch. Examples of poor hinges include the Asus UX303 and Aftershock M15. A way to test the hinges’ stability is to gently rock the base of the laptop up and down and note the degree of oscillation. All hinges will rock about, but better hinges provide a much more tolerable experience.

In one line: Get the appropriate scren size for your workload, opt for a bright, matte IPS panel that you enjoy using, support by a strong hinge.

Battery life is especially important for all mobile devices, but many manufacturers often quote long hours or not quote them at all. It is important for the buyer to read online reviews for battery life tests, and ensure that the number is good enough for them. Furthermore, they must be sure of the testing standards and assumptions (e.g. brightness setting, applications launched, WiFi on) for them to make a better informed decision. They are also to take note of the system

emissions, like how hot the laptop runs, the direction of hot air vented out (avoid it being the same direction as the mouse), and how loud the laptop gets idle or under load.

Other than all that, there are other smaller details that readers might want to look out for when purchasing a laptop. Most people would value great sound quality, but I do not expect much from typical laptop speakers. Due to the limited physical space and budget constraints, many manufacturers include a sub-par sound system which often produces tinny music and weak bass. However, there are some laptops which provide great sound quality like MSI’s GT80, with the drawback that they are usually larger in size to accommodate a subwoofer and at least stereo speakers.

Software can affect people’s decisions in making the purchase as well. Many people find that bundled Anti-virus or Microsoft Office is a great incentive for them to get a laptop. If you are the sort of person who will appreciate these freebies, a great chance for you to get more freebies would be IT fairs like the upcoming COMEX. Some others prefer a clean OS, free from any bloatware. The closest you could get to that would be a laptop from local dealer Aftershock, whose laptops contain almost a clean version of Windows with the exception of their Flexikey software, which allows users to reprogram the buttons.

Overall, it really boils down to personal usage and preference. The potential buyer must predict the type of activities that he will be doing with the laptop, as well as how often he would be carrying the laptop around. Other aspects of the laptop would be a general recommendation, like getting a laptop with a good screen. There are many things that the specs sheet would leave out, and it is potential buyer’s responsibility to read up online for reviews on the particular few models that he is considering. My favourite laptop review site would be notebookcheck.net, a German review site offering a balanced review on the latest international and European laptops. For local products, make sure to check hardwarezone.com as well as its forums, and local tech groups such as Tech Lingo (https://www.facebook.com/techlingo?fref=ts).

I will now do a summary of the key points to take note of, as well as attempt to recommend some models to the different groups of people.

Summary

Processor

1) i7 is generally better than i5 and i3, but they are not necessarily more powerful. The suffixes matter even more when talking about raw computing power.

2) –H and –M suffixes are 47-57W processors, they are more powerful than the 15W –U or 4.5W Core M processors, at the cost of greatly reduced battery life with all other things kept constant.

3) From generation 4 Haswell to gen 5 Broadwell, laptops are more efficient with their battery, but not so much in performance.

4) 6th gen Skylake chips are set to come out in September, possibly during COMEX. They are likely to provide better performance and interested buyers might want to hold off their purchase until they are released.

5) Low CPU requirement usages include report writing, web browsing, media consumption

and simple online games. Most people from this category should be more than satisfied with the i5-5200U. For those who prefer slightly cheaper processors similar in performance can opt for the i5-4200U. Those with really light workloads can go for the Core M (e.g. -5Y71) for increased battery life and possibly fanless operation. Those with a higher budget can go for the i7-5500U but the difference is roughly 10-15% peak performance and hardly noticeable in real life.

6) High CPU requirement usages include content creation, programming, scraping, running virtual machines, numerical analysis, CAD or playing modern games. People from this category should look upwards of i7-4700HQ such as 4710/4720HQ, up to 4980HQ or even 4790K found in the Aftershock W15. The drawback is that they generate large amounts of heat, drain battery life quickly, and are expensive.

Graphics Card1) A discrete graphics card will put a strain on the weight, battery life and budget of a laptop,

but if it is well managed it can bring a marked improvement in several applications including but not limited to games.

2) Low GPU requirement usages include web browsing, spreadsheet processing, CAD rendering, Lightroom processing and non-CUDA programming. A balanced card will be the GT840M or GT940M.

3) High GPU requirement usages include Photoshop, post-render CAD, CUDA programming and games. A card suitable for people who use these applications often is GTX 950M and above.

RAM1) Typical laptop RAM has a SODIMM form factor, which is different from the DIMM form

factor that desktops use.2) Dual channel RAM is faster than single channel RAM. Individual RAM sticks are clocked at

different frequencies and latencies. Today’s DDR3 sticks are rated at 800-2133 MT/s and have a clock cycle of around 9-11. Higher frequencies and lower latencies translate to better performance.

3) Applications that gobble up RAM include Chrome with multiple tabs open, virtual machines, programming, Photoshop, CAD, large spreadsheets and certain games. An 8GB dual channel solution will suffice for most users in this category, and 16GB is usually more than enough.

4) Simple text editing, media consumption and web browsing with small numbers of tabs open do not require that much RAM. 4GB is usually enough, though it is difficult to find a 2x2GB dual channel solution. 2GB should be considered the bare minimum nowadays for laptops.

Storage1) HDDs have a much higher capacity per dollar ratio. They are good at storing data for long

amounts of time, and large capacities are easily available for a low cost. They are well suited for archival purposes.

2) SSDs are much faster than HDDs and many applications benefit from SSDs. Their impact on the everyday performance of laptops is usually more apparent than having a better processor. They are much more expensive than HDDs and come in smaller capacities, so they are better suited to store applications and startup media.

3) Things that benefit especially much from SSDs include the OS, Lightroom, Microsoft Office, and any program that involves saving or retrieving data from the storage media.

4) Get a SSD and HDD combo (usually 128GB + 1TB), using the SSD as the boot drive, and HDD as a storage for files, music and photos. This is a cost effective solution, instead of having a large 512GB SSD for storing files, or a pure HDD solution being very slow. Opt for a pure SSD combo and external HDD instead of a pure HDD solution.

5) Some laptops have more than one physical slot for additional SSD slots. Buyers who are interested in running the drives on RAID should consult the manufacturer’s website on upgradability options and warranty issues regarding opening up the bottom of the laptop.

Case1) The user must enjoy the design (build, material, weight and screen etc.) of the laptop. This

is very important, and is usually the factor differentiating different manufacturers. Most internals are roughly similar, but this is what sets a great laptop apart from a good laptop.

2) Aluminium (or magnesium alloy/carbon fibre) etc. is generally better than plastic, but if thermals, weight and structural integrity are managed well, a plastic case might be acceptable as well.

3) For all cases, test the structural integrity by applying gradual pressure on the keyboard between the j and k letters on the keyboard, and notice any flexing. Do the same on the left and right palm rests. Flexing indicates structural weakness and an annoyance in typing. These are the areas (along with the touchpad) that the user is most likely going to interact with the laptop.

4) Test, on the same 3 areas, if they are warm to the touch. Most laptops as display sets will be left idling or looping video for a prolonged period in showrooms. If they are uncomfortably warm, avoid the laptops. Only get a laptop that you will enjoy using.

5) Laptops with the MIL-STD-810 or equivalent specifications are good, but expensive. Choose them if you are particularly prone to accidents.

6) Choose an appropriate weight for your needs. Below 2kg is a good gauge for people who travel with their laptops often, and below 3kg is acceptable for people use their laptops primarily as a desktop replacement. Lighter laptops might be more expensive due to the amount of engineering involved to balance power and battery with weight loss.

7) Get a laptop with a keyboard that you enjoy using. Open up notepad on display laptops and type in snippets of what you think you are likely going to type for the duration of the laptop’s lifespan to gauge the typing experience.

8) Get a laptop with suitably low emissions (thermal exhaust, noise) while maintaining cool operating temperatures.

Connectivity1) Opt for a laptop sufficient USB ports (3 will be a good number), a RJ45 port,

multiple/suitable display output options and card reader if needed.2) Opt for a laptop with a 2x2 802.11ac standard for faster wireless speeds and less

interference.

Screen1) Get the correct screen size for your requirements. Smaller screen sizes typically mean

lighter laptops, but larger screens are better for productivity.2) For screens 14” and below, WXGA (1366x768 pixels) should be the minimum, and for 15.6”

and above, FHD (1920x1080 pixels) should be the minimum when considering your laptop.3) Go for a screen that provides a brightness of more than 250cd/m2. Alternatively, vary the

brightness and make sure that it is comfortable to view in the brightly lit environment of the showroom. You can check for backlight uniformity by opening up PowerPoint or a completely black image and seeing if there are any bright patches on the dark screen.

4) Matte screens are easier to see under bright light, and glossy screens are typically clearer. Most touchscreens are glossy. Opt for one that you would prefer, but if the laptop were to be used outdoors, matte screens are typically preferred.

5) Opt for IPS panels rather than TN panels as they offer better colour accuracy, contrast and viewing angles at the cost of price and speed. Some gamers might prefer TN panels. A way to test them is to lower the lid and see if there is any noticeable colour change; if there is a colour change, it is likely that it is a TN screen.

6) Sturdy hinges that do not allow the screen to wobble about during usage, typically in public transport, are important as they reduce eye strain and annoyance. Well-designed laptops allow the user to lift up the lid with only one hand.

Others1) Get a laptop with good battery life, appropriate for the estimated time you think you are

going to spend away from a socket.2) Most vendors do not supply the values, so interested buyers should read online reviews to

know more about the product that they are planing to get before making the purchase.

Laptop recommendations

By now, all my readers should be aware that there is no one perfect laptop that can satisfy everybody's needs. However, there are some laptops that outdo others in certain areas, and are recommended by me and other review websites. These are all opinions and guidelines, and ultimately the decision to get the laptop that suits you is still yours.

Thin and light

Budget

HP Stream 13 ($350 – COMEX pricing)

Image taken from pcmag.com

Image taken from itfairsg.com

At $350 (COMEX pricing), this is the ultimate barebones laptop. There is not much you can do with this laptop: no performance intensive applications and no modern games. All you can do is browse the web, use Facebook applications and write reports. Fortunately, this is what a great number of people do, and most people would not want to lug around a powerful but heavy laptop to do such simple tasks. The Stream is light enough to be a travel companion at 1.55kg yet having “Up to 7 hours and 45 minutes” (quoted from HP) of battery life. Performance is basic with an Intel Celeron N2840 (incorrectly advertised as Duo Core – the correct term should be dual-core), but at least it gets the job done.

The SSD is misleading as well as it is not the conventional NAND flash used in more expensive models, but is an eMMC solution and performance of the storage drive resembles more closely to an SD card. Still, it keeps the weight and the cost of the laptop down, and users who need more storage can back up documents to cloud storage. The WiFi chip is a 1x1 802.11n module, and the screen is an acceptable 13.3” 1366x768 TN panel. 2GB on RAM is mediocre but enough for light to normal usage. Build quality is good despite being primarily made from plastic and the colour appeals to some individuals.

Overall, the cheap price, acceptable weight, inviting aesthetics and great battery life make the Stream a comfortable purchase for students and adults who do not do processor intensive work.

Mid-rangeUX305 ($999 – PC Show pricing)

Images taken from itfairsg.com, laptopmag.com

In my personal opinion, this is the most value for money ‘ultrabook’. While the term used to have a precise definition, it is now widely accepted by the public to loosely define any extremely thin and light laptop. And thin and light are the right words to describe the UX305FA. The UX305FA is borderline anorexic at 12mm thick and at a mere 1.2kg, it is easy to forget that you are carrying a fully capable laptop with up to 9 hours of battery life. Its competitors include the $2300 Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro and the $1800 Acer Aspire S7-393, and the reason for their hefty price tag is the amount of engineering to pack a balance of power, battery and structural integrity into a tiny package. Costing roughly half as much, the UX305 does not fall behind in terms of build. Constructed from aluminium, the chassis is light, sturdy and feels premium to the touch. However, it lacks the QHD+ and WQHD touchscreens of their competitors, and it is missing 4GB of RAM as well. 4GB of RAM in this laptop is still ample for most people, and despite its low cost, it has a FHD IPS display offering great contrast and viewing angles.

In terms of performance, the laptop is equipped with Intel’s Core M processor which sips at the battery while delivering okay performance. Do not expect to play games or run CAD on this laptop, as while it may deliver good performance and even Turbo for short periods of time, sustained performance is lacking as compared to the main Core processors. This is because the UX305 is a fanless laptop, and as its storage is handled by an ample 128GB SSD, there are no moving mechanical parts inside the laptop.

This laptop is recommended for people with light to moderate workloads and spends much of their time using the laptop on the go as it is light and well built. Very little laptops at this price point have premium features like its light weight, full aluminium construction, and FHD IPS display. However, it tends to get hot as it is passively cooled, and its performance can only meet the expectations of people who mainly do web browsing or word processing.

UX303 ($1698 – PC Show pricing)

Images taken from itfairsg.comThe bigger brother of the UX305, the UX303 is a more comprehensive package. While the

UX303LB is going for a recommended $1698, there may be UX303LN models going for $1450 and below, and the performance difference is roughly 10% apart and is negligible in everyday usage. The UX303LB comes equipped with a powerful i7-5500U, capable of handling any normal tasks while balancing it out with up to 7 hours of web surfing. It comes with a decent GT940M, capable of running MOBA games at lower settings and more than enough if you are not a gamer. The DQ058H comes with a gorgeous QHD+ touch display, 8GB of RAM and an ample 1TB HDD with 24GB of SSD cache to speed up your programs. Another variant comes with 256GB of pure SSD and a FHD matte IPS display and would be the better choice for people who do not rely on touch input. There is hardly a reason to, however, as it is not a convertible and the hinges on this laptop are weak and bouncy.

Thankfully, that is the only weak part of the case, and the rest of the laptop is made with aluminium, exhibiting no noticeable flexing on any areas while keeping a low weight of 1.5 kg. Power, style, and battery life all combined into an affordable and well-built machine, this is probably the most balanced laptop for people who remain undecided on what to get.

Other recommendations:Larger size – Asus K401LBIt has specs similar to the UX303LB but is significantly cheaper. It is heavier and has a screen size of 14”. Its plastic base traps heat so get it together with a laptop cooler.

High-endXPS13 ($2199 COMEX pricing)

Images taken from cnet.com, itfairsg.com

This is arguably the most beautiful laptop in the market. With its infinity display, the laptop has the size of a typical 11” laptop while hiding its beautiful 13.3” QHD IPS touch panel. Unlike the UX303, hinges are sturdy and pleasant to use, and the rest of the case is made with carbon fibre, giving a premium feel unlike any other. The starting price of $1799 gives you the i5-5200U and a 128GB SSD and a FHD IPS non-touch display, so depending on how much you value the touch display, it may be a worthwhile upgrade.

It also comes with the a 2x2 802.11ac wireless module and weighs a paltry 1.2kg, light enough to follow you anywhere. This laptop is more of a fashion statement than a workhorse, but it can get the job done – beautifully.

Other recommendations:Convertible functionality – Lenovo Yoga Pro 3 ($2299 – COMEX pricing)The Yoga Pro allows the user to use the laptop in more ways than one. At 1.2kg, it is comfortable to carry around, and has a great keyboard. However, its Core M processor is not as capable for extended periods of time as the i7 processor of the XPS 13.

Ezel Hinge – Acer Aspire R7-371T ($1998 – COMEX pricing)The Ezel Aero Hinge of the R7-371T is another way of making the laptop gain tablet functionality. It has the same i7 processor as the XPS 13 as well as 256GBx2 in RAID 0, making it extremely fast. The touch screen can be used with an active digitiser pen (bought separately) to take notes in tablet form, making it a truly versatile machine.

PowerfulAftershock SM-15 ($1721 as configured, COMEX pricing)

The Aftershock SM-15 is a customisable laptop, as are any other Aftershock laptops. Compared to its rivals, it is nothing flashy – it does not have the SteelSeries keyboard of MSI laptops, or the bold red lines of Asus’s ROG family. It is a deceptively clean looking laptop that contains beefy hardware at a price that undercuts its competitors. Combined with outstanding service from the crew, this is the gaming laptop to get on a budget.

It rocks the new high performance i7-6700HQ processor capable of handling

anything but the most demanding tasks, chewing through CAD and Photoshop with ease. The GTX 960M could even handle tougher games on lower settings, and 8GB of RAM and the 1TB HDD should be more than sufficient for most people. I would recommend adding on a 128GB SSD (+$79, PC Show pricing) to make it extra zippy. The 15.6” FHD matte screen provides good viewing angles and is apparently colour calibrated. It has a powerful wireless module installed as well.

At this price point, however, you would expect some cost cutting measures to be taken. The chassis is predominantly plastic (though it is extremely rigid and provides a satisfying feel) and the hinges are wobbly. However, chances are that you would not be lugging around this 2.5kg laptop everywhere you go, so it should not be a major problem.

For most gamers and users of demanding applications, the SM-15 is a no-frills system hiding powerful internals, and is probably the most bang-for-your-buck laptop.

Other recommendationsMore power - Aftershock S-15 (Up to $2599, COMEX pricing)

If the SM-15 is does not satisfy the thirst for power, Aftershock’s premium S-15 should do the job. An additional $900 approx. can net you the newest DDR4 memory, 120GB of SSD, and a full aluminium body. You would also get NVidia’s most powerful mobile card, the GTX 980M (8GB GDDR5) and a whole lot of envy from others.

Images taken from itfairsg.com Aftershock pamphlet

More beauty, less weight – Asus G501 ($2898 COMEX pricing)

Image taken from itfairsg.com

Coming in at a mere 2.1kg, this laptop is underweight by gaming standards. Within its svelte figure, it has a powerful i7-4720HQ processor and the GTX 960M graphics card, but at $2898 (COMEX pricing), you get a 512GB PCIe SSD (it just means fast) and a gorgeous QFHD screen. However, to play games at their max setting would probably require you to dial the resolution down to FHD.

Photo editing – Razer Blade ($2499 PC Show pricing)

The Razer Blade has pretty comparable specs to the S-15, but it has arguably the best laptop screen available now. The QHD+ IGZO screen allows photographers and other content creators to do colour sensitive work on the go, and it is light at 2.0kg. Though this is primarily marketed as a gaming product, I would recommend this to professionals more than gamers as while the SSD is fast, it would not be possible to store many games on it. Of course, gaming on the job becomes a new possibility with this machine.

Image taken from itfairsg.com, Gamepro pamphlet