Laptops Buyers Guide

A laptop is an alternative to a PC and the obvious choice when it comes to portability. However, there are many types of laptop on the market right now, from a traditional hinged screen and keyboard to touchscreen versions and even detachable screens forming a 2-in-1 laptop / tablet device. In this guide we’ll take a look at the different facets of a Windows-based laptop and offer advice as to the best options to choose for given scenarios, whether for home use or professional workloads. We also a separate dedicated guide to Apple Macbook laptops.

Laptop Dimensions

The first decision you need to make is what screen size you want in your laptop. Popular sizes include 12.3” at the 2-in-1 end, up to 13.5” and 15.6” at the mid-range and high-end. While a larger screen is obviously more practical for graphics applications and large spreadsheets, it does come at the expensive of weight, so if you’re going to take your laptop around with you a lot a smaller screen may be preferable. It is also worth remembering that a larger laptop may also require a dedicated bag, whereas a small one will fit into a regular bag.

It’s also a good idea to look at the weight and thickness of the laptop. High-end laptops tend to be made from lightweight metal, whereas cheaper laptops are made from heavier plastic. You’ll also pay a premium for thinner laptops versus a thicker bulkier laptop, however you’ll also pay for versatility too.

Laptop dimensions also have a huge impact on battery life. This is one of those things that will be incredibly important for some people and not important for others. If you spend a lot of time travelling for business then its crucial to buy a laptop with as long a battery life as possible. These days, batteries can last as much as a whole working day, but this depend on what you’re doing. For instance, working offline isn’t very demanding on the battery, while connecting to a WiFi or 5G network will drain the battery much faster. Similarly, using several applications at once will get through the battery quicker. It’s also fair to say that generally speaking the thinner and lighter the laptop, the less space there is a for a high capacity battery, so it won’t last as long on the road.

The table below compares the dimensions and battery life of the families of products from the popular Microsoft Surface range.


MODEL	Surface Pro	Surface Laptop
DEVICE TYPE	2:1	Laptop
SCREEN SIZE	< SMALLER LARGER >
THICKNESS	< THINNER THICKER >
WEIGHT	< LIGHTER HEAVIER >
BATTERY LIFE	< SHORTER LONGER >
PRICE	< CHEAPER COSTLIER >

Laptop Screens

The two key characteristics to look out for in a laptop screen are the resolution, which is the sharpness, and if you want a touchscreen.

Resolution

Resolution is the number of pixels (the tiny dots that make up the image) that the screen possesses - it is shown as a number for screen length and a number of screen height. The higher the resolution the sharper and clearer applications will appear. If you’re going spend a lot of time using graphics applications or spreadsheets you’re more likely to want as high a resolution as possible, a variety of which are displayed on the image opposite.

Most laptops also have at least one graphics output for you to connect an external monitor. This is often a preferred method of using your laptop at home - we’ll cover this a bit more later.

Laptop Processors

The most important aspect of laptop performance is the processor. CPU choice essentially comes down to what you intend to use the laptop for - light web browsing, basic work applications such as Word or Excel, more graphically-demanding tasks such as Photoshop. You should make your decision based on the most intensive workloads to ensure the laptop doesn’t struggle with any work you wish to do - even if you don’t intend to use a processor hungry application very often, you’ll still notice the problems you have when you do use it if your processor is underpowered.

If your usage will be limited to just web browsing and simple software packages such as Word, then you may want to consider a more budget laptop featuring an Intel Atom or Celeron processor; or AMD Athlon or A-Series.

However, for a more capable laptop you should look at a laptop with one of the following CPUs: AMD Ryzen, Intel Core, Intel Core Ultra or Qualcomm Snapdragon. Each of these brands produces a wide range of laptop CPUs, which can be roughly divided into the following groups. Intel has recently added to its Core range with the Ultra series, aimed at premium laptops, offering built-in AI acceleration to boost productivity and improved efficiency.


AMD PROCESSORS	INTEL PROCESSORS	QUALCOMM PROCESSORS
MID-RANGE -> HIGH-END	MID-RANGE -> HIGH-END	MID-RANGE -> HIGH-END

Laptop Memory

Following your processor choice, it is important to ensure that its performance will not be hindered by lack of memory or RAM within your laptop. Usually the base memory listed will be in line with the processor’s capabilities – an entry-level laptop will feature 4GB, mid-range laptops 8GB and high-end laptops 16GB or more of memory. If you intend to use numerous applications together or one or two graphic heavy ones, then consider upgrading the memory capacity. This can be done at the time of buying or a later date, as your needs develop.

32GB RAM

ULTRA-HIGH-END

(multitasking & graphical application)

16GM RAM

HIGH-END

(multi-tasking )

8GB RAM

MID-RANGE

(office productivity)

4GB RAM

ENTRY-LEVEL

( light web use )

Operating System

Most laptops come preinstalled with Windows 11, the latest operating system from Microsoft. It is available in two main versions - Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro. But which one should you choose?

Pro is safer and easier to manage if your business has lots of PCs. In addition, you can link a Pro device to a domain, which isn't possible with Home. Pro also has useful features such as Remote Desktop to remotely connect to another PC in the office.

For further details please read our WINDOWS BUYERS GUIDE.

Microsoft CoPilot+ Laptops

You may also see some laptops being advertised as supporting Microsoft CoPilot+. This certifies that the laptop has a sufficiently powerful NPU (Neural Processing Unit) that works alongside the CPU (see section above) to accelerate AI tasks.

Laptop Storage

A Solid State Drive (SSD) is highly recommended in any laptop, not only as they consume less power than a traditional spinning hard disk, but they also help to boost battery life and weigh less too. These are both key factors in making the laptop as portable as possible and less prone to damage as the SSD has no moving-parts to affect whilst the laptop is being moved about. The amount of storage capacity you choose very much depends on what usage or applications you will use and whether you intend to store things like music, photos or videos on it. Depending on photo resolution, HD or 4K video, these types of files can be large so allowing room to grow is key.

Laptop Connectivity

The size and thickness of your chosen laptop will govern the amount of inbuilt connectivity it has. Unlike desktop PCs, which can be easily upgraded over time, laptops have a fixed specification so its important to look at what ports it has, i.e. USB, Thunderbolt, DisplayPort, HDMI, Ethernet and Bluetooth. Don’t forget to check the WiFi capability too, as this is the most common way to connect a laptop to the Internet. The tables below show the major differences between the most common ports and WiFi found on laptops.

USB

Standard	Bandwidth	Connector
2.0	480Mb/s	USB A
3.0	5Gb/s	USB A
3.1	10Gb/s	USB A
3.2	20Gb/s	USB C
4.0	40Gb/s	USB C
4 2.0	80Gb/s	USB C

Thunderbolt

Standard	Bandwidth	Connector
1	10Gb/s	Mini DisplayPort
2	20Gb/s	Mini DisplayPort
3	40Gb/s	USB C
4	40Gb/s	USB C
5	80Gb/s	USB C

DisplayPort

Standard	1.3	1.4	2.0 onwards
Maximum Refresh Rate at 1440p (uncompressed)	240Hz	240Hz	240Hz
Maximum Refresh Rate at 4K (compressed with DSC)	N/A	240Hz	480Hz
Maximum Refresh Rate at 4K (uncompressed)	120Hz	120Hz	240Hz

HDMI

Standard	1.3 / 1.4	2.0	2.1 onwards
Maximum Refresh Rate at 1440p	75Hz	144Hz	240Hz
Maximum Refresh Rate at 4K	30Hz	60Hz	120Hz

Wifi

Generation	IEEE Standard	Frequency	Max. Data Rate	Max. Range
Wi-Fi 2	802.11b	2.4GHz	11Mbps	450ft
Wi-Fi 1	802.11a	5GHz	54Mbps	400ft
Wi-Fi 3	802.11g	2.4GHz	54Mbps	450ft
Wi-Fi 5	802.11ac	5GHz	1Gbps	1000ft
Wi-Fi 6 / 6E	802.11ax	2.4 / 5GHz	10Gbps	1000ft
Wi-Fi 7	802.11be	2.4 / 5GHz / 6GHz	24Gbps	1000ft

Laptop Accessories

Although you may be choosing a laptop over a PC due to the added flexibility and portability, you may still have a desk area at home where accessories will improve your user experience.

Keyboards

Every laptop includes a compact keyboard, however, if you’re sat at a desk you may prefer a full-size keyboard with number pad. There’s a huge choice out there discover Moresby browsing our range of KEYBOARDS.

Advanced Laptop Use

As this guide is primarily concerned with home office laptops, if you’re a keen gamer or want to run more graphically demanding applications such as 3D modelling and video editing it’s worth buying a specialist laptop instead as explained below.

Content Creation

If you’re planning on using your laptop for content creation applications such as music making, video editing and grading, CAD and 3D rendering then you should look for a workstation laptop instead of a standard laptop. Workstation laptops have far more powerful CPUs and GPUs than home office laptops, and often have higher resolution screens as well. You can learn more by reading our WORKSTATION LAPTOP BUYERS GUIDE.

Gaming

If you do intend to play more intensive games then you need to invest in a dedicated gaming laptop. It will still perform all the regular tasks home and work-wise you wish to do but will have better screen resolution and most importantly a dedicated GPU to properly play games. You can learn more by reading our GAMING LAPTOP BUYERS GUIDE.

Ready to buy?

There you have it, everything you need to know about choosing a new laptop. We sell a wide variety of models from top laptop brands such as Asus, MSI and Microsoft.

Browse our range of laptops.

Windows laptops Microsoft Surface Copilot+ laptops Microsoft Surface devices

Alternatively, if you have any further questions you’d like answering about laptops, don’t hesitate to call one of our friendly advisors on 01204 474747.