Gaming | Performance | Battery Life | Budget | Reliability | Portability | Audio | Storage | Optical Drives | Transfer Technology | Screen Size
You want: Gaming
What to look for: Dedicated NVIDIA Graphics
If you are a gamer then you know that FPS (frames per second) are everything when it comes to playability. Problem is, the higher you turn your graphics and resolution settings up, the lower your FPS gets.
For smooth gameplay you need at least 30 FPS or higher. Although most laptops come with Intel Integrated graphics solutions that are great for day to day use and movies, you will want a dedicated NVIDIA graphics card onboard for gaming.
A dedicated graphics card utilizes more power but features a dedicated graphics processing unit and additional video memory to handle serious gaming.
To balance battery life with gaming performance look for a laptop with NVIDIA Optimus technology. Optimus technology seamlessly switches between integrated and dedicated graphics to suit the task at hand so you are only using that extra power when you need it.
Find a laptop with NVIDIA dedicated graphics
What to look for: Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 CPU
The key is to find a processor that suits your needs. If you spend most of your time surfing the net, writing term papers, or watching HD movies you will probably be just fine with a low-voltage (and long lived) Intel Atom processor or more powerful Intel Core i3 processor that is optimized for daily tasks.
If you do more processor-intensive tasks like photo editing, video editing, or gaming, then you may want something even more powerful like an Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 processor with higher frequency ratings.
All Intel Core processors are dual-core but for additional multi-tasking performance, consider an Intel Core i7 quad-core laptop which may provide superior performance for some games and applications optimized for its quad-core architecture.
Keep in mind the trade-off that higher performance equals less battery life. If you go for an Intel Core i7 equipped laptop you will have a maximum of 3 to 5 hours of battery life.
Find a laptop with a high performance processor
What to look for: 8 hours or more
There is nothing worse than running out of juice at a critical moment, especially if you are frequently away from a power outlet all day taking notes in class or doing homework at the library or a café.
You definitely want a laptop with 8 or more hours of battery life but keep in mind that battery life is a balance between performance and portability.
Smaller laptops like Netbooks or Ultrabooks which use less powerful Intel Atom or Ultra-low voltage Intel Core CPUs can achieve long battery life with just 4 or 6-cell batteries.
For more powerful notebooks however, a larger and heavier 8-cell battery is necessary for long battery life. For example, an Intel Core i5 equipped laptop can still achieve 8-10 hours of battery life with an 8-cell battery but powerful multimedia notebooks often use 4 or 6-cell batteries to cut down on weight.
If you don’t mind the added pound or so in weight then a portable notebook with an 8-cell battery can be a good balance of performance and longevity.
Find a laptop with more than 8 hours of battery life
What to look for: Low cost solutions
While the prices of laptops vary greatly based on performance or portability the good news is that you can find many powerful and long-lived laptops for under $1,000.
An Intel Core i3 equipped laptop may cost as little as $550-$650 and easily packs the performance and storage space you need for school work and hanging out online.
For even lower cost options under $500 consider a 10” or 12” netbook or tablet ideally suited for portability and traveling but also capable of word processing and the odd movie.
More powerful Intel Core i5 notebooks with long battery life and dedicated graphics cost from $800 to $1,000 with extras like a solid-state hard drive adding to that total.
High-performance multimedia and gaming machines with Intel Core i7 processors fall into the $1,000-$2,000 price bracket.
Find a laptop in your budget: Under 250 250-500 500-750 750-1000 1000+
What to look for: Global warranty package
You cannot afford to have your notebook out for service in the middle of the semester. If reliability is what you are after then Squaretrade is a good place to start your search.
Squaretrade tracks the failure rate for new laptops which in the first 3 years of life averages 20.4% (plus another 10.6% if you include accidental damage).
The brand with the lowest recorded failure rate is ASUS, averaging just 15.6% over a 3-year period.
So what if your laptop does have a hardware malfunction? You will want to protect yourself with a global warranty that covers any issue that could arise.
ASUS notebooks come equipped with a free two-year global warranty and an additional one year free of something called “Accidental Damage Protection” that covers you in the event that you drop your notebook, spill something on it, or there is an electrical surge or fire.
Find out more about warranty details
What to look for: Lightweight solutions
Your backpack is already overloaded with heavy textbooks so lighter is better when it comes to a PC for college.
Anything less than 6lbs is decent for a 15” laptop but for a more portable solution you should look to a 13” or 14” laptop where you can expect to find many options less than 4lbs.
If you’re going to be toting your PC around in your backpack all the time or moving around a lot you might want to go with something even lighter like a netbook (typically under 3lbs) or the latest entry into the market – Ultrabooks.
Unlike netbooks that sacrifice some performance to attain their extreme portability, Ultrabooks weigh only around 2.5lbs on average and come in smaller 12” or 13” form factors while still packing relatively powerful Intel Core i5 and Core i7 low voltage processors.
For something even more portable you should look to a tablet where form factors drop to 10” or less and you can find many options under 2lbs.
What to look for: Mastered audio solutions
One thing many laptops lack is good sound. After all, it is difficult to get high performance audio out of speakers small enough to fit into an ultraportable laptop.
For superior audio we suggest looking to manufacturers that work with a dedicated audio engineering studio like Bang & Olufsen ICEpower or Altec Lansing. These solutions will utilize speakers designed specifically for smaller applications and will have audio drivers that optimize the experience.
For larger multimedia notebooks there is slightly more room to work with so look for larger built-in speakers, ideally top-facing or side-mounted for the best audio experience.
If bass is what you are after then your best bet is an external subwoofer since built-in subwoofers are rare in laptops and tend to impact portability. Look for a laptop that comes with an external subwoofer or features a second audio-out jack specifically for a subwoofer.
What to look for: 500GB or more
If you are like the average student you probably have a massive stockpile of mp3’s, movies, and photos. Add to that all of the school work you are going to accumulate each semester and you are going to want at least 320GB of space – 500GB to be safe.
Since the average notebook these days comes with between 500GB to 1TB of storage space you should not have any problem finding a hard drive large enough.
The real question to ask yourself is if you are willing to sacrifice some storage space for a boost in speed? If you are, then a solid state drive may be right for you.
A conventional hard disk drive features a physical spinning disk which is read at different rates depending on how fast it spins (typically 5,400rpm, 7,200rpm, or 10,000rpm).
The faster the disk spins, the faster you will be able to read and transfer data. Look for a laptop with a 7,200rpm hard drive if you notice long waits for file transfers.
A solid state drive on the other hand can be thought of more like the SD memory card in your camera. A solid state drive, or SSD for short, is flash memory with a far faster read/write speed and better reliability but also a higher cost per gigabyte.
An SSD can immediately cut boot-time from 45-60 seconds to just 15-20 seconds and significantly increase transfer speeds and general ‘snappiness’ of your computer.
Expect to get approximately ¼ the storage space per cost if you go this route (i.e. 128GB SSD for similar cost of 500GB HDD).
Optical disk drives:
Before you go for a multimedia laptop with a built-in DVD writer or Blu-ray drive ask yourself if you really need it. Most games and software applications are available for download these days and few people still use CDs for music.
Recommendation: Skip the DVD drive if you don’t need it as these can add 0.5” or more to the thickness of your laptop.
Although it is still reasonably fast, the USB 2.0 standard is nearly 10 years old and is starting to show its age. Announced in 2009, USB 3.0 technology transfers up to 10x faster than USB 2.0 and will make it a lot easier for you to back-up your PC or transfer data quickly between devices.
As a bonus, USB 3.0 charges devices faster as well if you need to charge your phone or mp3 device when you are in class. USB 3.0 ports are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 devices and the ports will be blue to differentiate them.
Recommendation: Look for a laptop with at least one USB 3.0 port built-in.
Your first instinct may be to go for the biggest screen possible for the best multimedia experience but keep in mind that you trade off portability for a larger screen.
Laptops with screens larger than 14” are typically thicker and heavier so you will want to stay under this mark if portability is a chief concern.
Other factors to consider are resolution and screen type. If you watch Blu-ray movies on your laptop or need a high resolution screen for gaming then you may want to consider a 1920x1080p Full HD screen but typical users will be fine with 720P (1366×768).
If you plan to use your laptop outdoors most of the time you may want to consider a non-glare type matte screen. A gloss screen will produce significantly better visuals and color but a matte screen will help to cut down on excessive glare when outdoors and can typically be found on ultraportable Netbooks or Ultrabooks.
Recommendation: Pick the largest screen possible that is still portable enough for your needs. Pick a glare-type screen unless you plan to spend most of your time outdoors.
