Buyer’s guide to premium laptops Style, size and weight
Here’s a premium laptop wishlist, including perhaps the most important part: what’ s not worth paying extra for
While there are premium gaming laptops and premium mobile workstations, for this Labs we’ve chosen to focus on thin-and-light designs with touchscreen capabilities. These come in a range of convertible formats, not to mention more traditional laptop styles, but they all offer strong design, high-end materials and the kind of screens and features you won’t find on the average laptop. Just factor in the following when you make your choice.
Unless you’re looking for a big screen or raw horsepower, premium laptops are all about getting maximum style and usability inside the minimum size and weight. After a few years where the 13.3in laptop was king, the preferred size seems to be drifting down to the 12 to 12.5in of the Surface Pro and MacBook, while the ideal thickness is creeping downwards to between 15 and 17mm.
The smaller and thinner you get, the more compromises you have to make in terms of usability, but premium laptops are getting around this with space-saving keyboard designs, while all or part-metal constructions ensure that thin-and-light doesn’t mean fragile. You can go bigger if you want something to work on all day, or smaller if you prioritise mobility, but 12 to 13in gives you an effective balance.
Versatility
Some premium laptops are just laptops, while others try to give you the best of both laptop and tablet worlds. It’s best to think analytically about your needs here. Are you going to be mostly focused on keyboard work? Would you benefit from a bigger screen on the move? Do you need lots of ports? Do you actually plan to use it on your lap? Then a laptop might be best for you.
On the other hand, is your priority to take digital notes with a stylus? Do you need something you can keep in a bag and use in cramped conditions? Do you use touch-friendly apps or like having a tablet for watching movies? Then a tablet-style convertible such as the Surface Pro may serve you better.
In between, you have the 2-in-1 convertibles where a 360-degree hinge allows the screen to fold flat against the back of the laptop and work like a tablet, or the laptop to work in a screen-outwards tent configuration. This can be a great compromise, but inevitably you’re getting a heavier device than the tablet-style convertible.
Screen and sound
Screen quality and resolution have become real differentiators for premium laptops, and while sensible people used to say that 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) was good enough below 15in, high-density 1440p (2,560 x 1,440) displays are rapidly changing minds. You get spectacular, crystal-clear images and video, plus a flexible working space for apps – at least those that can cope with such high resolutions, as not all can. Beyond that, though, there are big differences in terms of colour accuracy, colour depth and contrast – even premium laptops don’t always get these right.
Sound isn’t as important, but some of the models on test can deliver epic audio worthy of a blockbuster movie, while others dish out the kind of thin, brash noise we’re used to from laptop speakers. That’s not a problem if you’re going to plug in headphones, but bear it in mind.
Core specification
Thin-and-light design always leaves manufacturers with a dilemma. High-end users want a laptop that does everything, but the more powerful the processor, the more drain on the
battery in use and the more effort that has to go into cooling the thing.
Manufacturers are getting sneaky here, often using low-power variants of Intel’s i5 and i7 CPUs – usually of the Y-series, which have a name format of 7Yxx. Like most mobile Intel CPUs, these are dual-core, fourth-read chips, but they don’t match the performance of the mainstream i5 and i7 products. Your laptop will still handle most sensible tasks, but don’t get the impression that you’ll be editing 4K video or playing the latest
Call of Duty game – thin-and-light design and high-end graphics still don’t go together.
Otherwise, look for lots of RAM – 8GB is a sensible minimum and 12 to 16GB even better – and plentiful storage. With excellent housekeeping, some people can get buy on 128GB for a secondary laptop, but 256GB seems like a sensible minimum to us. We’d lean to 512GB if budgets allow.
Battery life
It’s hard to find a premium laptop that doesn’t promise all-day battery life, but the actual meaning of that “all-day” varies. In some cases it means eight hours provided you stick to lightweight tasks, turn the brightness down and don’t ask much of the Wi-Fi, while other laptops will storm through ten to 12 hours of moderately heavy usage. If you’re looking for something to use while travelling, buy accordingly. Even premium laptops aren’t so great when they won’t turn on.
Connectivity
The thinner and lighter laptops get, the more connectivity tends to suffer. USB-C is rapidly becoming standard, which is a good thing in terms of size and in that you can share a power adapter with a high-end smartphone. We’re also seeing more third-party USB-C port replicators appear.
However, USB-C means that you’ll need a dongle to connect most of your existing peripherals and, if you have your laptop charging, you’ll need a dongle to plug anything in. Even in an era where more displays offer wireless connectivity, having a physical HDMI or DisplayPort output is desirable, but a growing number of thin-and-light models don’t include one, or require a separate docking solution. If you plan to use your laptop both at your desk and on the road, bear this in mind.
On the wireless side, there’s better news. It’s hard to find a premium or even mid-range laptop without 802.11ac and impossible to find one without Bluetooth.
“If you have the kind of handwriting that horrifies primary-school teachers, is it worth spending extra to doodle the odd note?”
Pens and extras
Touch and pen functionality are now a key differentiator for high-end laptops, particularly Microsoft’s new Surface lineup where PixelSense displays and 4,096-pressure-level styluses make for devices with artistic aspirations. Microsoft is also pushing the idea of digital note-taking heavily, believing – quite realistically – that notes have more value if they can be stored, searched and shared through the cloud.
That’s all very good and exciting, but be realistic about how much you’ll use that functionality. If your work is primarily keyboard-driven and you have the kind of handwriting that horrifies primary-school teachers, then is it really worth spending extra just to doodle the odd note? Instead, your must-have feature might be Windows Hello security, either through a fingerprint scanner or a compliant camera. Signing in without a password might seem unimportant, but it’s great for strong security - and once you’ve tried it you’ll never want to go back.