{"id":14061,"date":"2022-09-08T14:37:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T14:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/09\/08\/what-makes-a-good-laptop\/"},"modified":"2022-09-08T14:37:23","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T14:37:23","slug":"what-makes-a-good-laptop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/09\/08\/what-makes-a-good-laptop\/","title":{"rendered":"What makes a good laptop?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/9\/8\/23317521\/good-laptop-college-business-gaming-video-editing-2022<\/a>
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One of the things about this job is that everyone in your life \u2014 from friends to relatives to distant acquaintances and strangers on the internet \u2014 asks you questions<\/a> about laptops all the time. A very common one I hear is also one of the harder ones to answer: \u201cWhat makes a good laptop?\u201d <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, my dear question asker, that answer \u2014 as is the case with so many answers in life \u2014 is subjective. Sometimes I will hate a laptop that my fellow reviewers love, and vice versa. (I\u2019m always the one who\u2019s right, of course. Don\u2019t listen to them.) <\/p>\n

But this question has prompted me to step back and do a bit of introspection (as one does). What distinguishes a laptop that I like <\/em>from a laptop that is good<\/em>? <\/p>\n

First off, it\u2019s much easier to think of what makes a laptop not good<\/em>. One hour of battery life? Not good. One USB-C port, and that\u2019s it? Not good. Takes 12 minutes to boot up? Not good. Costs $8,000? Probably not good unless it comes with a free car or something. And that\u2019s just from the top of my head \u2014 I could rattle these off all day.<\/p>\n

But the question of what is <\/em>good is much harder, I think, because so many devices cater to very different audiences and use cases. A seven-hour battery lifespan might be a requirement for a good ultraportable, but not for a good gaming rig. A discrete GPU is probably required for a good gaming laptop but certainly not for a business-oriented convertible. <\/p>\n

There are many features (specific ports, screen resolutions and refresh rates, the keyboard feel, the bezel size) that people will reasonably disagree on the value of. But I do <\/em>think there is a set of things that a general-purpose laptop (like anything that looks remotely like a MacBook Air<\/a>) should have in order to be \u201cgood.\u201d I will be hesitant to recommend an ultrabook that doesn\u2019t meet these requirements, and other reviewers should be, too. If you\u2019re shopping for a general-purpose laptop, you should be making sure you\u2019re buying one that meets these criteria, regardless of other preferences you may have.<\/p>\n