Here's what we know so far. Windows 11 is coming Oct. You may have to wait until mid to install it. The system requirements as outlined by Microsoft would seem to cover nearly any Windows PC sold today.
The company also says, "Windows 11 Home edition requires internet connectivity and a Microsoft account to complete device setup on first use. Here are the system requirements for Windows Read more: How to check whether your laptop will run Windows For Mac and iPhone or iPad users, the annual operating system upgrade has become largely seamless.
Changes are generally incremental and downloading and installing the updates is easy. And because there are only a handful of hardware variations, all made by Apple, there are few but not zero compatibility problems. Read more: Who should buy a new Mac now and who should wait. But there have always been legit reasons to keep your old hardware on its current OS and not upgrade. The switch between Windows 7 and Windows 8 was Many people skipped Windows 8 and held out for Windows 10, which was much better.
Some of those holdouts even resisted Windows 10, with some valid concerns. Going for a step-up model with a bigger drive and more RAM is probably a good idea. Not all laptops include the ports you depend on. If you need USB-A or an SD card reader, make sure your chosen laptop has those specific ports before buying, or budget for an adapter. Many everyday laptops are available for testing at big brick-and-mortar stores such as Apple, Best Buy, and the Microsoft Store, allowing you to fiddle with the touchpad, keyboard, software interface, and other components that substantially differ from model to model.
A bigger display allows for a more expansive and often better viewing experience, but it also cuts into the portability factor. If you rarely leave your home with your system, consider a Tunnel vision is bad news when buying a laptop.
Ensure the laptop you want has the features and hardware you need — anything else that comes in under budget is just a bonus. Ultrabooks have risen to become one of the most popular types of laptops, and it can be very tempting to assume they are the best choice for you automatically. While most people will find the performance more than enough, creatives and professionals might need workstation-class hardware to handle the intensive software needed for their job.
In particular, you may need something with a powerful graphics card, while most inch ultrabooks use an integrated one. Tablets, 2-in-1s, and laptops are distinct categories. While you can perform many tasks with a tablet and keyboard as you can with a laptop, the similarities soon end.
Tablets remain far more constricting when it comes to multitasking, fast web browsing, using complex apps, or running demanding software. Instead, first look to see if the GPU is integrated, discrete, or more rarely a combination of both.
Below is a section on every major component you'll want to know about when you browse for your next PC. We break down the jargon and try to explain things on a practical level. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Before you begin to look at laptops, you must figure out which operating system OS works best for you.
Thinking through what software you need to run and on which operating systems that software runs will help you determine the hardware you need. There are four major computer operating systems. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. Here's an overview of each:. Once you know which operating system you want and have some idea of the software you're going to run, you can figure out the minimum hardware specifications you'll need.
The first thing we suggest looking at is the processor, also referred to as the chip or the CPU. Intel's main processors are the Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9. The Core i3 is the least powerful, the Core i9 is the most powerful.
We usually drop the "Core" from the name because it gets repetitive. Within each of these chip lines, Intel uses cryptic strings of numbers and letters that give you more information about that chip's capabilities and when it came out. Learning to decipher it will help you make better buying decisions. Here's Intel's guide to its model naming. Intel Core iU is how a laptop manufacturer's websites might list the type of processor. Let's break it down. The first numbers "10" refer to the generation; in this case it's a 10th-generation chip.
The iU would be a ninth-generation chip, or one that's probably a year or so older. The next two or three numbers "" are related to performance. The higher these numbers are, the more powerful the chip is. This is only true within that chip line, though. The i7 chip is always more powerful than the i5, and the difference is greater than the difference between any two chips in the same chip line. The letter at the end of the chip name "U" in our example is Intel's designation for the chip's purpose.
For laptops, the letters you'll see at the end are Y, U, and H. The only one you need to worry about are the Y series chips, which are optimized for battery life. That's good if you're frequently away from a plug for long periods of time, but that added battery life comes at the expense of some performance.
The next two numbers don't have much impact on anything. Other letter designations include U for ultra-low power. Is there a huge difference between Intel and AMD chips?
My experience, testing dozens of both every year, is that … it depends. Generally speaking, an Intel i5 is indistinguishable from a Ryzen 5, outside of very specific benchmarks. They're similar when you're doing things like browsing the web or editing documents. The same goes for the Intel i7 and Ryzen 7, and the Intel i3 and the Ryzen 3. Graphics performance is the other area you'll notice a difference.
In my testing, in both benchmarks and real work use, AMD's integrated graphics tend to perform better than Intel on graphics-intensive tasks—think editing video or playing games. Intel's most recent series of chips have closed that gap significantly, but AMD still has an edge.
You may benefit from buying an AMD machine if you're a video editor or gamer, but what you most likely want is a dedicated graphics card. More on that in the GPU section below. If you're a typical user who runs a web browser, Microsoft's Office Suite, and perhaps even some photo editing software, we recommend a laptop with an Intel Core i5 eighth-generation or later processor. If you can afford it, an Intel i7 chip makes a nice upgrade and will make your laptop feel snappier.
The extra power often means shorter battery life, though, so you'll need to balance that with your needs. A gaming laptop, for instance, would use an i7 or i9 chip, but an i3 or i5 is usually fine for less demanding tasks. Likewise, for the average user the AMD Ryzen series will suffice, but the Ryzen makes a nice upgrade—again at the cost of battery life. If you compile software, edit video, or work with very large databases you're going to want more processing power than the rest of us.
I suggest an Intel i7 or Ryzen 7. You'll also want to load up on RAM, but we'll get to that in a minute. Chrome OS is built around Google's Chrome web browser and runs most software directly in the browser. That means it doesn't need big, powerful Intel chips. That's the theory, at least. Here are my favorite Chromebooks. That series is powerful enough for most tasks and offers great battery life—a combination that's more difficult to find in Intel-powered Chromebooks.
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