A laptop for serious professional work should definitely have a powerful processor, at least Ryzen 5 or Core i5, and as much RAM as possible - now it is relevant to consider 16 GB at once. Video card and quality screen - depending on the tasks.

If you need a budget gaming laptop, it should have at least eight gigabytes of RAM. It's also better to immediately look out for video cards from the RTX series, even at the entry level - they have DLSS technology available, noticeably extending the actual life of the device. When choosing a full-fledged gaming device without looking at the budget, you should look at the TDP of the processor and video card - the higher it is, the more powerful the device. A TDP of 100W or more will be considered a good level. But the more, the better - as long as the cooling could cope with this heat dissipation.

And finally, in search of a laptop with high autonomy you need to look not only at the battery performance, indicated in the value of "W*h", but also at the processor - modern AMD Ryzen is more energy efficient than models from Intel. A laptop without a discrete graphics card will work longer without charging. 

Thunderobot 911 Air Wave D

The best laptop for school and work

For a laptop that is often carried to work or study, weight and a sturdy body are important. One of the popular models on the market right now is the Thunderobot 911 Air Wave D. It weighs only 2.15 pounds and has a quality metal and plastic case that will help the device survive the road and maintain a decent appearance. The versatile notebook will cope with video processing, network gaming, and three-dimensional modeling or graphics. That's why at least an entry-level video card for such a device is a necessity.

At the price from $520 Thunderobot 911 Air Wave D can easily cope with all the above tasks, as it has an Intel Core i5-11400H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX3050 graphics card. However, the battery life does not exceed 5 hours, so you will have to carry a charger with you, which this model has quite compact.

ASUS TUF Dash F15 FX517ZM-HN157

Best Laptop for Imaging

If you are looking for a device for complex professional tasks, you will often have to look at gaming laptops. The specific requirements here vary from sphere to sphere - for example, designers need to look for models with screens with high-quality color reproduction, and editors - with a large amount of RAM and a modern graphics card.

In this case it is worth looking at ASUS TUF Dash F15 FX517ZM-HN157, the average cost of which in shops is $1000 The notebook is equipped with a powerful enough graphics card Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, which is supported by many manufacturers of professional software - it will give a noticeable increase in the speed of supported applications. And the laptop also has 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD. But despite the excellent hardware, the screen here with a very mediocre color reproduction - to achieve perfect colors on such will not work. So it is not suitable for designers.

Thunderobot 911 Air XS D

Best budget laptop for gaming

The very concept of "budget gaming laptop" is an oxymoron. But if you choose a device for entertainment without a strong blow to the wallet, you should start from the games you want to play. The heart of any gaming computer is a video card, and we will start from it.

For simple popular online games is suitable video card like Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 - this is a common budget model, which is put in many inexpensive laptops. It will be enough for all sorts of CS:GO, Dota 2 and similar network entertainment. But if you are interested in more serious projects, you should take a laptop with a graphics card from the RTX series.

Such graphics cards support the technology of advanced resolution enhancement called DLSS, which allows you to increase performance with minimal impact on the final image. Most commonly found now is the RTX 3050, a third-generation entry-level card that costs, for example, and in the Thunderobot 911 Air XS D for $700 This is a great example of an inexpensive gaming laptop. Besides, after purchase the device can be "pumped up" a bit by inserting one more RAM card, thus "getting" it up to 16 GB. However, the model has a rather modest 256 GB SSD by default, which is also solvable.

MSI Katana 17 B12VEK-482XRU

Best Gaming Laptops

When choosing a powerful gaming laptop, the rules get more complicated. The more powerful the hardware, the more advanced cooling system it requires. And often this is what helps to choose the most productive model. An indirect indicator in this situation is TDP, which shows the heat dissipation of the device. The higher this indicator is, the more heat the processor and graphics card emit during operation, and, therefore, the more powerful they are.

A good example of a gaming laptop is the MSI Katana 17 B12VEK-482XRU. It has a total TDP per system of 115 watts, which allows us to talk about the high power of the installed components. However, if you are concerned about the noise level when working, you should find out in advance how loud the computer is "overclocked". A good indicator will be noise up to 50 dB, and acceptable - up to 60. The Katana 17 falls into the latter category.

Another aspect is the screen and graphics card. The Katana 17 has a large 17-inch screen with 1080p resolution, and thanks to the fresh RTX 4050 graphics card, this bundle will remain relevant for a long time. After all, it gives you access to DLSS version 3.0 technology, which greatly improves both picture quality and performance in games. The average price of this model in stores is $1000

ASUS M1502IA-BQ093

Best laptop with long battery life

When choosing a laptop that can show a long battery life, it is worth looking for a solution without a discrete graphics card. It is also worth paying attention to energy-efficient processors - now Ryzen is especially famous for this.

The value of capacity in mAh in the case of laptops will not say as much as with smartphones - it is better to look at the indicators in Wh. For example, the ASUS M1502IA-BQ093 model has 42 W*h, which gives the computer up to eight hours without charging. With an average price of $520, the notebook has a rather productive integrated video gas pedal Radeon Vega 7, AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor, as well as 16 GB of RAM.