What laptop to buy: tips and recommendations

Given how huge the laptop market is, we've decided to do an article on which laptop to buy focusing on the Asus range of laptops. The manufacturer offers us a huge variety of products, all of them without a doubt of quality and where to choose according to our tastes.

Index of contents

But it will not only be important the design or the price, and that is why there are different ranges of products. Some for gaming, others for design, portability, 2 in 1, etc. And it is our job to clearly explain which laptop to buy and what to keep in mind.

What gives us a laptop that does not give us a desktop PC

Virtually all major manufacturers of computer hardware today have an incredible list of laptops among their flagship products. This type of personal PC in the form of a portable device has had an incredible evolution in recent years.

Much of the blame lies with miniaturization, and the incredible records we've come to in terms of CPU and electronics assembly. And it is that in just 2 square centimeters of processor they are capable of introducing billions of transistors, at 14, 12 and 7 nm each. This translates into more power, less consumption and more space savings, the result? Much thinner, more efficient and above all powerful laptops.

Just a few years ago it was almost a dream to be able to use a laptop to render videos, use it as a tablet, and above all, to be able to play the latest games released and in maximum graphic quality. And today there are laptops that potentially exceed many desktop computers. Let's see its main features, how to find our ideal model and review what Asus has for us.

How to identify your ideal laptop

There are many models, and we know that it is not easy to choose one of them. Manufacturers such as Asus divide their equipment into different families to facilitate the search for the ideal model for each user. In any case, there are some well-marked guidelines regarding the use of laptops and it is advisable to know them before making a choice.

Laptops for entertainment and day to day

In this range we could fit practically any of them, but what we really need here will be a versatile equipment, not too big or heavy, and also with a striking design that goes with us.

This will be important when looking at its autonomy, very powerful laptops practically drink the battery, and that does not suit us here, at least more than 6 or 7 hours of autonomy would be fine.

We recommend: The Asus Vivobook S430, a laptop with Intel Core i5 U, 8 GB of RAM and a large battery that lasts about 14 hours. It is offered in a wide range of colors.

Laptops for traveling

They could be perfectly for the day to day, but if we want to use a team while we travel or carry work everywhere, we need an extra. And this extra will be a lot of autonomy, and a thin and small design, between 15 and 13 inches. The Asus Vivobook for entertainment and Zenbook for design will be the most recommended in this field.

We recommend: again the Asus Vivobook S430, the Asus Zenbook UX480 for content creators with its Screepad and Nvidia GTX 1050 and the somewhat more basic and fairly inexpensive UX333 model.

Work and study oriented laptops

Another possible ground to consider is having an ideal laptop for work and study. Here we will always prioritize a good processor and RAM for multitasking.

In this area, we are not going to need large autonomies, although we should ask for at least 7 hours. We do not necessarily need an ultrabook, but we do need something that refrigerates well. Here we will be interested in models from the VivoBook range , and ZenBook above all.

We recommend: The Asus Zenbook UX333 and UX410 which is on sale for users with tight budgets. And if we want power, the Asus ROG Strix G731GT will be a great option with Nvidia GTX 1650.

Laptops for design and rendering

In this area we are already in the need to choose more powerful laptops, we sacrifice autonomy, but we will gain power. A content designer or creator needs to render images, videos, and use high processing load CAD programs.

We will need a 6-core CPU at least, a lot of RAM and a large storage capacity. A 15 or 17-inch Full HD or 4K screen will be recommended, as well as having a dedicated graphics card and with greater 3D processing capacity. Again, the Asus ZenBook family will be ideal.

We recommend: Asus Zenbook and Zenbook Pro (UX480) with a dedicated graphics card. If we want more power, we should go to the gaming series with new generation Nvidia cards, such as the Zephyrus GU502GU

Gaming laptops

Here we need the best laptop we can afford, especially having a dedicated graphics card like the new Nvidia GTX and RTX Max-Q. The graphics of the games require powerful hardware, and we must prioritize cooling.

So we will have to look at its ROG Zephyrus range and ROG Strix will be the especially gaming-oriented notebooks, with 144 Hz screens and hardware almost as powerful as the best desktop PC.

We recommend: Asus Zephyrus GX502 with dedicated Nvidia RTX cards or the ROG Strix series with new generation GTX and RTX card.

Which laptop to buy: basic hardware guide

Given the uses and far above, the hardware characteristics that we need in each area, it is time to delve more into the hardware that manufacturers implement in laptops. It is worth knowing about all the type of processor and storage, in addition to the graphics card.

Intel processor as the most used

There are also laptops with AMD Ryzen in the Asus family, for example, the VivoBook 15 X505BA and X505BP, some basics from the Laptop family and other gaming from the TUF family. But Intel is undoubtedly the most widespread processor in laptops, due to its great performance, compatibility between hardware with Intel All In One or the wide range of models out there. They just need to improve the great warm-up they have.

Let's first look at the CPU nomenclature in your product code and how to interpret it:

• And: they are CPUs with an extremely low consumption, although with very basic performance. U: Very low power consumption, notebooks optimized for long autonomy and good power H: The processor has high performance graphics HQ: High performance graphics with four cores HK: High performance graphics with overclocking capacity

With that said, let's look at the best-known models or families and what they are used for:

• Intel Core i3: they are presented with two cores and 4 threads normally and they are processors with the U distinctive oriented to office, entertainment and high autonomy equipment. The i3 8100U series is the most current. Intel Core i5: In the 8th and 9th generation are 4-core and 8-thread processors located in the H, HQ and U range They offer already considerable power for use in work, study and good load of tasks. They are still a bit behind in gaming and design. Example: i5-9400H, 8200U, etc. Intel Core i7: The newest is offered in 8th and 9th generation and are the most used today. We have 6 cores and 12 threads ideal for high performance laptops in multitasking, design and gaming, especially. It is included in the H, HK, HQ and U families to balance high power with autonomy. We will all know the i7-8750H and the new i7-9750H and 9850H as the flagships. Intel Core i9: finally we come to the most powerful range, with 8 cores and 16 threads give a bath to most desktop PCs. It will mount the most powerful and expensive notebooks, for example, the i9-9980HK and 8950HK, both with overclocking capabilities. AMD Ryzen 3, 5 and 7: all of them offer us 4 cores, between 4 and 8 threads and integrated Radeon Vega 6, 8 and 10 graphics respectively. We should not underestimate these CPUs even if they are less used, since it presents excellent performance, good graphics power and exceptional consumption and cooling.

SSD + HDD storage

Regarding the storage capacity of a laptop, it is possible to differentiate between two types of units. HDDs will be traditional, 2.5-inch mechanical hard drives, and much faster SSDs, albeit smaller and more expensive. At no time do we recommend that a laptop only have an HDD and no SSD.

A good idea in this section is to combine the power of an M.2 NVMe SSD (3000 MB / s) of about 512 GB, with a 1 or 2 TB HDD disk, slow, but cheaper. It is a combination widely used in gaming laptops for its expandability as it is thicker and cuts a bit in price.

But if we are going for an ultrabook or small and manageable laptop, then we will have to accept only having an SSD, since there is no space to fit such a large HDD. We always recommend that it be an SSD of at least 256 GB, º 512 GB or 1 TB under the M.2 interface. We must also assess that there is a second M.2 slot to be able to expand the storage.

Dedicated graphics card

Surely a very important section for many users, about all those who want to have an experience similar to that of a desktop computer and the ability to handle 3D textures. On a laptop we can find, so to speak, two types of graphics cards:

Integrated graphics card in CPU (IGP)

Both AMD and Intel offer processors with a graphics chip (or several) integrated in the same CPU package. At Intel it is called Intel UHD Graphics and at AMD Radeon Vega. In both cases, we can play 4K content at 60 FPS, and even play at low quality and low resolution on these computers. We recommend using it in inexpensive multimedia equipment, laptops for traveling, work and studios when you don't need to use powerful design programs. The Asus Laptop, VivoBook, ZenBook have options of this type.

Dedicated graphics card

In this case we have a chip exclusively dedicated to processing the textures and 3D graphics of our laptop. The capacity is very, much better than using only the CPU, although it also consumes more power and generates more heat. We recommend its mandatory use in gaming and design-oriented laptops since an IGP here would be too short.

• Nvidia GTX 10xx Series (Pascal Architecture) - These cards are part of the previous generation, and are the portable variants of PCIe desktop PC cards. We can place them in mid-range graphics, and they are able to move most current games in Full HD and medium graphics with ease. The cost has been reduced and there are quite good offers, we recommend the GTX 1050 Ti and GTX 1060. Nvidia GTX 16xx and RTX (Turing architecture): these are undoubtedly the most powerful from the new cheaper 1660 and 1660 Ti, up to the powerful RTX 2060, 2070 and 2080 Max-Q that offer 70% power compared to their version desktop consuming 1/3 less. They allow ray tracing in real time, and render and play at virtually full graphics and up to 4K.

Some of the ZenBook and VivoBook family, and entirely ROG and Strix have dedicated graphics cards.

Design and cooling

Currently the vast majority of laptops available are made of aluminum, a very light metal that allows great ductility and much harder and more rigid than simple plastic. The finishes are undoubtedly better, more aesthetic and allow a wide range of colors and finishes.

In the market there are basically three types of laptop design depending on the thickness and size, the Max-Q or ultra thin, less than 2 cm thick, the traditional or Notebook, heavier and thicker and the Netbook, smaller and basic. All designs have their pros and cons, so depending on your preferences, one or the other will be better. Let's focus on Notebooks and Max-Qs for being the most popular.

Notebook (+2 cm)	Max-Q (-2 cm)
Advantage: · More economical · Better cooling · Greater connectivity (normally) · Hardware expandability · Allow larger batteries	Advantage: · Less weight and greater portability · Striking design and better aesthetics · They are the tendency to follow · Aluminum design · Premium hardware with high efficiency
Disadvantages: · Heavier · Unmanageable on trips	Disadvantages: · Limited in hardware expansion Worse cooling · Almost always more expensive

Asus ROG Strix and Zephyrus: maximum performance for gaming

If what we are looking for is gross power in every way, then we will have to go to the Asus gaming range, where we have two fundamental pillars. The Asus ROG Zephyrus, and the Asus ROG Strix.

In this type of laptop, its screen is especially important, and more specifically its refresh rate. If we want a game with maximum fluidity, we must make sure we have 144 Hz screens, the powerful graphics cards of these teams will make playing at more than 60 FPS a very normal thing, even in ultra graphic quality. Technologies like AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync will further adaptively use frequency to give us the quality we need.

Asus ROG Zephyrus

We will start with the Zephyrus family, laptops with Max-Q design and available in various graphics and display configurations. They are the first gaming laptops of the brand to have a Max-Q design, now they are practically all like this.

Here the hardware configuration is not too complicated to comment, we have two CPUs available, Intel Core i-7 8750H, and Intel Core i7-9750H, significantly more powerful than the previous generation. In addition, we have a general configuration of 16 GB of 2666 MHz DDR4 RAM expandable up to 32 GB. Needless to say, we will have available all the configurations available with Nvidia GTX 1000 and Nvidia RTX 2060, 2070 and 2080 dedicated cards.

We can find laptops with 15 and 17-inch screens in Full HD and a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which also includes Pantone certification and 100% sRGB in some models. Also included is a backlit gaming-oriented keyboard, and on some models a side touchpad with a numeric keypad backlight, specifically the Zephyrus S GX701.

BUY GX502GW-ES006T IN PC COMPONENTS BUY GX502GW-AZ064T IN PC COMPONENTS

Asus ROG Strix

And what about the Strix range, we already know that the last name Strix is ​​always included in the brand's top- of-the- range units, and in this case it is also the case. Aesthetically it offers a similar appearance to the Zephyrus, but it has a greater thickness, mainly for better more thermal efficiency. In addition, it has RGB lighting in the lower area compatible with AURA.

As for hardware, there are no differences with the previous ones, and in addition to the CPUs already mentioned, an option with Core i5-9300H is added. Where we do have news is in the graphics section, as we finally have variants with the new mid-range Nvidia GTX 1650 and GTX 1660 Ti cards.

The cooling system used by Asus is of a high level, with 5 heatpipes and an 83-blade double fan, quite noisy, but at least thermally efficient. You could also not miss the RGB LED lighting on the cover, keyboard and sides compatible with AURA Sync and the LAN RJ-45 connector.

ASUS ROG Strix Scar III G731GU-EV044 - 17.3 "FullHD gaming laptop (Intel Core i7-9750H, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD, GeForce GTX1660Ti-6GB, no OS) black, Spanish QWERTY keyboard Intel Core i7 processor- 9750H (6 cores, 12MB cache, 2.6GHz up to 4.5GHz); 8GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM, expandable up to 32GB ASUS ROG Strix G531GT-BQ005 - Gaming 15.6 "FullHD laptop (Intel Core i5-9300H, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX1650 4GB, no OS) Black - Spanish QWERTY keyboard 15.6-inch Full-HD IPS display (1920x1080 / 16: 9), 200 nits; Intel Core i5-9300H Processor (2 Core, 8MB Cach, 2.40GHz up to 4.10GHz) BUY Asus Rog Strix G531GT-BQ012 ON PC COMPONENTS

Asus ZenBook and ZenBook Pro for creators and multimedia

We continue with the Asus Zen family, here what prevails are the functionalities oriented to creativity and design, and very soon you will see the reasons. An aluminum-based design and Max-Q have also been implemented in all its models. Despite being extremely slim laptops, they include dedicated Nvidia GTX 1050 Max-Q graphics cards in the pro series. A GPU capable of offering great performance in rendering UHD videos and low power consumption. And we can raise the level a bit with the GTX 1050 Ti, a card with good gaming performance and greater power.

As before, we have basic ZenBook and Zenbook Pro variants , with dedicated graphics and the great novelty that is the Screenpad. Basically it is a touchpad that also incorporates an interactive screen with quick functions of the design applications that we use. At Computex 2019 the new Pro model was presented that increases this Screenpad to all huge screens just below the main one.

Asus ZenBook are the thinnest

We unite it again for having similar characteristics. They are the thinnest notebooks that the brand has today with attention, 16 mm for the ZenBook model with a 14-inch screen.

And if we talk about a design-oriented laptop, we have to talk about the screen, in which case it will be a 13 and 14-inch IPS panel in Full HD respectively with 72% NTSC and 100% sRGB, ideal for image editing. Also, with Pantone validation on ZenBook S and Wide-View technology. Regarding the battery, it is offered with fast charge and 50Wh with an estimated duration of no less than 13.5 hours. We finish with the hardware, where we have three variants for the base version, i3-7100U, i5-7200U and i7-7500U, all of them with integrated graphics.

BUY ON PCCOMPONENT ASUS ZenBook 13 UX333FA-A3070T - 13.3 "FullHD Laptop (Intel Core i5-8265U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620, Windows 10) Metal Silver - Spanish QWERTY Keyboard Intel Core i5-8265U Processor (4 Core, 6 MB Cache, 1.6 GHz up to 3.9 GHz); 8 GB DDR4, 2133 MHz RAM BUY ON COMPUTERS ASUS UX410UA-GV036T - Ultra-thin 14 "FullHD (Intel Core i7-7500U, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, Intel HD Graphics 620, Windows 10 Home) Spanish QWERTY keyboard Intel core i7-7500u processor (2 cores, 4 MB cache, 2.7 ghz up to 3.5 ghz); 8 GB ddr4 ram memory, 2133 MHz

Asus Zenbook Pro and its innovative Screenpad

The ZenBook Pro will be the most advanced and powerful variant of the family, with a 15-inch screen with Delta E <3 calibration, Pantone certification and 100% sRGB. We also have hardware improvements with a dedicated Nvidia GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti under an Intel Core i7-8750H CPU and 16GB DDR4 soldered on board. Storage is a 512 GB PCIe x4 SSD . The battery rises a lot with 8 cells and 71 Wh offering a range of 14 hours.

The most significant novelty is that the touchpad, or rather, Screenpad, has an interactive touchscreen that allows us to manage different options of design applications directly from it, as well as providing a second screen to attend to details in images or videos. And in the new models the options increase because the Screenpad gets even bigger with practically half a base occupied by a second screen.

SHOP ON PCCOMPONENTS ASUS ZenBook Pro 14 UX480FD-BE010T - 14 "FullHD Laptop (Intel Core i7-8565U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX1050 4GB, Windows 10) Metal Deep Blue - QWERTY Keyboard Spanish Intel Core i7 Processor- 8656U (4 cores, 8 MB Cache, 1.8 GHz up to 4.6 GHz); 16 GB DDR4 RAM, 2400 MHz EUR 1, 149.32

Asus VivoBook for entertainment, leisure, or almost whatever you want

This family of Asus laptops, it can be said that it is the strongest bet for the different and above all for the versatility. It is very difficult to classify this huge family that has up to four different variants of which three of us will be very interested in this section.

The Asus VivoBook are designed to give us, above all, an extra in terms of design, they are all presented in Max-Q configuration or ultra-thin laptops and finished in high-quality aluminum and with a very fashionable and striking color palette. We will have for example colors green, red, yellow, silver, white etc. One of the strengths is that they have a NanoEdge frame design, being one of the thinnest on the market and also with very good quality IPS panels in Full HD resolution.

This family is one of the best options we have on the market in terms of quality / price, since they are presented with excellent autonomy due to the use of the CPU of the U family in many models, a good cooling system and complete connectivity. In addition, they have SSD + HDD storage and therefore, good possibilities for hardware expansion, as well as a dedicated MX series graphics card in some variants.

BUY ON PC COMPONENTS ASUS VivoBook S14 S430FA-EB061 - 14 "FullHD Laptop (Intel Core i5-8265U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620, no operating system) Gray - Spanish QWERTY keyboard Intel Core i5-8265U processor (4 cores, 6 MB Cache, 1.6 GHz to 3.9 GHz); 8 GB DDR4 RAM, 2400 MHz EUR 560.88

Conclusion on which laptop to buy

Well this is the length of this article, where we have given a good overview of the characteristics of a laptop and the guidelines so as not to fail in our purchase. We hope it has not become too heavy.

And if you have passed on this matter, then we have also seen more deeply the Asus laptop families that we consider more interesting to make a smart purchase. At least, it is a way to get to know your product in more detail and to follow it more closely from now on without getting lost in a hell of families, models and variants.

We leave you with some interesting links:

Which laptop would you buy, or which one do you have? As always leave us a comment and visit our Hardware Forum saying what you think and providing some model that we have passed.