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Top How Much Do Notebook Batteries Cost Secrets

Just like electronic devices, batteries have a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Lithium ion batteries are not only used to drive laptops, but also digital cameras, music players, mobile phones and other gadgets. Unfortunately, the official replacement of laptop batteries may be hard to find, and if you do find it, it can be expensive.

When the battery no longer serves its purpose, it is the right time to have a replacement. Attempting to replace these batteries is a little job. You have a bigger collection of laptop batteries, which may perfectly work with your equipment. The majority of the laptop batteries have an issue of overheating. They come in different shapes and sizes, depending on a laptop model. They contain a capacity gauge that allows us to know the exact amount of energy stored. Your new laptop battery should have precisely the same voltage as your previous one because that’s the best power requirement to run your unit.

How Much Do Laptop Batteries Cost

Thereby, even when battery is indicated to be used up, it’s effective to discharge rather than directly destroyed. These batteries also passed safety standards and frequently use the exact components employed by the OEM. Before even powering up your laptop for the very first time, it is crucial to know exactly how to charge and care for your battery as a way to find the most out it for as long as you’re able to. These batteries will help to maintain your laptop ready to go always. Laptop batteries aren’t particularly cheap and the industry has done many things to secure their position. The laptop battery ought to be re-installed every 3-4 weeks and allowed to totally discharge. If you’re looking for the very best brand new laptop battery at the most preferred price, you’ve come to the correct location.

In both situations, you needed to be in a position to easily eliminate the battery. It is a good idea to try utilizing a spare battery (if at all possible) or contact nearest Acer Service Center for more guidance. Especially in the event you make multiple customized batteries, that will guarantee you never forget what the suitable charge voltage for the pack is.

Some batteries are in reality designed to sense if they’re getting too warm and simply won’t charge if they are, so it’s in your interest to continue to keep your Acer aspire 5520 laptop battery cool. If you don’t have a very good battery, you are going to have to charge the battery far more frequently, which will limit your mobility, or you will simply not have the ability to select the laptop with you as soon as you travel. In those scenarios, it’s very simple to get a new battery and install it in a couple of seconds. It can be exceedingly limited, especially if it’s just running on battery. Make certain you have the right sort of battery available so as not to run out of power at a critical time. An excellent laptop battery is just one of the most significant things you want to need to be in a position to utilize your laptop comfortably, particularly if you often depend on the laptop’s portability.

If you wish to obtain another battery, it’s advised that you do it only when the present battery is quite degraded. Unfortunately, there’s no way to restore a lithium battery. Building a DIY lithium battery demands a fundamental comprehension of battery principles and ought not to be attempted by anyone lacking confidence in her or his electrical and technical skills.

If you simply use your laptop for simple processes, then your previous one is often as reliable as it was several years back. For instance, you may use the laptop for a number of minutes each day, using half its capacity e then fully charge it. Also it can occur if the laptop becomes too hot, attempt to have a cooling support table for laptops which should repair it too. Laptops nowadays are typically made of quality materials they may have a practical life of a minimum of five years. It’s possible for you to take laptops anywhere provided that the battery is completely charged or there’s an electrical outlet readily available to serve as a power supply. In reality, the most important reason why folks purchase a new laptop after a few years is only to have the ability to upgrade to a better system with higher performance.

What You Need to Know About How Much Do Laptop Batteries Cost

Meaning, it is going to shed charge fast. Eventually, it might not have the ability to hold any charge anymore so that you will need to continually plug your laptop to the mains. A topping charge is simply applied while the battery voltage drops to a specific level.

These are the lightest 15-inch notesbook you can buy

In the past, if you wanted a lightweight laptop that weighs less than three pounds, you had to find it on a 12 inch or 13 inch screen size. Not anymore.

With display sizes of 15 or 15.6 inches, these ultraportable laptops give you more room for work, viewing the web, movies and games. But, with weights ranging from 2.4 to 4.4 pounds (1.1 to 2 kilograms), you can take them with you on a daily commute or around campus without sore shoulders or a strained back.

Keep in mind, though, you are paying a premium for carrying around less weight: The least expensive laptop here starts at $800 (approximately £600 or AU$1,000). Also, while there are a couple here that offer some beefier performance with discrete graphics, most of them are meant for average day-to-day use like word processing, using web apps and streaming media. That makes them a good choice for work or school where mobility and screen size are more important than high performance.

LG Gram 15

At 2.4 pounds (1.1 kg), the Gram is the lightest 15.6-inch laptop you’ll find at the moment. It also happens to have great battery life, lasting 9 hours and 42 minutes on our streaming video test. The Gram does feel a bit flimsy, but its magnesium alloy body should stand up to some abuse. It’s available with a touchscreen and Core i7 processor for $1,500 (about £1,185, AU$1,990) or with a Core i5 and a non-touch full-HD display for $1,200 (about £920, AU$1,510).

Samsung Notebook 9

The Notebook 9’s 15-inch display is slightly smaller than the Gram’s, but it improves on the LG in almost every other way and weighs only ounces more at 2.6 pounds or 1.2 kg. Its battery life is stellar at more than 12 hours — one of the longest we’ve tested. The Notebook 9 starts at $1,250 (roughly £960, AU$1,575), but if you’re willing to pay $1,400 (roughly £1,075 or AU$1,765), you can get it with an Nvidia GeForce 940MX graphics card to assist with photo editing or do some gaming with the settings dialed back.

Asus VivoBook S15

At 3.6 pounds (1.6 kg), the VivoBook is noticeably heavier than the LG or Samsung. However, it also starts at $800 (about £600 or AU$1,000) and features the same dual-core 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-7500U processor found in those models.

Asus also ups the storage by including two drives: A solid-state drive for fast boot times and application performance, and a slower, but significantly larger hard drive for storage.

There is a Windows 10 Signature Edition that upgrades the integrated graphics to a discrete Nvidia 940MX GPU. The biggest disappointment is its Asus a32-k52 laptop battery, which hit only 7 hours and 7 minutes on our video streaming test.

Samsung Notebook 9 Pro

The Notebook 9 Pro weighs the same as the VivoBook, 3.6 pounds (1.6 kg), but does considerably more for its $1,299 (roughly £1,075 or AU$1,765) price. It’s a 2-in-1 for starters, with a 360-degree hinge so you can flip its 1,920×1,080-resolution touchscreen into multiple positions.

It’s also Samsung’s first notebook to include a built-in S Pen with 4,000 pressure levels for writing and drawing on the screen. Samsung even put in an AMD Radeon 540 graphics card in it that’s good enough for a little low-setting gaming and image work.

Apple MacBook Pro

The top of Apple’s lineup and the king of high-end laptops, the 15.4-inch model weighs only 4 pounds (1.8 kg), but is the most powerful system in this roundup. It’s the most expensive, too, starting at $2,400 (£2,350 or AU$3,500).

True, having only USB-C ports is a bit of a hassle, and the superflat keyboard requires some adjustment, but the excellent Retina-resolution display, the bigger touchpad and even the second-screen Touch Bar keep things interesting. Plus, the battery life is long at 10 hours and 43 minutes.

Dell XPS 15

The XPS 15 can match the weight and performance of the MacBook Pro while instead running, you know, Windows 10. Featuring 7th-gen Core i3, i5 or i7 processors, the entry model with a dual-core i3, a 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution display and integrated graphics starts at $999 (which appears to be a US-only model, but would roughly convert to £765 and AU$1,260) and weighs 4 pounds (1.8 kg). A different starter model in the UK begins at £1,399, while the one for Australia begins at AU$2,499.

If you don’t mind an extra half pound (and about $800 more), you can get it with an accurate 4K-resolution touchscreen with hardware calibration support, 100 percent Adobe RGB and most of the DCI-P3 coverage and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card to push those pixels around. A similarly equipped model also runs for £1,849 and AU$2,699.

HP Spectre x360

When we reviewed the 15.6-inch Spectre x360, we may have complained that this premium 2-in-1 wasn’t particularly lightweight. (What can I say? We’re spoiled.) Weighing in at 4.4 pounds (2 kg), it’s about as heavy as the Dell XPS 15, but can be used as a pen-enabled tablet just as easily as a laptop.

For $1,500 (£1,500 or roughly converting to AU$1,670), it’s an all-around good performer, too, with nearly 10 hours of HP pavilion dv6 battery life in our tests. Plus, it just looks really nice.

HP Spectre 13 2017 unveiled: Quad-core performance promised and better battery life

HP has revamped its high-end ghost 13 laptop with the eighth generation Intel core processor and a new low-power design. The company called it the thinnest touch-screen laptop ever. This is indeed a very small claim, but ghost 13 has already arrived at the scene of competitors like ASUS Zenbook 3, HUAWEI matebook X and Apple’s 12 inch MacBook.

We reviewed the first edition of the Spectre 13 last year, and while we were impressed with its thin and light design, it was left wanting in several key areas including fan noise, heat and Hp pavilion dv3500 laptop battery life. HP says it’s taken consumer feedback on board and refined the Spectre 13 formula.

The big feature HP is pitching this time around is its touchscreen, which is a new feature to the line-up. You’ll either get a 13.3-inch Full HD panel or an Ultra HD option, both of which are protected by Gorilla Glass NBT. In the UK, only the UHD model will be available.

Performance has seen a big jump thanks to the inclusion of Intel’s new quad-core 8th-generation ultrabook processors, and you’ll either be able to get a Core i5 or a Core i7 model with a maximum clock speed of 4GHz.

There’s up to 16GB of more energy-efficient LPDRR3 memory and ultra-fast NVMe-based SSDs from 256GB to 1TB.

Despite the increase in performance, HP says it’s completely reworked the cooling system to dial down fan noise when it’s not absolutely necessary. If true, this is a big deal and will make the Spectre 13 far more attractive this time around. And to further improve the audio experience, HP’s installed better speakers with 66% louder maximum volume, as well as what it claims is a clearer sound across all frequency.

The biggest deal from a design standpoint is the 10.4mm thickness and 1.11kg weight, which is almost exactly the same as the previous model.

Battery life is rated at 11.5 hours, which we’ll believe when we see it, but however good the battery is, you’ll benefit from fast charge tech that can take the laptop from empty to 50% capacity in half an hour.

Elsewhere, the company unveiled a refined version of the Spectre x360 13, which gets an updated design, a slightly better Hp pavilion dv6 battery life, an improved stylus and some new colours as well as a fingerprint reader.

Learn these tips to solve battery problems on apple and Windows devices

A battery is not only the battery, it has its own characteristics and properties. This is why your life depends on the battery from the battery type. For example, two kinds of rechargeable battery is now the most popular lithium ion and lithium polymer. The old nickel cadmium is out of date.

One thing is constant: a battery goes through a certain number of discharge cycles before you can give up on it. You can remove a battery to “prolong” its life when you aren’t using a laptop for a long time. But for everyday use, it’s not a practical idea.

The better option is to become a master of battery management. Here are two resources that will help you tackle your battery woes on Apple devices and Windows machines.

Battery Saving Tips From Microsoft

Windows 10 has a new Battery Saver feature that automatically manages the power when it falls below 20% (default). Microsoft Support has a detailed page that guides you through the feature with more tips.

The Battery Saver squeezes out more time by limiting background activities and reducing the brightness of the screen among other things. You can control these settings and maximize the use of your computer’s battery.

Remember, Windows 10 has many settings to save the machine’s battery life. Work through all of them and tell us what works for you in the comments.

Battery Saving Tips From Apple

Apple has a more comprehensive support page that covers all the battery facts for its range of devices. For instance, pay attention to the temperature and moisture of the room where you work from. It’s one of the more obvious steps you can miss when you want to prolong the life of your Apple device.

Of course, it may not be that easy to control in the real world. But you can stay aware of the battery’s status with the help of a little icon in the menu bar on top. Check the Battery Status with a click on the battery icon.

Here, you can see basic information about the battery’s, and a list of apps that are chomping on a large portion of the power supply. You will usually find Chrome here if you have multiple tabs open.

Go to the Activity Monitor for a more specific idea of the apps eating a power lunch. You can access it from Applications > Utilities > double-click on Activity Monitor.

Now, click the CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk and Network tabs to see which programs are consuming the most resources in the respective areas. Quit the greedy ones.

Little things like Spotlight indexing may make your computer run hot and affect the Apple a1280 laptop battery. So, work through all the battery saving tips for your MacBook and manage them before problems crop up.

Keep Your Devices Updated

Companies are designing better ways to prolong battery use. It is the Holy Grail of today’s electronics. The support pages supplied by Microsoft and Apple are good reference points to grab the knowledge before you unbox your device.

Short Article Reveals the Undeniable Facts About Longest Lasting Notebook Batteries and How It Can Affect You

Normally, the types of batteries used in digital cameras affect the general price of the product. Before replacing the battery, make sure that it is easy to replace a laptop battery, or to ensure that you need to replace the battery when you replace the battery skills. When you use a laptop battery with a portable charger, there is a possibility that your battery will never run out of charge, no matter how likely it is. Most laptop batteries have overheating problems. Laptop battery has become the most critical part of notebook computers, because it can produce portable laptops.

The battery itself will have many docks so that you may connect it to a range of devices besides the laptop also. A bridge battery lets you remove the most important battery and replace it using a superior battery without needing to switch off the computer. Next, it is only found in portable computers as a temporary backup for the main battery. These batteries aren’t easily replaceable. Simmtronics batteries provide the ideal replacement for your laptop and the business is well known for providing excellent aftersales services.

In many instances, the battery is soldered right onto the motherboard, but the battery is usually in some type of holder so it’s simple to replace. Hence, it’s suggested to skip these inexpensive aftermarket batteries and choose the genuine products by spending a bit extra and purchase the perfect stuff. With this very important information available, you can pick out a charger that can be used with your laptop. Utilizing an external charger is something you can do as well, and this will help you stay away from this problem the majority of the time. Thus you should be aware of general ideas to handle and preserve the hp laptop charger.

Laptops vary in dimension and portability. Just to be sure your laptop can actually store and run what the speedy processor is attempting to. Initially, you’ll discover laptops within this budget. These laptops have specifications that are necessary for gaming purposes. You are able to choose these laptops, if you truly love playing 3D games. Many a moment, you manage to zero in on a laptop featuring all the perfect technical features simply to back out because of the simple fact it costs a bomb.

Switch off your computer or put it to sleep when you’re not using it. Dependent on the operational principle, computers can be categorized as analog and digital. Picking a laptop computer is much more challenging in comparison to selecting its desktop counterpart. In any event, you’re going to be able to buy a laptop computer at a significantly more affordable price than if you bought one from your community computer shop. The very first thing you ought to do when thinking about getting a new laptop computer is to pick a few various laptop computers you may want then make an effort to compare the characteristics to see exactly which one has the most value relative to cost.

The software going to be set up on the computer for all of the apps and functions and extra features, if any, would also boost the laptop price. If you’re a comprehensive beginner to deciding on a computer, just try to remember that the most essential thing in an excellent laptop is RAM. In addition, there are Linux computers. Desktop computers are frequently popular for everyday use at work and households. The spare elements of a desktop computer are easily obtainable at relatively lower costs. Most computers have a little battery. Tablet computers are definitely the most portable.

You’re able to take laptops anywhere so long as the HP 484170-001 laptop battery is completely charged or there’s an electrical outlet readily available to serve as a power resource. Attempt to have a lightweight laptop that you can carry easily. Purchasing a new laptop is an exciting thing, but nevertheless, it can be risky at the exact moment. Laptops are supposed to be portable. Thus, the laptop wouldn’t be portable in the event the battery life of the laptop is bad. When you’ve researched the laptop you want, visit three or more manufacturers to secure the very best product at the very best price. When you have opted to get a gaming laptop, the next question that arises is what are the key features which you should try to find.

The reason you get a laptop is due to its portability. The laptop is a superb alternate to a highly effective desktop at the extra cost. Don’t depart from your laptop uncharged for a couple of months. Refurbished laptops are easily available online or you might be able purchase one from somebody you know. When you select a standard laptop, it’s for sure that you’re going to be using it for browsing as well. With this much competition in the industry, you’re discover many laptops with the exact same specs from various companies.

Should You Buy a Quad-Core Notebook?

There is a good chance that you can buy a laptop computer, to complete the work faster, thanks to the advanced processor type, now in computer companies, such as Acer, ASUS, DELL and HP.

Such “quad-core” processors have mainly been limited to desktop and specialized laptops until now. But new quad-cores introduced by Intel in August, and AMD in October, are rapidly being integrated into more mainstream laptops.

There’s no apparent downside to buying a laptop with one of the new processors. That’s refreshing, since when a new technology comes along it often seems to bring as many disadvantages as advantages—the recent trend of removing traditional headphone jacksfrom smartphones comes to mind.

The shift to quad-cores doesn’t come with that kind of asterisk.

“It should be all good,” says Maria Rerecich, Consumer Reports’ director of electronics testing (who, incidentally, had a long career in chip design). That means, for instance, no expected hit to ASUS A32-A8 Laptop Battery life or increase in weight.

The new processors are inherently more expensive for chipmakers to produce than their older, dual-core counterparts, Rerecich says. However, prices for this year’s laptop models generally aren’t higher than the equivalent models from last year.

Not that they’re cheap: Quad-core processors are generally found in fairly high-end models, starting at around $1,000.

Once you understand a few things about processor cores, it’s easy to see why someone shopping for a fast, highly capable computer should pay attention to them. The processor isn’t the the only thing to consider, however: Consumer Reports has comprehensive advice on choosing a computer.

What’s a Quad-Core Processor?

A processor, of course, is the central “brain” of your computer, whether that’s your trusty laptop, your workhorse all-in-one desktop, or your impossibly thin smartphone. The faster the processor, the faster you’re able to apply a Photoshop filter, or get Excel to calculate items in a household budget.

Simply increasing the speed of the processor (which today is typically measured in gigahertz) is one way to get things moving, but another approach is to add more cores to the mix.

“You can think of multiple cores like having multiple workers,” Antonette Asedillo, CR’s lead laptop tester, says. “Each worker can be assigned a portion of a project and work simultaneously, making the process more efficient.”

Multi-core processors aren’t new—Intel debuted a dual-core processor in 2005 that was designed for desktops, and powerful desktop processors today can feature as many as 16 cores. High-end laptops aimed at serious gamers have had quad-core processors for a few years now, but these were typically large, bulky, and carried high price tags.

What’s changed this year is the appearance of quad-core chips in mainstream laptops that previously had dual-core chips. Suddenly, laptops that were perfectly adequate with dual-core processors seem like a much better value with the addition of two extra cores.

Will You Really Notice a Difference?

For a lot of people, the answer will be yes.

With two extra cores on the job, tasks that might have previously tripped up a laptop are likely to be less of a hassle. Asedillo, who has been testing laptops with quad-core processors, says you can look forward to performance boosts on a whole hosts of tasks, from merely browsing the web to rendering a video in Adobe Premiere Pro.

With a quad-core processor, you’re less likely to find your web browser grind to a halt when it encounters a multimedia-filled website; Skype sessions with your dorm-room-dwelling daughter won’t be as prone to freezing mid-conversation (assuming both of you have a speedy enough internet connection, that is); and you’ll find yourself spending less time waiting for Adobe Lightroom to transform your images from dull to dazzling.

However, not every app will benefit equally from having more cores to play with. As Asedillo notes, it’s hard for a word processor like Microsoft Word to get any faster at displaying words on a screen. And even high-end 3D games could benefit more from having a standalone graphics processor (or GPU) than additional processor cores.

“Programs handle multiple cores differently,” said Asedillo, “so some programs might utilize all available cores and complete tasks faster, but others might use only one and gain no speed over a single core.”

Where Can You Find These Laptops?

Many quad-core laptops are now becoming available from major manufacturers such as Asus, Dell, and HP. Actually finding them in stores, however, may be tough because they’re so new.

For instance, the ASUS ZenBook 3 Deluxe UX490UA, which features Intel’s latest quad core i7 processor, is available only in limited quantities at popular online stores like Amazon (1 unit in stock when we checked), Best Buy (none in stock), and Newegg (in stock, though limited to two per customer).

Other models featuring Intel’s quad-core chips, including the latest Dell XPS 13, HP Spectre x360, and Lenovo Yoga 720, are similarly difficult to find in stores, but availability for all these laptops should improve as we move into the holiday shopping season.

AMD, meanwhile, has said that laptops featuring its new quad-core processors, which carry the brand name Ryzen, should start appearing in stores before the end of the year, though no firm dates have been announced.

Models that will include these new AMD Ryzen chips include the Acer Swift 3, HP Envy x360, and the Lenovo IdeaPad 720S.

How to Troubleshoot a Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop Battery That Doesn’t Charge

One of the most common problems may be the main DELL laptop battery charging. There are many factors that can explain why this happens. This article will help you identify and solve these problems.

How to Fix an Acer Aspire Laptop Battery That Does Not Last Long

Acer Aspire laptops and netbooks use lithium-ion batteries. The Li Ion laptop battery contains its own processor, calculates the remaining charge, and then reports to the Windows, and transforms it to the battery level you see. In some cases, the battery can begin to report incorrect values, which may cause it to stop charging prematurely or dead without warning. This can be corrected through a process called “calibration,” which fully discharges and then recharges the battery.

The Best 17-Inch Laptops of 2017

Can a laptops replace a desktop computers or your only computer? This problem was solved many years ago, yes, absolutely.

Can a laptop, in fact, outperform your desktop? Unless your desktop is a nearly new, top-of-the-line Godzilla gaming rig or workstation, that’s a “yes,” too. In fact, you may be startled by what you can get from one of mobile computing’s top power tools: a 17-inch laptop.

Two different audiences or groups of users swear by 17-inch notebooks. First are folks who seek the most desktop-like experience from their desktop-replacement systems: While no laptop has the expandability or upgradability of a big tower desktop, a number of 17-inch models provide component access to let you upgrade the RAM or the onboard storage. (And all make room for more ports and features than smaller systems, by the very nature of their bigger chassis.) More important for daily use, though, their screens and keyboards are the biggest and most comfortable available in the notebook arena. Because of the wide body required to make room for the giant screen, the keyboard will typically have a full numeric keypad, like on a desktop keyboard.

The second group consists of gamers. A thriving class of 17-inch laptops courts the hard-core with speedy CPUs and dedicated graphics, as well as all the bells and whistles required to create space civilizations or battle zombie hordes. If sleek ultrabooks and convertibles are the sports cars, these are the beefy muscle cars or tricked-out SUVs of the mobile world.

But Yes, 17 Inches Is Huge

Of course, the words “beefy” and “portable” rarely go together. Seen on one of those quadrant diagrams, 17-inch laptops would be far along the capability axis but near the bottom in mobility. At seven to eight pounds or more, they’re more luggable than liftable—occasionally hauled down the hall to a conference-room presentation or stuffed into a backpack for a gaming party, but almost never seen in coffee shops or on airline tray tables.

They’re rarely seen away from AC power outlets, either. The typical Dell inspiron 1720 laptop battery life for a laptop in this size class is just three or four hours, compared to 10 hours or more from many slimmer, smaller travelers. Finally, while some 17-inch consumer notebooks are affordably priced under $700, all bets are off in the elite gaming segment, where with just a few exceptions, $1,200 or $1,300 is a bargain machine and topliners can climb past $3,000.

Nevertheless, the best 17-inch laptops deliver a luxurious and powerful computing experience, with big-screen, easy-on-the-eyes viewing for videos and office apps, and serious chops for multimedia work such as video editing. Let’s take a quick look at what a king-size laptop can give you.

DISPLAY RESOLUTION & TECHNOLOGY. The term “17-inch laptop” is actually a generic one for this size class; most screens in this segment actually measure 17.3 inches on the diagonal. (Biggest exception? The display in the outlier MSI GT83VR Titan SLI, which we’re including in this XXL class, is a whopping 18.4 inches.) Almost all offer screen resolutions of at least full HD or 1,920×1,080 (often abbreviated “FHD” or “1080p”), while an increasing number feature displays with the big-screen resolution of 4K (3,840×2,160). Between 4K and 1080p, an emerging resolution in panels this size is QHD, or 2,560×1,440; QHD is showing up in a few elite-level machines, such as certain high-end configurations of the new Alienware 17. But 1080p is by far the most common resolution you’ll see.

One thing to know about 17-inch-class screens: Despite the prevalence of the touch-friendly Windows 10 in these machines, and the equally touch-centric Windows 8 before it, touch screens in laptops of this size are rare. (The Razer Blade Pro 2017 is one of the few gaming machines with a touch panel at this size.) In-plane switching (IPS) technology, which allows for broader viewing angles on smaller displays, is also rare in 17-inch panels. It’s a good idea to look at any 17-inch screen in person, if you can, to make sure you’re satisfied with the viewing angles and general appearance before buying. Also, you’ll usually see matte screens, as opposed to glossy ones, in this size class.

Beyond the Blade Pro, the exception that breaks the above rules is the glass-covered, glossy 17.3-inch touch display of the Dell Inspiron 17 7000 2-in-1 (7778). That device sports a touch display because it also doubles as a large (and heavy) tablet, thanks to its convertible 360-degree hinge. It’s the only 2-in-1 17-incher we’ve seen or handled.

CHOOSING THE GRAPHICS PROCESSOR (GPU). Though fine for productivity apps and casual gaming, the integrated graphics built into today’s Intel and AMD CPUs can’t cut it for serious gaming or other intensive pixel-pushing. (For Intel-CPU-based laptops, you can identify integrated graphics on a laptop’s spec sheet by the name “Intel HD Graphics,” followed by a three-digit number.) So you’ll want to look for a dedicated graphics chip if you mean to play any kind of major games on your 17-incher. This will almost invariably mean an Nvidia GeForce graphics chip.

You will still spot some 17-inch laptops with previous-generation Nvidia “Maxwell” GeForce graphics chips, which are easy to identify: The GeForce GTX 950M, GTX 960M, GTX 965M, GTX 970M, and GTX 980M are the most common. Newer models will feature GeForce GTX 1050, GTX 1050 Ti, GTX 1060, GTX 1070, or GTX 1080 graphics chips, which are part of the company’s latest lineup, known as “Pascal.” If gaming is important to you, it’s worth insisting on one of these newer models, because the Pascal line delivered a huge leap in performance over what was available with Maxwell-based machines.

As for competitor AMD, it technically has released a trio of Radeon RX 400 series mobile graphics chips, but we haven’t seen them sold in (nor tested them in) a laptop of any screen size to date. Dedicated graphics in today’s big-screen laptops is almost exclusively Nvidia.

At this writing, Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080 was the most powerful gaming graphics chip found in laptops on the market. It’s the one you’ll want if you aim to game at high detail settings with a 4K-resolution screen. A few exotic gaming rigs even feature dualgraphics adapters akin to their Nvidia SLI or AMD CrossFire desktop cousins. The previously mentioned MSI GT83VR Titan SLI has a pair of GeForce GTX 1080 graphics processors, as does the Origin EON17-SLX 10. These machines deliver truly extreme levels of performance, but they’re also beasts, both in terms of their physical size and their sticker prices. Keeping machines like that cool isn’t easy, either, so expect fan noise on these types of systems to be louder than on any other class of laptop (or most desktops, for that matter).

Now, a configuration like one of these will give anyone GPU envy. But the thing to bear in mind? You should match up the native resolution of the screen in your 17-inch laptop to an appropriately powerful graphics chip, and not let that spill over into overkill. Most 17-inch screens still feature a 1080p native resolution, and the sweet spot for PC gaming at that resolution is a GeForce GTX 1060, or perhaps a GTX 1070 if you want to be sure games will be playable at high settings for years to come. You probably don’t need a GTX 1080 for gaming at 1080p unless the screen has a high 120Hz refresh rate, or you intend to run your game on an external monitor (or monitors) with a higher native resolution than the screen in the laptop itself.

As for cheaper big-screen gaming laptops, we are seeing an emerging class of GeForce GTX 1050- and GTX 1050 Ti-based machines, just hitting the market at this early-2017 writing. They should also be good for smooth 1080p gaming with older games, and for play with some detail settings tweaked downward in new, demanding titles. In short: Just because you have a big screen in your laptop doesn’t mean you have to overbuy in terms of graphics-chip power for games. It’s all about pinpointing the right chip for the resolution of the screen, and today, the GTX 1050, GTX 1050 Ti, and GTX 1060 are very able at 1080p.

CPU & MEMORY. While some economy 17-inch models sport value processors such as Intel’s Core i3, the 17-inch norm is a quad-core powerhouse like a “Skylake”/6th-Generation Core i7-6000-series, or their newer “Kaby Lake”/7th-Generation 7000-series equivalents. A few boutique systems from the likes of Origin PC or Eurocom laugh at the very notion of battery power by using overclocked true-desktop chips (invariably, a Core i7). But these are appropriate only for desk-bound video editors and others who need the most raw processing power available for media-centric editing and crunching/conversion tasks.

If you’re looking at a stacked gaming configuration, you’re probably going to get a quad-core mobile Core i7 chip by default. The best of these have a model number that ends in “HQ.”

Entry-level laptops may make do with 4GB of system memory, but 8GB or more is far preferable. Because of the chassis size of 17-inch laptops, you are more likely than on most sizes of laptop to have access to the RAM bays via a hatch or removable lid on the underside of the machine, so it’s good to look for this upgradability in advance if you think you might want to boost the RAM later on.

THE STORAGE SCHEME. As for the onboard storage, a 240GB or larger solid-state drive (SSD) is your best bet as a boot drive these days, but that capacity probably isn’t roomy enough for gamers or those with large media libraries. So, ideally, look for a system with an SSD plus at least a 1TB conventional hard drive. (You’re more likely to see two drives in a 17.3-inch laptop than in any other laptop size class.) You can go overboard in this regard; configurations of some MSI machines ship with an outrageous four SSDs in a RAID array. But in 2017, we think an SSD boot drive is a near necessity in anything but the most budget-oriented laptop configurations, and in a 17-inch laptop, the laptop maker doesn’t have the excuse that there’s not enough room for an SSD and a hard drive inside.

One of the benefits of a 17-inch laptop is that most models are also big enough to host an optical drive, an endangered species on smaller laptops, even many 15.6-inch models. Upscale models also boast Blu-ray rather than DVD drives, the better to enjoy 1080p movies on their sparkling screens, and subwoofers to make the most of music, movies, and game audio. That said, these days an optical drive is not a given even on laptops this big, so be sure to check if you need one.

KEYBOARD. We alluded to it earlier, but 17-inch laptops have space for some of the best keyboards in portable computing, with numeric keypads for spreadsheet jockeys and, in some models, dedicated macro keys for PC-gaming fiends. Alienware’s gaming rigs are famous (but no longer unique) for backlit keyboards, and keyboards with multiple multicolored customizable lighting zones. A 17-inch keyboard deck also lets the keys spread out; we especially liked the well-isolated design of the arrow-key cluster on the Acer Predator 17 gaming laptop.

Going beyond Alienware, a few new-model 17-inch-class machines have graduated to RGB key lighting that is programmable key by key. It’s an elite-level feature, but you can check it out in a couple of top-end laptops we just tested: the Razer Blade Pro (2017) we mentioned earlier, and the Aorus X7 v6.

There’s also the issue of key travel. Big 17-inchers usually have more vertical room for comfortable key travel than most laptops. But you’ll want to try before you buy to make sure the laptop maker took advantage of the bigger chassis and passed on the benefits to the keyboard. MSI is one laptop maker that generally gets that part right. Many MSI laptop keyboards are designed in concert with SteelSeries, a leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals; and the MSI GT83VR Titan SLI is the only notebook we know of on the market at this writing with a true desktop-class mechanical keyboard, with the clicky switches that gamers love.

We’re also seeing claims of mechanical switches from laptop makers such as Razer (in the aforementioned Blade Pro 2017) and Lenovo (in its flagship gaming laptop, the Ideapad Y900), and while these are generally quite good, they are their own animal, with not quite the key depth as on the Titan SLI.

An additional keyboard pointer, beyond looking for an inverted-“T” arrow-key cluster: Look for crucial keys that have been trimmed to a smaller size for space reasons. Laptops of this size tend to let their keyboards breathe and have bigger keys, but best to check. Sometimes the number-pad keys are horizontal squashed, not ideal if you do a lot of numeric input.

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The laptop weighs less than 4 pounds and has a very good design. So before you buy a laptop, you should list a list of the most important features for you, and study a variety of brands to find out who provides the best features. Therefore, before you consider a particular brand, please note that if you need a more powerful laptop, choose a larger model.