Like it or not, laptops have become a pretty integral part of life in this digital era. We do pretty much everything on our laptops: from studying to working and entertainment, there’s no denying that these portable machines are one of the most important pieces of equipment you need to have.
Technology has come far enough that there are enough choices on the market to make choosing the right laptop confusing and, at times, frustrating. Laptops vary in price, specs and performance, and what’s the best laptop for a student may not be the best for a gamer or vice versa.
To help you find your perfect laptop, we’ve curated a list of the best laptops across brands, categories, and budgets. Whether you’re a working professional, student, avid gamer, or more, there’s sure to be one that suits you in the list below!
Types of Laptops
Laptops can be categorized based on several factors, including size, functionality, and intended use. When choosing a laptop, it's important to consider your specific needs and requirements and choose a type of laptop that best meets those needs.
This list includes some of the most common laptop types.
- Business/general-purpose laptops
- Content creation laptops
- Gaming laptops
- Convertible laptops
- Student laptops
- Workstations
How We Test Our Laptops in Malaysia
At Product Nation, we aim to provide objective reviews that cover most of the most important aspects of the laptop. For the laptops that we were able to get a hands-on review on, we evaluate the performance, display, build quality, battery life, audio, keyboard, and other hardware from the perspective of the general consumer.
As important as benchmark numbers are, we aim to provide objective reviews from our perspective — that means we take our review units through our daily grind as if we were using them as our personal machines. That’s why you won’t find complicated numbers or graphs here — just easy-to-understand commentary based on our experiences.
That said, we do still show the paper specs for easy comparison with other devices. For the devices that we did not get the chance to review personally, we recommend them based on specs and collected user reviews.
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Table of Contents
Top 10 Laptops in Malaysia
Business/General Laptops
These laptops are good for general-purpose computing and come in a range of sizes, specifications, and prices. They are the “jack of all trades” in the laptop world, capable of doing anything from web browsing and email to non-intensive gaming and editing.
More focused on durability, security, and long battery life, business and general-purpose laptops are typically priced between RM2,000 to RM5,000, though the higher-end models can exceed that significantly.
Pros: Durable, good security, made for productivity
Cons: Can be heavy and bulky, limited graphics processing power
Who is this for?
The attractive design of the Acer Swift 5 certainly adds more points to the laptop. Besides that, there’s also the superb display and long battery life. Just shy of RM4,500, this is certainly a laptop that gives you a bang for your buck.
What to know?
The Acer Swift 5 comes in fresh with the new 12th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU and sports up to 8GB RAM, which is enough power for daily tasks and casual gaming! The battery is designed to hold up to 17 hours and provide 4 hours of use in just 30 minutes of charge time.
The 14” FHD IPS Antimicrobial Touchscreen is also bright and vivid, and it’s the first consumer laptop to come with a full-featured microbial solution that covers the chassis, keyboard, fingerprint reader, and hinge in a BPR & EPA compliant silver-ion antimicrobial agent.
Acer Swift 5 Specifications
- Processor (CPU): 12th gen Intel Core i5-1240P, 1.70GHz
- Graphics (GPU): Intel Iris Xe
- Display: 14” Full HD 1920 x 1200
- Memory: 8GB RAM LPDDR5, 512GB SSD
- Battery: Up to 17 hours
- Ports: x2 Thunderbolt, x1 HDMI, x2 USB Type-A, x1 Headphone jack
- Operating System: Windows 11 Home 64-bit
- Weight: 1.20kg
- Dimensions: 14.95 x 310.5 x 213.3 mm
*based on the SF514-56T-50Q1 model
Who is this for?
Whether you’re a university student, a working professional, or just a casual user, this laptop is versatile and can fit all your productivity needs! It’s best suited for those who need top-notch color and image processing, as well as a guaranteed powerful performance.
What to know?
Powered by the latest M3 chip, the Macbook Air reigns as one of the best laptops available on the market. It combines both lightweight portability, weighing in at 1.51 kg, and performance with its 8-core CPU. This also means it’s slightly more capable for gaming now, thanks to a more powerful performance!
This device is truly cemented as one of the best thanks to its color-accurate and Liquid Retina displays, providing users with images that are crisp and clear – perfect for work, play, and anything requiring productivity.
MacBook Air (M3) Specifications
- Year: 2024
- Processor (CPU): Apple M3 Chip (8-core CPU)
- GPU: Integrated 10-core GPU
- Display: 15.3” Liquid Retina Display, True Tone, 1 billion colours, 500 nits
- Memory: 16GB RAM (config. up to 24GB), 512GB SSD (config. up to 1TB or 2TB)
- Battery: Up to 18 hours, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable
- Ports: x1 Magsafe 3 charging port, x1 3.5mm headphone jack, x2 Thunderbolt ports
- Operating System: macOS Sonoma
- Weight: 1.51kg
- Dimensions: 1.15 x 34.04 x 23.76 (cm)
Content Creation/Creative Laptops
Designed for video editing, graphic design, and other content creation tasks, these laptops typically have powerful graphics cards, vivid, colour-accurate screens, and large storage.
Due to the demand for graphic and processing power, creative laptops are typically on the higher end in price. Expect to shell out more than RM6,000 for a decent one.
Pros: High-performance, dedicated graphics, high-quality display
Cons: Very pricey, large & bulky, may overheat easily
Who is this for?
The ASUS VivoBook 15X OLED is the best choice for the young and aspiring. No matter for day-to-day work, media entertainment or creation, the 120Hz OLED display gives you the best colors and quality. Its lay-flat hinge design up to 180 degrees also allows seamless and easier content sharing with others.
What to know?
The feature-packed ASUS VivoBook 15X OLED makes light work of your agenda with its powerful AMD Ryzen 5000 series mobile processor. For more demanding workloads, the 16GB of fast memory and 512GB of speedy SSD storage comes in handy, providing the power you need to get things done.
Perfect for professional and creative work, this ASUS laptop has the best-in-class color gamut. It can reproduce colors with superb real-life accuracy while minimizing harmful blue light.
ASUS VivoBook 15X OLED Specifications
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
- GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics
- Display: 15.6" 2.8K (2880 x 1620) OLED 16:9, 120Hz refresh rate, 0.2ms response time, 550nits HDR peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, 1.07 billion colors, PANTONE Validated, Glossy display
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB SSD
- Ports: 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, 1x DC-in, 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
- Dimensions: 356.8 (W) x 227.6 (D) x 19.9 (H) mm
Who is this for?
According to most reviews, the MacBook Pro’s performance is more than enough to handle heavy workloads efficiently including graphics-intensive tasks. The battery life is just as great, lasting around 10 hours and even longer if you don’t mind tweaking the laptop at 50% brightness.
What to know?
Like the MacBook Air, the M2 chip makes the new MacBook Pro more capable than ever. Compared to the last generation, the MacBook Pro M2 now packs 3.2 times faster image editing performance and 3 times better photo stitching performance. The M2 also sports 100GB per second of memory bandwidth and the 24GB unified memory ensures super-fluid multitasking even when working with massive files.
Plus, the MacBook Pro can sustain pro levels of performance thanks to the advanced thermal system and the efficiency of Apple silicon. With up to 20 hours of battery life, the MacBook Pro is a portable editing bay that supports ProRes encode and decode.
Apple MacBook Pro (M2) Specifications
- Year: 2022
- Processor (CPU): Apple M2 Chip
- Display: 13.3” Retina display with IPS technology
- Memory: 8GB RAM, up to 512GB SSD (configurable)
- Battery: Up to 20 hours
- Ports: x2 Thunderbolt ports, x1 Headphone jack
- Operating System: macOS
- Weight: 1.38kg
- Dimensions: 1.56 x 30.41 x 21.24 cm
Gaming Laptops
These are high-performance laptops designed for playing demanding computer games. They typically have powerful processors, dedicated graphics cards, and large screens with high refresh rates.
Gaming laptops have the widest price range, from RM3,000++ all the way up to RM10,000. Depending on the type of games you’re looking to play, your budget should be adjusted accordingly; FPS games or graphically intensive games like Hogwarts Legacy would definitely require higher performance and therefore more expensive laptops.
Pros: high performance, dedicated graphics card, high refresh rate
Cons: Can be pricey, heavy and bulky
Who is this for?
Here’s a laptop from the ASUS ROG series that isn’t just built for gaming purposes but also works well for multitasking, thanks to its wealth of specs under the hood. Based on most reviews, the AMD + NVIDIA combo provides enough power to run the most popular game titles, namely The Witcher 3, PUBG and CS: GO. The 144Hz refresh rate helps to optimize your gameplay smoother while the long-lasting battery life can sustain up to 8 hours, making it the perfect machine for gamers everywhere.
What to know?
For the price that you pay, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 comes with loads of features, beginning with the high-performance AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS with NVIDIA® GeForce RTX 3060 GDDR6 graphics for efficient gaming performance.
It also comes equipped with up to 16GB RAM but if you need more, it has an extra slot upgradeable to 32GB max. Then there’s the ample storage space too with a 1TB SSD. For the display, the 15.6” FHD display sports both the IPS panel and 144Hz refresh rate. And with only 6.2mm worth of bezels, you get more expansive viewing upon gameplay.
Also, the combination of Smart-Amp technology and Hi-Res Audio on its twin front-firing speakers offers an optimal bass response and high volume with minimum distortion.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 Specifications
- Year: 2022
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 6800H
- GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 6GB GDDR6
- RAM: 8GB / 16GB
- Storage: 1TB SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch, WQHD (2560 x 1440) 16:9, anti-glare display
- Weight: 1.90 kg
- Ports: 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x RJ45 LAN port, 3.5mm combo audio jack
- Dimensions: 35.5 x 24.3 x 1.99 cm
Who is this for?
At less than RM6,000, the Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3i is a pretty commendable gaming laptop for the everyday gamer, offering solid performance, a nice design, and an amazing display. It provides a truly enjoyable gaming experience and performs reliably well in everyday computer duties as well. That said, it isn't perfect; you'll also have to bear with the overheating and meagre battery life.
What to know?
Powered by a 12th Gen Intel Core processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, the Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3i is capable of delivering superior gaming performance and realistic graphics. It has a 16" WQHD+ display with a 165Hz refresh rate that offers an immersive gaming experience.
Designed for comfort, it features a quad-vent cooling system, an FHD camera with a privacy shutter, and a backlit keyboard. It also comes with three months of Xbox Game Pass, providing access to over 100 high-quality games!
Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3i (Gen 7) Specifications
- Processor: 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12650H
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 6GB GDDR6
- OS: Windows 11 Home
- Display: 16″ WUXGA (1920 x 1200) IPS, 350 nits
- Memory: 16GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB SSD
- Other features: 1080p Webcam with PrivacyShutter, keyboard backlight
- Dimensions: 20.9mm x 359.6mm x 277.8mm
- Weight: 2.4kg
"In Our Experience" - Live ProductNation Review
Lenovo’s Ideapad Gaming 3i is a versatile yet affordable gaming laptop that packs a truly amazing display. Running the 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, the Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3i has enough juju to power most, if not all, of your AAA games.
As shown, the Ideapad Gaming 3i manages quite well with all settings turned to high, which was a very pleasant surprise. I did experience the occasional stutters, but turn it down to medium (the game’s default setting) and everything goes as smooth as butter.
However, it has trouble when ray tracing is turned on, as I ended up with graphical glitches and pretty bad lagging during scene changes. It also overheated relatively quickly and he fan starts whirring really loudly to show that it's working hard.
Design-wise, the Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3i is built to be large, bulky, and solid to accommodate all the other components that it needs to power your AAA games and keep the laptop cool at the same time. Lenovo managed to build rugged and sleek into the same laptop, so it's refreshingly void of the flashing RGB lights that are typical of gamer aesthetics.
More importantly, though, the display is amazing. Crisp colors, clear details, and a high refresh rate— pretty much any gamer can ask for in a gaming laptop. It also gets bright, so you have the freedom of making scary games like Little Nightmares 2 a little less scary.
Read our full review here.
Convertible Laptops / 2-in-1 Laptops
These are laptops that can be converted into a tablet by folding the screen back on itself. They offer the best of both worlds – the convenience of a tablet and the productivity of a laptop.
2-in-1 laptops can cost anywhere from RM3,000 to RM 8,000. For the same range of performance, convertibles can be more expensive than traditional laptops, due to their versatile form factor. They’re also typically light and portable, so there’s not much extra space for fancy processors.
Pros: Lightweight & portable, versatile, touchscreen display
Cons: Relatively lower performance, short battery life, less durable
Who is this for?
The HP Spectre X360 offers you the latest technology and versatility, making it a perfect workstation for work and programming. Its hybrid form factor opens up multiple ways to work, all based on your personal preferences and occasions. The full-sized all-in-one keyboard also provides control for your privacy and security with the touch of a button.
What to know?
The flexible 360-degree design of the HP Spectre X360 gets you in the perfect position, giving you an exceptional hybrid laptop experience. Certified as an Intel Evo platform, you can enjoy the ultimate combination of performance and speed from the Intel 12th-generation processor to keep up with your hustle.
In addition, the 13.5-inch 3K2K IPS display delivers enhanced colour depth and deeper black for richer contrast. It is also multitouch-enabled so you can navigate across the micro-edge screen just by your fingertips.
HP Spectre X360 Specifications
- CPU: Intel Core i7-1255U
- GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
- Display: 34.3 cm (13.5") diagonal, WUXGA+ (1920 x 1280), multitouch-enabled, IPS, edge-to-edge glass, micro-edge, anti-reflection Corning® Gorilla® Glass NBT™, Low Blue Light, 400 nits, low power, 100% sRGB
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 1TB SSD
- Ports: 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB Type-A, 1x headphone/microphone combo
- Dimensions: 298.0 (W) x 220.4 (D) x 16.9 (H) mm
Who is this for?
If you’re looking for a laptop primarily for work, getting the Lenovo Yoga 9i is the way to go. The 2-in-1 laptop is highly versatile in different modes to suit different occasions. From streaming to browsing to content creation and more, you get the performance you need to tackle your busiest day with the latest 12th-generation Intel Core i7 processor!
What to know?
The Yoga 9i is an ergonomic masterpiece wrapped in a smooth, yet glossy jewelled finish. With an ultra-wide 14.0-inch display and a 16:10 aspect ratio, the screen’s technically optimised for available usable space for maximum productivity.
You can also enjoy different forms and functionalities as the Yoga 9i is convertible. With the 10-point multi-touch feature, it allows you to interact directly with whatever is on your screen for faster and easier navigation.
Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 Specs
- Processor: 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor
- Graphics: Integrated Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
- Memory: Up to 16 GB Soldered LPDDR5 5200MHz
- Storage: Up to 1 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe
- OS: Windows 11
- Display: 14" 4K (3840 x 2400), OLED, Dolby Vision™, Touch, HDR 500, 100% DCI-P3, 400 Nits
- Ports: x1 USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, x2 Thunderbolt 4, x1 USB 3.2 Gen 2, x1 3.5mm Headphone / mic combo jack
- Connectivity:
- Battery: 4 Cell, 75Wh
- Weight: 1.4kg
- Dimensions: 15.2mm x 318mm x 230mm
"In Our Experience" - Live ProductNation Review
Lenovo’s Yoga series is one of the first hybrid laptops that I owned, back when it first came out. It was the unique hinge design that attracted me, and now, the new 14” Lenovo Yoga 9i is still as impressive as ever.
Branded as a “14-inch luxury laptop”, the Lenovo Yoga 9i truly lives up to its name in flexibility and versatility. Design-wise, the all-metal laptop case is sleek and classy with a matte surface that feels really good in hand. Unlike the brand’s ThinkPad and IdeaPad line, the Yoga 9i has a sleeker and classier look with rounded edges that, well, takes the edge off the whole “business-y” look. It’s a laptop that matches the look of both work and play.
The screen’s aspect ratio isn’t the conventional 16:9, instead sized at 16:10, so it’s a little more squarish but not so much that you’d notice at first glance. That took a little getting used to, but in the end, it wasn’t much of a problem — the brilliant OLED display managed to make me forget about that quite quickly.
The laptop also comes with its own full-size stylus pen with a whole bunch of functionalities. The all-black stylus is a thicker, pencil-like stylus that gives a good grip and works perfectly fine for handwriting notes. It's not really that great for drawing, though. Even though pen latency is minimal, the tip of the pen just feels a little too slippery on the screen to have the precise control you'd need for drawing.
Most of the time, 2-in-1 laptops aren’t cut out for gaming, since the slim chassis meant that they wouldn’t be able to pack much graphical or computational power. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Yoga 9i did well in gaming, though it did start to lag a little in Don’t Starve after running the game for a good four hours. I’d say it’s good enough for working professionals who like a little casual gaming after a hard day at work.
More: 7 Touchscreen Laptops for a More Interactive Experience
Student Laptops
These are lightweight laptops that run on Google's Chrome OS. They are designed for simple tasks like web browsing, email, and document editing, and are often less expensive than traditional laptops.
Student laptops are typically more affordable, at the expense of performance. A budget of RM2,000 - RM3,000 can get you a decent student laptop for basic daily tasks.
Pros: Affordable, lightweight, durable
Cons: Relatively low performance, largely basic features
Who is this for?
Students who are looking for a capable yet affordable laptop can look no further than the Dell Inspiron 15 3000. At only under 2kg, this lightweight laptop can accompany you to all your classes. The only downside is that the battery power seems to be less than optimal, though with the power-efficient Ryzen chipset, it should stretch up to 8 hours.
What to know?
Looking for a student-friendly laptop without breaking the bank? If you get the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 (3515) with AMD Ryzen chip, it doesn't just sport a good combination of specifications to suffice a typical student's workload but is also a good all-around budget laptop.
At such a price range for the AMD Ryzen model, you’ll get 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD. The latter’s going to be immensely helpful for booting up your laptop faster and loading documents as well as running applications quicker. With a wide 15.6-inch HD IPS display and an acceptable viewing ratio of the display to bezel from edge to edge, the laptop should be able to provide you with an expansive viewing experience.
While it can handle the likes of some basic video-editing work, it's still more suited to handle general computing tasks more efficiently. This means the likes of multiple internet tabs opened at once, or for daily home and school work (e.g. running Microsoft Word, web browsing).
Dell Inspiron 15 3000 (3515) Specifications
- Year: 2021
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3500U (Recommended)
- GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics (Integrated with AMD APU)
- RAM: 8GB
- Storage: From 256GB SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch, 1080p FHD, Anti-Glare LED-Backlit Non-Touch Display
- Weight: 1.72 kg
- Ports: Combo microphone and headphones audio jack, USB Type A, USB-C (optional), HDMI, SD card reader
- Dimensions: 358.5 (W) x 235.56 (D) x 17.5 (H) mm
Workstations
These are high-performance laptops designed for demanding tasks such as video editing, graphic design, and scientific simulations. They have powerful processors, large amounts of memory and storage, and dedicated graphics cards.
Workstations are some of the most expensive laptops you can get, easily over RM8,000.
Pros: high performance, professional-grade graphics, can be upgraded
Cons: Very expensive, heavy & bulky
Who is this for?
Frustrated with lagging experience when performing heavy video editing tasks? Look no further, the new Dell XPS 15 is the machine for you. With a combination of NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050Ti and an octa-core processor, Dell XPS 15 is a monster when it comes to video editing.
What to know?
Running on 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 and paired with 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD, the new Dell XPS 15 is powerful enough for graphics-intensive tasks. You can expect a smooth workflow even when multitasking.
As with most video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro, you’d need to split your screen into quadrants. On a smaller screen, this could dampen work quality and comfort. The Dell XPS 15’s 15.6” large display, however, will make you feel more comfortable while editing videos. Additionally, you can attain desktop-grade rendering power with an external graphics card thanks to its Thunderbolt 4 port.
Besides that, it also comes with a Dolby Vision feature in which highlights are delivered 40 times brighter and blacks are 10 times darker. The laptop is also equipped with 100% Adobe RGB and deep contrast to provide true-to-life colour. Every pixel can be observed in detail without the hassle of zooming in when you opt for the 4K UHD+ display variant.
Dell XPS 15 Specifications
- Year: 2021
- CPU: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7
- GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti 4GB GDDR6 [45W]
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB SSD
- Display: 15.6" FHD+ (1920 x 1200) InfinityEdge Non-Touch Anti-Glare 500-Nit Display
- Weight: 2.01kg
- Ports: 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1x 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack, 2x Thunderbolt™ 4
- Dimensions: 344.72mm (W) x 230.14mm (D) x 18.0mm (H)
More: Power Up Your Video-Editing Workflow With These 8 Best Laptops
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| Product Name | Acer Swift 5 | Apple MacBook Air (M3) | ASUS VivoBook 15X OLED | Apple MacBook Pro (M2) | Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 | Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3i (Gen 7) | HP Spectre X360 | Lenovo Yoga 9i |
Dell Inspiron 15 3000 (3515) |
Dell XPS 15 |
| CPU | 12th gen Intel Core i5-1240P, 1.70GHz | Apple M3 Chip (8-core CPU) | AMD Ryzen 5 5600H | Apple M2 Chip (8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores) | AMD Ryzen 7 6800H | 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12650H | Intel Core i7-1255U | 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1260P | AMD Ryzen 5 3500U (Recommended) | 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 |
| GPU | Intel Iris Xe | Integrated 10-core GPU | AMD Radeon Graphics | 10-core GPU | NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 6GB GDDR6 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 6GB GDDR6 | Intel Iris Xe Graphics | Integrated Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics | AMD Radeon Graphics (Integrated with AMD APU) | NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti 4GB GDDR6 [45W] |
| RAM/Storage | 8GB / 512GB SSD | Up to 24GB / Up to 2TB | 16GB / 512GB SSD | 8GB RAM, up to 512GB SSD (configuarable) | Up to 16GB / 1TB SSD | 16GB / 1TB SSD | 16GB / 1TB SSD | Up to 16 GB / Up to 1 TB SSD | 8GB / From 256GB SSD | 16GB / 512GB SSD |
| Display | 14” Full HD 1920 x 1200 | 15.3” Liquid Retina Display, True Tone, 1 billion colours, 500 nits | 15.6" 2.8K (2880 x 1620) OLED 16:9, 120Hz, 550nits, 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, 1.07 billion colours | 13.3” Retina display with IPS technology | 15.6-inch, WQHD (2560 x 1440) 16:9, anti-glare display | 16″ WUXGA (1920 x 1200) IPS, 350 nits | 13.5" WUXGA+ (1920 x 1280), multitouch-enabled, IPS, anti-reflection Corning® Gorilla® Glass NBT™, Low Blue Light, 400 nits | 14" 4K (3840 x 2400), OLED, Dolby Vision™, Touch, HDR 500, 100% DCI-P3, 400 Nits | 15.6-inch, 1080p FHD, Anti-Glare LED-Backlit Non-Touch Display | 15.6" FHD+ (1920 x 1200) InfinityEdge Non-Touch Anti-Glare 500-Nit Display |
| Weight | 1.2 kg | 1.51 kg | 1.6 kg | 1.38 kg | 1.9 kg | 2.4 kg | 2 kg | 1.4 kg | 1.72 kg | 2.01kg |
FAQs
How do I choose the right laptop?
Just having a list isn’t enough. As mentioned before, what’s good for one may not be good for another, so it’s important to consider your individual needs and preferences before you jump straight into brands and technical specs.
Here are a few factors to consider:
- Purpose
The first question you should ask yourself is, what will you use your laptop for? Different laptops are suited for other tasks, such as gaming, work, or video editing, and these tasks will require different specifications, which in turn influence the pricing.
- Price
This is ultimately the most important factor to consider when buying a laptop — or buying anything. Gaming and graphics-specific laptops tend to be on the higher end as they pack the fanciest features and powerful processors.
For regular work or casual gaming, you can look at mid-range laptops around RM5,000 like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15. These machines may not have the most powerful GPUs or the best displays, but they’re more than enough to get you through your daily tasks and then more.
Budget laptops priced below RM3,000 are popular amongst students who just want something to take notes and write essays. In this regard, 2-in-1 hybrid laptops are also quite popular for their touchscreen capabilities.
Then again, price of a laptop won’t tell you the whole story of how the laptop performs, so there are still other factors that you have to look out for.
- Processor, Graphics & RAM
The processor (CPU) is the brain of your laptop. A faster processor means that the laptop will be able to handle more demanding tasks at faster and more efficient speeds. Plus, it will be able to properly balance power consumption so that you can get the most out of your laptop’s battery life.
If you plan to use your laptop for demanding tasks such as video editing or gaming, you may need a laptop with a more powerful processor. On the other hand, if you plan to use your laptop for basic tasks such as browsing the web or writing documents, you may be able to get by with a less powerful processor.
For graphics-intensive tasks like gaming and video editing, you’ll also need to pay attention to the graphics processing unit, also known as the GPU. Like the processor, the GPU determines the number of tasks and the speeds at which you can handle them in terms of graphics. It ensures that your 3D renders and games do not look like Minecraft blocks.
Finally, Random Access Memory (RAM) determines how much data your laptop can handle at once. Generally, we recommend getting a laptop with at least 4GB of RAM for simple tasks, but if you’re looking to do more intensive tasks like gaming or video editing, go with something with 8GB or more.
- Storage
There are two main types of storage: Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Solid-State Drive (SSD). SDDs provide faster data transfer speeds, but they’re generally more expensive than HDDs. We recommend getting at least 256GB of SDD RAM or above to ensure that you have enough space for all your files.
- Display
The display is the part of the laptop that you’ll be staring at for the longest time, so you’ll want to make sure that it’s suitable for you, too. Display types can be very complicated, but generally, you just need to take note of the resolution, size, and panel types.
Resolution refers to the number of pixels displayed on the screen. The higher the resolution, the clearer and more detailed your image will be. The most common resolutions on the market are 1920 x 1080 (also known as Full HD) and 3840 x 2160 (also known as 4K).
Typically measured diagonally, display sizes are generally between 11 and 17 inches. A smaller display means the laptop will be easier to carry around, which is perfect for those who like to work on the go, while a bigger display is more suitable for gaming and watching movies, as the bigger screen offers better immersion.
Lastly, if you’re serious about how you see things on your laptop, you’ll want to consider the panel typ,e too. The most common panels nowadays are LCDs with IPS (In-Plane Switching) or TN (Twisted Nematic) technology.
IPS displays are often found in laptops designed for general content consumption and creative work as they provide wide viewing angles, accurate color reproduction, and good contrast. On the other hand, TN displays have faster response times but have limited color accuracy, making them a common choice for gaming laptops.
Besides that, OLED displays have also been emerging in mainstream high-end laptops. OLEDs provide deep blacks and vivid colors while being thinner and lighter than conventional LCDs, and are perfect for almost anything, with the downside being the hefty price tag.
- Battery Life
With a busy schedule, you will want a laptop that can last all day without needing to be charged. We recommend looking for a laptop with at least 8 hours of battery life if you’re looking for portability and convenience.
What laptops suit which users?
First, you need to know exactly what you will use the laptop for. To make this simple, there are usually three types of people:
The Everyday User
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No need to bother looking at a laptop that has a graphics card, as it’s the least important thing for this,s and it would be a waste of money as they will underutilize the laptop.
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Look at a lightweight and portable laptop. Something around the 1kg mark would be good if it’s a Windows laptop.
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A Mac will be the best as it is portable and light but it is very expensive.
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Look for something that has a good processor (the high-end ones will be better) and without a graphics card. This will give a performance to open 20 browser tabs and a longer battery life
The Gamer
- You’ll want to go for the highest-end specs.
- Look for something that has a powerful graphics card and processor (AMD Ryzen 7/ Intel Core i7 + RTX 3070 or more)
- They need to be aware that with gaming laptops for the same specs, you could potentially build an even more powerful PC
- Consider the pros and cons. If they are moving around a lot, then it would make sense, or if they lack the space at home. If they intend to move around and have space for a desktop PC, it might not be such a good idea to get a gaming laptop.
- Look for something that has a good display. Immersion is everything, and while the hardware is important, if you can play Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing at 144 frames per second but your screen looks terrible, it defeats the purpose.
- Be prepared for bad battery life because these machines are powerful, and with great power comes a very expensive electric bill.
The Creator
- This category is a bit tricky because there is a wide range of content creators out there.
- You have to identify if you are making films and such or just making short TikTok videos.
- Regardless, you want something that has color certifications (Adobe RGB, DCI-P3, SRGB 100%, etc.).
- Look for something that has a powerful processor, but you can cut on the power of the graphics card. Something like an RTX 3060 would be good enough. This helps in the battery department.
- Weight is also a factor you could consider because if you are out for shoots and need an edit done fast, then lugging around a 3kg laptop might be a hassle.
How much RAM should a laptop have?
A laptop should have at least 4GB RAM to run the most basic computing tasks like web browsing. Chromebooks fall under this category.
If you want your laptop to do a little more than that, you’ll need at least 8GB of RAM. This is sufficient for everyday office tasks, extensive web browsing, and some simple gaming. For the power users and hardcore gamers, though, we recommend upgrading to 16 GB RAM or above to ensure the laptop has enough processing power to run what you need.
How long should a laptop last?
The lifespan of your laptop will largely depend on your usage and how often you use it. A laptop that is used primarily for writing and browsing the web can last anywhere from 3 to 5 years. However, if you use your laptop for resource-intensive tasks such as video editing or gaming, you may need to upgrade sooner.
In addition to usage, other factors such as storage conditions, software updates, and proper care can also impact the lifespan of a laptop. For example, storing your laptop in a cool, dry place and avoiding exposure to heat and moisture can help prolong its lifespan. Regularly updating your software and performing regular maintenance, such as cleaning the keyboard and screen, can also help keep your laptop running smoothly for longer.
That said, laptops rarely last until end-of-life. As technology advances and newer models get released, many users choose to upgrade to a newer device even though their current laptop is still functioning. In this case, the lifespan of a laptop would be harder to calculate. Typically, though, a laptop’s software and hardware can remain relevant for up to 5 years.
Which is better, a laptop or a tablet?
A laptop is typically the better choice for those who need to perform more complex tasks, such as extensive writing, video or graphic editing, intensive gaming, or more. Laptops offer a full-sized keyboard, a larger screen, and more processing power, which are all important for these types of tasks.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a device that is more portable and easy to carry around, a tablet might be a better choice. Tablets are also a good option for students who need to take notes in class or do simple research tasks. Many tablets come with a stylus, which can be useful for taking notes by hand.
In general, the choice between a laptop and a tablet will depend on your usage, as well as your personal preferences and needs. Consider your specific requirements and choose the device that best meets your needs.
Conclusion
No matter how well-equipped your laptop is, the most important thing is that it can do what you need it for. It is also important to know that no laptop is made perfect, so leverage and choose one that suits your needs.
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