This article is not a comparison, rather we are going to tell you what points to pay attention to when buying an ultrathin laptop that is not designed for gaming. That is to say, you need something to work with easily, which weighs little and whose battery lasts several hours without problems. In the latter case, ultra-thin e3+ laptops have the “advantage” of many not having a graphics card external to the processor consuming several tens of watts. However, many times and for some tasks, this is counterproductive.
What makes them different from a traditional laptop?
The first thing we need to learn is to differentiate a true ultra-thin laptop from manufacturers’ latest invention, the so-called gaming ultra-thins, which look more like gaming laptops but with reduced power.
The difference between these laptops and the rest, we must start from the fact that the maximum of these computers is mobility. By this we mean not only that we can take them anywhere without breaking our backs, but that they are designed to work with the maximum battery possible using all the power available for as long as possible.
- Unlike the traditional laptop used for gaming today, we don’t have a mode with reduced speeds to make the battery last as long as possible.
- It’s also not a high-performance mode in which it’s nearly impossible to use with a portable system.
- If it is true that your gaming laptop disconnects the dedicated graphics card during certain works, its processor alone will already consume more than an ultra-thin laptop, it will require a more complex cooling system and we will have also a much heavier portable battery.
The other point that sets them apart is the hardware they use, especially due to the fact that they usually use a different type of laptop processor than others.
They use a special type of processor
One of the hottest performance concepts in recent years is performance per watt, which is the number of instructions a processor is solving at a specific power. This is misleading since each voltage supported by a CPU has its own consumption curve and therein lies the secret of an ultra-thin laptop processor. And it is that we must start from the fact that consumption derives from a formula in which part of it multiplies the frequency squared. In other words, if we have a chip at 0.65V at a certain speed and then the same chip at the same speed at 1.3V, then the second one will consume 4 times the power.
In these types of computers, the maximum possible performance is not sought, since that would amount to opting for much higher voltages. It may be that a CPU to reach 3 GHz requires a voltage of 1.2 V, but to increase to 3.2 GHz we need a higher voltage. The result? A much higher consumption for a little more performance. In the end, what is sought is a processor that consumes less energy and therefore releases less heat.
Normally these processors are defined with a U at the end of their name and their TDP is usually between 9W and 15W. They have their own motherboards which differ from other laptops in that they have their capacity in trimmed devices, with in to get a smaller chip. All this makes it possible to mount a more compact type of computer than the traditional laptop.
Tips for buying an ultra-slim laptop
Below we leave you a series of tips that will be useful when choosing an ultra-thin laptop for your personal use.
Choosing the right processor
When we talk about ultra-thin laptops, we’re not referring to Chromebooks, which are nothing more than toy computers. If not to laptops that use low-power variants of the latest Intel processors with their Core 12 and AMD with their Ryzen 5000 and the most recent Ryzen 6000. That is, systems designed so that programs run smoothly. You don’t have to put up with a PC running pedals all the time, especially if you’re working on them. So the first piece of advice is: shun Chromebooks and similar setups.
Battery is important in an ultrathin laptop
The second point is the battery, the reason you buy an ultrathin laptop is to be able to work with it for hours without having to plug it into a power source. Their consumption also allows them to use the standard of USB-C fast charging no problem and they should have the ability to last more than 8 hours with 100% battery performance. Keep these two characteristics in mind.
The choice of screen is also important
Ultra-slim laptops use screens smaller than 15 inches, in order to make them as compact as possible and with high enough resolutions compared to those of games. Since they don’t have to move games and focus more on mainstream apps. This makes the reading of documents much better, as well as the sharpness of your screen.
Choose a keyboard you can work on comfortably
Many manufacturers of ultra-thin laptops make the mistake of creating membrane keyboards that are very uncomfortable to use, with keys so thin they barely feel like they’re pressed. That’s why you’ll need to look for one that you can write comfortably with.
Which Ultrathin Laptop Should You Buy?
We have decided to choose a small list of three models as an example, which we consider at the time of writing these lines to be the best on the market in this category. We’ve obviously decided to exclude those with gaming capabilities, as that’s not the laptop profile we’re looking for.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro Gen 7
Our top pick is Lenovo’s ultra-slim laptop with the following tech specs:
- Processor Intel Core i7-1260p
- 4 P-Cores capable of 8 execution threads
- 8 E-Cores capable of 8 execution threads
- 8 GB of RAM memory
- 512 GB SSD type of NVMe storage in M.2 form
- 14 inch screen
- 2240 x 1400 pixel resolution
- 100% sRGB support
- Dolby Vision
- Antireflections
- Its weight is only 1.37 Kg,
Huawei Matebook X Pro 2022
The mobile maker also makes ultra-slim laptops and as the saying goes, you shouldn’t rate anything based on its packaging and youthe Matebook Pro X is an example. Its specifications are very similar to those of the Lenovo computer, since they use the same processor, the i7-1260pand the same amount of RAM, 16 GB totalhe. However, they differ on some points, such as having a storage of 1 TB on your NVMe SSD and the fact that its 14-inch screen has a resolution of 3120 x 2080 pixels with a refresh rate of 90 Hz, all in a weight of 1.31 Kg.
Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360
On this Samsung model, the i7-1260p becomes the central processor of a system with weight of 1.4 kg, but this is due to the fact that your screen Super AMOLED is 15 inches with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Like the rest of the models, it has 16 GB of RAM memory and storage in 1TB NVMe SSD.
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