The latest generation of laptops give you more power in a slimmer package than ever before. Whether you’re video editing, gaming or designing, having the power to take on demanding tasks doesn’t mean having to stick to a desktop PC. Instead you can close your laptop and take it with you.

So while it’s a great time to invest in a new laptop, sometimes it can feel like you need a degree in Computer Science just to get your head around the jargon. That’s why we’ve out together a quick guide to make even the techiest of terminology easy to understand.

Let’s get started!

CPU

The CPU (central processing unit) is the brain of your laptop. Whenever you move the mouse, open a program or load a file, the processor makes it happen.

If you’ve heard of Intel, you already know something about processors. And the kind of CPU set up you have can tell you about the kind of laptop you’re getting.

More laptops are built with Intel CPUs - with the latest laptops containing the new i13 processor, so here's a brief guide to how those are ranked.

Core i3 - If you're buying a budget laptop, it may well feature this. It's a dual core CPU which should do the job for basic, everyday computing.

Core i5 - This is Intel's main processor. Coming in dual and quad-core, this processor will be found on many 15-inch laptops.

Core i7 - If you need your laptop to take on tougher tasks - like video editing or just multitasking - this is a great bet.

Core i9 - This is the powerhouse processor of the 13th gen. If you’re looking for the kind of power you’d need in a high-end desktop PC, i9 is the way to go.

Having a multi-core CPU means the processor can work on multiple tasks at the same time. This is great if you're juggling lots at the same time - peeking at Facebook, monitoring your emails and running a game, for example.

Put simply, a multi-core processor lets you multitask like a champ!

Hard drive

Hard drives come in two main types: platter hard drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SDD). Most laptops used to come with HDDs, though newer laptops often opt for speedier SDDs. This is where you can store photos, videos and game files - especially ones that you need when offline.

Solid state hard drives use flash memory. With one of these bad boys you can expect your machine to boot up faster, and applications and programmes to load quicker.

It'll be quieter than a regular hard drive too. You don't have to worry about them busting either as they have no moving parts. However, as well as being more expensive than a HHD, they also have less storage capacity.

Hard drives are measured in gigabytes, and the more you have the better. Movies, tunes and hi-res pics take up quite a lot of space – so look for laptops with hard drives with at least 250GB, while also considering those with 500GB or 750GB (they don't cost much more). Don't forget too, external hard drives can be bought and plugged into your laptop via USB – so you can expand to as much space as you need.

RAM

RAM stands for Random Access Memory. The more RAM your machine has the better it will run. If your computer doesn't have enough RAM, it will run slowly.

Don't settle for less than 4GB of RAM, but push for 8GB or even 16GB if you need a new 13th gen Intel laptop made to take on the most demanding apps and games. The more RAM you have the better set up you'll be for doing more than one thing at a time. Plus, you’ll be able to run taxing apps all the more smoothly.

Graphics chips and cards

If you're just planning on surfing the web and watching video, an integrated graphics chip should be fine. This is the chip that's already built into your laptop.

Integrated means the graphics chip shares the computer's memory, which can make it slower to process video and images.

However, unless you're playing serious computer games on your laptop, this shouldn't be too much of an issue. If you do plan on spending your downtime playing AAA games, you'll need a decent graphics card. Intel 13th gen laptops will often have an buit-in version of powerful standalone cards that you’d normally find in a gaming PC - like the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8 GB.

Graphics cards usually have their own dedicated RAM – the amount you need depends on what you plan to do but try to ensure you have at least 256MB in memory.

Need more help?

Hopefully, this guide will be enough to get you started. But if you need a deeper dive you can’t go wrong with our laptop buying guide.