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Laptop, Notebook & Ultrabook PCs- XPS, Inspiron

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Laptop, Notebook & Ultrabook PCs- XPS, Inspiron

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Laptop Computers, Notebooks & 2-in-1 PCs | Dell USA

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Shop new laptops, notebooks & 2-in-1 PCs from the official Dell site. Everyday, performance, ultra-thin & gaming laptops. Build and ship yours today!

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Laptop Computers & Mini Laptops - Walmart.com

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Laptop Computers & Mini Laptops - Walmart.com

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Shop Laptops at Walmart.com and find popular brands including Dell, HP, Samsung, Apple and Acer. Save money. Live better.

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Newegg.com: Computer Parts, Laptops, Electronics, and More 

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Newegg.com: Computer Parts, Laptops, Electronics, and More 

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Evertek.com - Wholesale Computer Parts, Wholesale Computers, Computer Distributors, Wholesale Electronics

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Evertek is the World's Largest Wholesale Computer Parts Specialist; Wholesale Computers, Computer Distributors, Wholesale Electronics, Computer Hardware Supplier, Wholesale Computer Parts...

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CDW - Computers, Hardware, Software and IT Solutions for

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CDW - Computers, Hardware, Software and IT Solutions for

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CDW - Computers, Hardware, Software and IT Solutions for Business

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The information technology products, expertise and service you need to make your business successful. Fast shipping, fast answers, the industry's largest in-stock inventories, custom configurations and more.

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Desktop Computer Vendors and Their Product Lines

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Desktop Computer Vendors and Their Product Lines

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Desktop PC vendors organize their offerings by product lines, which should make it easier to buy, since you can simply (in theory) go directly to the product lines targeting small and medium-size business customers.

In theory.

In fact, some vendors have several product lines for business buyers, and you'll find a distinct lack of clarity as to the differences among said product lines, other than that one line tends to cost more or less than another line, but not consistently even in that. Other vendors seem reluctant to state clearly the intentions of each brand name - every single system, it seems, is targeted at buyers who want flexibility, quality, and value. (I am still looking for that other product line - you know, the one aimed at buyers who prefer rigidity, frangibility, and high prices.)

In an attempt to figure out what's what, we studied the product lines and then, defeated, talked to the product marketing managers of the various brands. But that didn't always help. So here is our interpretation of what we found out by studying the vendor sites and literature, consulting with our user sources, and shopping the sites ourselves. (Our interpretation may differ slightly from what the vendor marketing people thought they were telling us.)

Introduction: Who's Who?

The market isn't the free-for-all it was in the old days, but there are plenty of sellers of desktop computers, even if Dell is the hurricane-force wind in this market and has just over half of our readers' desktops in thrall.

Dell sells mostly through its online store with its legendary "configurator." The rest of the vendors sell both online and through national chains in the U.S.: Hewlett-Packard/Compaq , IBM/Lenovo, Gateway, and Sony. And Apple, of course, which sells online as well as through its own branded stores and in special sections in chains like CompUSA.

In addition, chain stores such as Best Buy and Costco, and even Sears and Wal-Mart sell both national brand-name computers and their own bargain-priced private-label systems. Almost every brand also sells through consultants, business partners, systems integrators, IT consultants, and other third parties who serve the business market.

And finally, you can still buy custom-built systems from local PC builders who assemble components to order (called "white boxes," because they aren't branded). In fact, Microsoft has a Web site dedicated to promoting a "Buy Local" initiative intended both to support small assemblers and (we suspect) to drive some business to small builders who pay to put Windows on their systems instead of installing Linux for free.

And What's What

We will cover mainly Windows-Intel PCs here, though we also give an AllBusiness.com tip of the hat to Apple's Macintosh - 13 percent of our readers own them, so we have to show some respect.

If you're wondering whether the new Intel inside the Macintosh will change things ... well, it will certainly help speed up the Macintosh, and give Apple an excuse to continue lowering the prices closer to the Dell-style commodity boxes. But the real issue for Macintosh enthusiasts has always been - and will continue to be - the basic incompatibility of its operating system with that of the Microsoft hegemony. The two systems look and act a lot alike, but under the hood they are different enough that a given program can't run on both - there need to be separate versions for the Mac and for Windows. Disparate systems have never been a favorite among IT folks who have to do the maintenance, so that's still going to be an issue for your business.

But if you (or someone who holds power over you in the company) have your heart set on a Macintosh, it's not so foreign that it will bring your IT department to its knees. Macs work and play well on PC networks, talk to the Web the same way, use Mac versions of the usual productivity software that PCs do, and even read and write PC floppy disks and understand Word and Excel files from Windows machines. You'll still pay a smidge more, and there will be a few headaches here and there, but it's not the end of the world. If you love Macintosh, then go for it. If you don't care one way or another, then there aren't many good reasons to start caring.

Linux is a horse of a different color. Most businesses use Linux on the server side, where the operating system is the least of your troubles. Desktop Linux is - I have to be blunt - still not ready for prime time. Or, rather, not ready for Every-Tom-Dick-and-Harriet prime time. By which I mean, while many computer-savvy people in your company will have no problem adapting to a Linux environment, anybody on staff who considers computers a tool or a chore, rather than a toy and a joy, is going to be a potential support problem. On the other hand, if your IT support staff is enthused about Linux on the desktop, they can go ahead and hand them out to other enthusiasts and deal with the issues, as Linux systems integrate well into a business networked environment - as long as your support people are up for it.

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Desktop Computer Vendors and Their Product Lines | AllBusiness.com

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Desktop PC vendors organize their offerings by product lines, which should make it easier to buy, since you can simply (in theory) go directly to the product lines targeting small and medium-size business customers. In theory.

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This wikiHow teaches you how to build a desktop computer using custom parts. Successfully building a computer is largely contingent on defining your computer goals and budget, buying the right parts, and putting everything together in the...

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Desktops no longer make up the bulk of new PC purchases, but many people still like the idea of a fixed system. Here's some advice on finding the right system.

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Tablet Buying Guide - How to Buy the Right Tablet 

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Tablet Buying Guide - How to Buy the Right Tablet 

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The tablet has fallen on hard times recently, with falling sales and heated debate about whether we even need tablets in today's huge smartphone-driven world.

But there are still plenty of good reasons to consider buying a tablet. Maybe you want a device to occupy your free time or to supplement your TV watching with Twitter. Maybe you don't need a full-fledged laptop, but need something that's bigger than a smartphone. Or maybe you're looking to buy an easy-to-use device for the technophobe in your life.

Whatever the reason, there's a tablet out there for you. Read on and we'll help you find the right one for your needs.
MORE: iPad Buying Guide: Which One is Right for You?
Convertible or Stand-Alone Tablet?

When it comes to tablets, you have a choice - do you go with a standard tablet or do you go with a "convertible" tablet?

Stand-alone tablets take the form of oversize smartphones: They consist of one large touch screen, a handful of buttons on the case, a charging connector and little else. They usually weigh between 1 and 2 pounds and are typically less than half an inch thick, so they're supercompact and portable. You control them using the touch screen, but you can usually pair them with a Bluetooth keyboard.

Convertible devices try to combine the flexibility of the PC with the convenience of a tablet. These 2-in-1 devices either come with a detachable keyboard or they're really just a full-size laptop that features a touch screen.

Detachables look and work like stand-alone tablets, but snap on to a specially designed keyboard attachment, and you can use them as laptop replacements. Some detachables come with the keyboard, while others require you to buy the keyboard separately, like with the iPad Pro and its $169 Smart Keyboard.

Microsoft's Surface Book takes the concept a step further, in that it's a full-fledged laptop with a detachable display that you can use as a stand-alone tablet.

Which Size?

Tablet screen sizes range from 6 inches on the low end, all the way up to a gargantuan 18.4 inches on Samsung's Galaxy View tablet. You'll find that most tablets fall into the 7- to 10-inch range: If you're looking for something small and light that you can take with you anywhere, a small tablet such as the iPad mini or 7-inch Amazon Fire tablet is the way to go.

Tablets in the 10-inch range, like the iPad Air 2, provide a good balance between portability and productivity: They aren't as easy to use with one hand, but they're still plenty light and compact. Larger tablets, such as the Galaxy View or the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, are less portable, but they can make for suitable laptop replacements.

Notebook-tablet hybrids typically feature screen sizes around 11 to 13 inches, but they tend to be bulkier, so they aren't ideal if size and weight are your main priorities.

Which Operating System?

iOS 9

The latest and greatest version of Apple's mobile operating system is iOS 9. It powers all of Apple's current-generation iPad models (as well as smartphones). And it comes with a number of additions that give your iPad a little extra flexibility, thanks to new split-screen multitasking features.

Your hardware options are limited with iOS, relative to Android and Windows, since you have only Apple's iPad line to choose from. The options include the iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad mini 4 and iPad mini 2. On the other hand, iOS users have hundreds of thousands of apps at their disposal through the App Store.

Android

When it comes to Android tablets, you have no shortage of options - both in terms of hardware and software.

While Android is, ostensibly, Google's mobile operating system, there is no unified Android. The company releases a new update to the OS every year or so, and some tablets get updated while others do not. Plus, most tablet makers customize Android to suit their needs, or add in features to differentiate their tablets from the competition. Samsung tablets, for instance, come with a customized interface that integrates a number of Samsung-specific apps and features. Amazon's Fire tablets run a heavily customized version of Android that Amazon calls Fire OS.

You also have a plethora of hardware options, too - from the aforementioned Fire tablets to Samsung's wide-ranging offerings to the Asus ZenPad series, to name just a few.

Windows 10

Windows 10, the newest version of Windows, builds upon the foundation Microsoft laid in Windows 8 and 8.1. The new OS is easier to use on traditional PCs than Windows 8 was, and it makes using Windows on a tablet much more seamless than before. Windows 10 offers several concessions to tablet users, such as large, touch-friendly window controls and buttons, a Tablet Mode (which expands the Start menu to fill the whole screen) and various touch-screen gestures.

Windows remains heavily oriented around the keyboard and mouse, though, so some apps and features may be awkward to use via a touch screen. It makes sense, then, that many Windows tablets are of the convertible kind.
MORE: Top 8 Windows Tablet-Laptop Hybrids
How Will You Use It?

At Home

For general home use - such as Web browsing, email, listening to music and so on - most any tablet out there will fit the bill. You probably won't need to go with a superhigh-end tablet, so look for tablets that cost less than $300. The $179.99 Lenovo Tab 2 A10 is one of our favorites.

For Work

If you plan to use your tablet as a business machine - or as a laptop replacement - you'll want one with at least a 9-inch screen. The iPad Air and iPad Air 2, Google Nexus 9 and larger Samsung Galaxy models are all good choices.

If you have the budget, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro ($799 and up), Microsoft Surface Pro 4 ($899 and up) and Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 ($649 and up) are very good options. Each of these comes with handy multitasking features, optional keyboard attachments and pen-input support.

For Gaming

Since iOS is the center of the mobile gaming universe, an iPad is a good bet. The iPad Air 2 offers a good balance between portability and power, but starting at $499, it isn't cheap. Other options abound, however, such as the $199 gaming-centric Nvidia Shield tablet K1. This Android tablet is built around Nvidia's Tegra K1 quad-core mobile processor and features an 8-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel display and 2GB of memory.

What about Windows-based convertible tablets? Since these devices run full-fledged Windows, you can play a good many PC games on them. They won't keep up with high-end gaming rigs, but many are more than suitable for more casual PC gaming.

For the Kids

With tablets for children, you'll want to consider size, price, durability and parental-control features. A 7-inch tablet will be more suitable for small hands, and given the risk of a broken tablet, you'll want to stay on the lower end - no more than about $250. The $99 Fire Kids Edition is a good choice, with its rubber bumpers, compact size, parental controls and kid-friendly interface. Plus, it comes with a two-year guarantee that says the company will replace it if your child does serious damage.
MORE: Kids' Tablets to Buy (or Avoid)
For Media Consumption

Any of the tablet ecosystems are good choices for watching movies or TV shows and listening to music, but if you're a true media junkie, the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9-inch may be for you. Not only does it feature a sharp 2560 x 1600-pixel display and Dolby Atmos speakers, but it also integrates nicely with Amazon's Prime Video content. Another great option could be the iPad Air 2, which integrates with iTunes and sports a 2048 x 1536-pixel screen.

What About Apps and Content?

All three major tablet operating systems provide digital storefronts from which you can purchase and download apps, music, movies and other kinds of content.

On iOS, the App Store is the only real way to get apps for your iPad. Apple keeps pretty tight controls over what apps you can buy through its store, which reduces the risk of downloading something malicious, but somewhat limits the sorts of things apps can do. The iTunes Store lets you purchase music, movies and TV shows, while the iBooks app manages all things pertaining to e-books. Meanwhile, the Music app lets you listen to your own tunes or stream music via the Apple Music subscription service.

Google Play is your official one-stop shop for getting apps, music and other content on your Android tablet. But Android's more open nature means it isn't the only way to get apps and other content, and Android device manufacturers sometimes bundle their own digital store on their devices.

Android devices can also side load Amazon's Underground app store. It comes with $20,000 worth of Android apps, games and in-app purchases that are free. It's a curated - and thus smaller - version of Google Play.

Speaking of Amazon, if you're an Amazon Prime member, the company's Fire tablets come with built-in support for Amazon Prime content. That includes the Video streaming service, access to Prime Music streaming, Kindle e-books and more. They also come with a 30-day Amazon Prime free trial. Apps are available for download via the Amazon Appstore or via the Underground app.

On Windows 10 devices, you can purchase apps, music and movies through the Windows Store. Because this is Windows, however, you can download apps from just about anywhere. Still, certain software titles may only be available via the Windows Store, and since Microsoft vets everything in it, you're at a lower risk of malware infection if you go through the Store.

Which specs matter?

Tablet specs can be tricky to discern, since not all manufacturers fully disclose their devices' innards. Here's a quick rundown on what you might see, and what it all means.

Processors

Apple uses its custom A-series chips inside its iPads. Current models use either the A7, A8, A8X or A9X processors: Higher numbers denote a newer processor that offers better performance, and the X suffix indicates a more powerful version of a given processor. The A8 is newer than the A7, for instance, while the A8X is a more powerful version of the A8.

Android tablets pack processors from a variety of manufacturers. Samsung's Exynos chips and Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors are the most common: Look for the Snapdragon 800 series and Exynos 8 processors for better performance. Nvidia's Tegra processors are found on Nvidia tablets, and you'll find some Android machines with Rockchip CPUs.

On the Windows front, you'll find mainly Intel processors, including the Core m3, i5 and i7 processors. Tablets based on Intel Core processors tend to be higher-end devices, and will generally cost you more. Lower-cost Windows tablets and convertibles often use Intel Atom processors.
MORE: Intel's Core M CPU: What You Need to Know
RAM (Memory)

RAM isn't quite as big a selling point on tablets because of how iOS and Android manage memory. Generally speaking, however, the more you spend, the more RAM you'll get, and on most tablets, you can expect anywhere between 1GB and 4GB of memory. Laptop/tablet hybrids and other Windows-based convertible tablets, like the Surface Pro 4, typically offer more memory, sometimes up to 16GB of RAM. More RAM often equates to snappier performance.

Storage and Expandability

Stand-alone tablets typically come with 8 or 16GB of storage on the low end, and up to 128GB on the high end. Convertible Windows tablets often have storage capacities more in line with typical notebooks, so it isn't unusual to find one with 256GB of storage or more. Some tablets include SD card readers that allow you to expand your device's storage capacity. Unless you don't use your tablet much, you may find 8 or 16 GB to be a little too constraining for your needs, so you'll probably want to pay a little more and get at least 32GB of storage space - or look for one with an onboard SD card slot.

How About Battery Life?

Many tablets will get you all-day battery life, but as our testing shows, tablet battery life can still vary greatly. Lenovo's Android-based Yoga Tab 3 lasted more than 15 hours on a single charge in our Web browsing tests, but on average, the devices we tested ran for 8 hours and 45 minutes before their batteries ran dry. We recommend you look for a tablet that runs for no less than 7 hours on a single charge.
MORE: 10 Tablets with the Longest Battery Life
Is the Price Right?

You can pay an awful lot for a tablet - but you don't have to. Tablets range from more than $1,000 on the high end to less than $50 on the low end, so you have plenty of options, regardless of how much or how little you want to spend.

Less than $100

You'll find lots of inexpensive Android tablets for less than $100, as well as Amazon's entry-level 7-inch Fire tablet, a solid little device that goes for around $50. At these prices, though, you're limited to tablets with tight storage capacities and low-resolution displays, and you won't find many that have screens larger than 7 inches. You'll want to do your homework before you buy to make sure you're getting a decent device.

$100 to $200

If you're on a tight budget but don't want to delve into the bargain basement, the sub-$200 range is a good place to look. Most tablets in this price range hover around 7 or 8 inches and run Android, such as the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 4. Storage capacities are still limited, though, with 8 or 16 GB being the norm, but you'll find the occasional tablet with 32GB of onboard storage.
MORE: Best Tablets Under $200
$200 to $300

Pay a little more, and you'll get a little more power and added niceties, such as higher-resolution screens. At $269, Apple's low-end iPad mini 2 gets you a 7.9-inch 2048 x 1536-pixel display, but its storage capacity is limited to 16GB. At this range, you'll start to see larger 9- and 10-inch tablets as well.

$300 to $400

Here is where you'll start to see more of the larger, higher-end tablets. High-end 7- and 8-inch tablets live here, as do lower-end 9- and 10-inch tablets. For $319 you get a 32GB iPad mini 2, while $399 gets you either a 16GB iPad Air or 16GB iPad mini 4. Alternatively, you'll find the $399 Google Nexus 9 tablet and a wide selection of Galaxy tablets from Samsung.

$400 and up

The high end of the tablet market is a rather wide-ranging segment, but it's here where tablets go from being secondary devices to legitimate laptop replacements. You'll get faster processors, bigger screens, more features and, generally speaking, more storage space (though you'll still find some 16GB models here and there). You'll also find tablets with built-in cellular broadband here. Tablets in this range include the iPad Air 2, the iPad Pro, high-end Android tablets and the Surface Pro 4.

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The tablet has fallen on hard times recently, with falling sales and heated debate about whether we even need tablets in today's huge smartphone-driven world. But there are still plenty of good reasons to consider buying a tablet. Maybe you want a device to occupy your free time or to supplement your TV watching with Twitter.

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Choosing a new laptop is a lot harder than it should be. Every major brand has multiple product lines with overlapping prices and features, and every description is filled with jargon about processors, types of storage, graphics capabilities, screen resolutions and a laundry list of ports and connections. And don't even get me started on names. Good luck figuring out the meaning behind a Pavilion/Inspiron/XPS/Latitude/Spectre/Envy/ZenBook/Odyssey or any of the others. It's enough to make you go back to a no. 2 pencil and a composition book.

That's why we test and review dozens of traditional laptops every year, plus Windows tablets and 2-in-1 hybrids, and even Chromebooks. This handy buying guide will give you the basic background info you need to add context to those reviews and to make a smart purchase. Of course, if you're looking to just jump right in, I've preselected a handful of my favorite current laptops to highlight. If you ran into me on the street, I'd probably steer you towards one of these as a starting point.

Our top picks

A big investment that will last for years:
Apple MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (13-inch, 2016) MacBooks, especially the latest Pro models with Apple's Touch Bar, cost a bundle, but they remain the most universally useful laptops you can buy.

>More affordable: Apple MacBook Pro (without Touch ID and Touch Bar)
>Cheaper, lighter but less powerful: Apple MacBook (12-inch)

Sarah Tew/CNET

Inexpensive, without feeling cheap: Samsung Chromebook Pro
A budget-priced Chromebook, running Google's Chrome OS, is going to feel speedier than a similarly priced Windows laptop. Now that Chromebooks can run Android apps as well, they're more useful than ever.

>A bigger, better Windows 10 alternative: HP Spectre x360
>A mainstream Windows 10 laptop that's cool but affordable: Dell XPS 13

A perfectly balanced gaming laptop: Dell Alienware 13 R3 (OLED)
I've always wanted a gaming laptop that's portable but powerful. Add to that support for virtual reality headsets and a brilliant OLED screen, and this hits almost every gaming checkbox I have.

>Custom components and hands-on service: Origin PC Evo-15S
>Over-the-top gaming excess: MSI GT83VR

Most buying guides and shopping advice features tend to get bogged down in the specs, mechanically listing subcategories within subcategories. Instead, I'll break out the most important things to know when looking for a new laptop, starting with my three cardinal rules.

Three rules for buying a laptop

1. Don't buy too much laptop

Not too many years ago, $1,000 was considered a good price for a boring, run-of-the-mill laptop. Today, some of the most advanced designs, from the Dell XPS 13 to the HP Spectre sell for less. Apple is the one computer maker that regularly gets away with charging significantly more (the mainstream MacBook Pro starts at $1,500).

Fully functional Windows 10 laptops can be found for as little as $200, though they're not good for much beyond basic web surfing. Chromebooks, which run a limited set of software in Google's Chrome OS (instead of Windows), are easy to find for $300 to $500, and can feel very speedy, even for budget-minded machines. Some new ones even have touch screens and run Android apps, which gives you a lot more flexibility.

Even gamers can spend less than you might expect. Laptops with Nvidia's very good GeForce 1050 GPU can be found for $800, although if you're interested in virtual reality, the cost of entry rises considerably.

2. Travel light

The first question I have when someone asks, "What kind of laptop should I buy?" is this: How many days per week do you plan on carrying your laptop around with you?

Daily or near-daily commutes mean you want something with a 13-inch or smaller display, that weighs under three pounds and is at most around 15mm thick. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro just hits those specs, while systems like the HP Spectre and Acer Swift 7 both dip below 10mm thick.

Those superslim systems usually trade a little power and battery life for portability (there's only so much room in a 10mm thick laptop for a battery or cooling fans for a fast CPU, after all), but trust me, carrying a 15-inch midsize laptop through an airport even once a month is going to get old real fast.

3. Design is king

Do you want a U-series Intel Core i5 Processor or a Y-series one? Do you need a standard SSD hard drive or a faster PCI-e version? Is the same full HD resolution as your big-screen TV enough, or do you need a 4K laptop display?

For most of what we do on our laptops today -- websurfing, streaming video from Netflix, YouTube or Amazon, posting on social media, sending email or using office apps like Office or Google Docs -- budget laptops will work fine. And with laptops that share similar processors, graphics cards or other components, our decade-plus of testing data shows that they perform, well, similarly.

That means what you're really investing in is a design you like. That can include weight, thickness and screen size, but also covers the layout of the keyboard, how large the touchpad is, how thick the bezel around the screen is, metal versus plastic, or even the color or pattern on the back of the lid.

And there's nothing wrong with making design choices your no. 1 deciding factor. A laptop is not only hefty investment, it's also a visual extension of your personality. You may carry it around with you all day, or even all over the country. Of course you want something that's both comfortable to use and pleasing to look at. It's as much a personal accessory as a jacket or a pair of glasses.

That's what Apple nails really well -- the parts inside of a MacBook are not that different from other laptops (although the operating system is another story), but the human interface tools are fantastic, and the design has become a standard for what a lot of people think a laptop should look like.

FAQ

What's better, Windows or MacOS?

I'm not touching that one with a 10-foot pole. There are no online commenters angrier than Mac fans bashing Windows, or Windows fans bashing Macs. That said, there are a few general rules of thumb that can help determine which side of the fence is right for you.

MacBooks, which run Apple's MacOS operating system (formerly known as OS X), have a higher cost of entry. The least-expensive MacBook right now is the 13-inch MacBook Air, which starts at $1,000, while the latest MacBook Pro starts at $1,500.

However, you get an amazingly seamless partnership of hardware and software, which is especially evident in how the multitouch gestures beat any Windows laptop, and how it's so easy to preview almost any file just by tapping the space bar.

That said, there's a lot less software you can install on a Mac, and games are pretty much out of the question. Under the latest version of MacOS, you have to go digging around in the settings menus to even install any software from what Apple calls "unidentified developers," which is anyone without its stamp of approval.

With Microsoft's OS, now up to Windows 10 (where did Windows 9 go? Don't ask...), you get a lot more flexibility in price, hardware and software. Windows 10 laptops dip as low as $200, and I've also reviewed configurations that top $5,000. You can get a 10mm thick ultraslim system, or a giant 12-pound-plus monster. You can get gaming rigs, hybrids that split into a separate tablet and keyboard, and just a generic-looking $600 plastic clamshell.

Windows is great if you like to tinker with registries and drivers, you want more direct control over what your software and operating system are doing, or if you want a touch-based OS, as most Windows laptops have at least a touch option now. On top of that, Windows 10 is much easier for a beginner to use than any previous version, and "running Windows" is no longer considered a knock against a PC.

The tl:dr version: choosing between Windows 10 and MacOS depends on what style of laptop hardware you want, and how much you want to spend.

How about a Chromebook?

Not too long ago, these stripped-down laptops running Google's Chrome OS were basically just big web browsers with few other features. They were cheap, they went online, and that was about all you could say about them.

Now that we're in the third or fourth major generation of Chromebooks, they've evolved to such a degree that there's really no reason a Chromebook can't be your main laptop. New models have basic filing system and media management tools, and nearly everything you'd want to do is browser-based, anyway. Gmail is probably your main mail app. Music comes from Spotify or another online streaming source, video comes from Netflix, Amazon or YouTube, and for office work, there's either Google Docs and its related tools, or the free online version of Microsoft Office.

Beyond that, new Chromebooks are adding Android app compatibility. So now, in systems such as the Samsung Chromebook Pro, you can download, install and run a ton of new apps. Only a handful are optimized for Chrome OS so far, but more will follow.

The upshot is that a cheap Chromebook feels faster and more responsive than a similarly cheap Windows laptop. For about $500 or less, unless you really need a Windows-only feature, just get a Chromebook.

What ports do I need?

We're in the midst of a big change in laptop ports. USB-C, which is a smaller, reversible version of the standard USB port (which is technically called USB-A) is becoming the default port on many new laptops. USB-C can handle data, video output, power and more, at USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt speeds. The problem is, to connect to a TV or monitor or use any of your existing accessories, from memory sticks to external hard drives, an adapter is required. USB-C is the future, but for a while at least, most of us will be taking a detour to dongle-town.

But if you're not ready for a mono-port future, a couple of standard USB 3.0 ports are good to have, as is an HDMI output. Fewer and fewer laptops have Ethernet jacks for wired internet connections (gaming laptops still do, however), and even SD card slots are fading away. Frankly, between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, we use ports a lot less than we used to, so don't get obsessed about them unless you need something specific.

A good example of something specific is using a virtual-reality headset like the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. For those, you'll need an HDMI output and sometimes up to three or four USB ports.

How much storage do I need?

Old-fashioned spinning platter hard drives (often called HDDs) get up to a terabyte or two easily. But the increasingly common solid state drives (SSD), sometimes called flash drives, are usually found in 128 or 256GB sizes, or 512GB as an expensive add-on. Since most of us store photos, music and video in the cloud now, and use web-based apps instead of installed local software, you can get away with less storage. Gamers are, again, the exception, you'll need 500GB or more of HDD space for big game files, which can run from 25GB to 50GB per game. But for the rest of us, 256GB is a good middle ground.

Chromebooks and super-cheap Windows laptops often have virtually no storage, just between 16GB and 32GB, much of which goes to operating system files. On those machines, you're meant to do pretty much everything online and retain only very minimal local files.

Do I need a graphics card/optical drive/touchscreen/etc.?

Except for the least-expensive configurations, a Windows laptop should include a touchscreen by default. It's not completely necessary, but there are a few things in Windows 10, like accessing the right side tool bar, connecting to Wi-Fi networks, scrolling down long pages, etc., that just work better with touch.

A graphics card, from Nvidia or AMD, is really only needed if you're playing PC games, or if you're editing very high-res photos or videos regularly. Even 4K video playback works just fine with the default Intel graphics capabilities in nearly any new laptop.

You don't need an optical drive. It's time to donate those old DVDs to Housing Works.

Should I buy now, or wait for the next update/upgrade/CPU/etc.?

That's the million-dollar question, and it applies to nearly every technology category. Every new piece of hardware is a step closer to obsolescence with each passing day, and there's always a new version coming at some point in the not-too-distant future. Once you accept that, it's a lot easier to just relax and buy a product you'll enjoy using, without succumbing to upgrade envy.

Where can I find the latest laptop and hybrid reviews?

All the newest mobile PC news and reviews can be found here at CNET.com/laptops, while our updated list of the best laptops in different categories can be found here.

Wait, I have more questions! How can I ask them?

I'm always happy to hear from readers (for real!), and do my best to reply with at least a few bits of advice or system suggestions if you've got a question. You can send me an email through my CNET profile page here, or hit me up on my @danackerman Twitter account.

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Choosing a new laptop is a lot harder than it should be. Every major brand has multiple product lines with overlapping prices and features, and every description is filled with jargon about processors, types of storage, graphics capabilities, screen resolutions and a laundry list of ports and connections.