Multimedia laptops

Multimedia laptops are designed for enterntainment: watching movies, listening to music and, in some cases, playing games. They often have high-quality screens and speakers, higher performance than basic laptops, and usually can play Blu-ray discs, so they are considerably more expensive (900-1500 USD). Screen size is usually 16 to 18 inches, so they are on the heavy side. Most have HDMI port, that enables the output to a HD TV, and a subwoofer, that offers a louder and deeper sound. Build quality is usually good, but they are not designed to be used on the move, so battery life is short (around 2 h).

Other uses: in addition to playing movies and music, you can take into account other uses:

• They are more powerful than basic laptops, so they are of course good for Internet, working with text and so.
• Graphics cards are usually mainstream and are good to play most games at medium resolution and medium or high settings, but some cheaper models come with low-end graphics cards. If you want to play games at high framerates, detail and resolution, look for a gaming laptop.
• In some cases they have Full HD 1080p monitors (1920x1080). They are ideal for games and movies in 18" monitors but, specially in 16" models, can make text, icons and toolbars too small. In addition, it is very unlikely that you can play games at the native resolution of the monitor.
• The combination of a high-quality screen with a good processor and graphics card makes multimedia laptops a good choice for design and graphics applications, but for 3D professional work the best option are mobile workstations.

Core i7 laptops