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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- When shopping for a laptop, only pay for upgrades that enhance your experience.
- Better displays, extra RAM, and dedicated GPUs are worth paying extra for.
- Certain features, like touchscreens, may not be worth the money.
Buying a laptop is hard. There are hundreds of options available, and even after you narrow things down to a certain brand or model, you’re faced with a dizzying number of configurations.
Take, for example, the HP OmniBook 3, a laptop I recently reviewed. My review unit came equipped with a Snapdragon X chipset. HP also sells versions with an Intel N10 processor and 4GB of RAM, the same processor with 8GB of RAM, another with an Intel N250 chip, and another with the Intel Core 3 N355. And that’s just one laptop.
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Most people don’t need the most powerful model available, but certain upgrades are absolutely worth paying extra for. The right features will provide a superior user experience for years. After reviewing countless laptops, these are the features worth spending extra on, along with those you should skip.
5 laptop features worth paying for
1. More RAM
RAM is the easier laptop upgrade to justify since it affects nearly every aspect of a computer. Modern software is more rewser tabs alongside apps like Spotify, Slack, Zoom, and Photoshop. As your workload becomes more demanding, the benefits of having that extra memory become apparent
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I’ve argued that 16GB of RAM should be considered the practical baseline for laptops. It gives systems enough headroom for everyday tasks and prevents sluggishness. If you’re a content creator, gamer, programmer, or just someone who regularly has heavy workloads, upgrading to 32GB is the better investment. It provides extra breathing room for demanding tasks and may extend your computer’s lifespan.
2. A better screen
If you’re going to spend all day staring at a laptop screen, you might as well make it a good one. More of your experience is tied to the display quality than most users realize.
A bright, color-accurate panel will significantly improve your experience. Text looks sharper, streaming content appears more vibrant, plus they make certain creative tasks, like photo and video editing, more reliable. High accuracy means you can trust that what you see on screen will match the finished product. An inaccurate display panel makes precise edits more challenging. You can’t trust what you see.
For most users, I recommend spending a little extra on a better panel. For example, a 1440p or 2K resolution will look great. Visual output is more vibrant, detailed, and brighter than your bog-standard 1080p screen, which is typically the baseline. If you want to go even further, a 3K or higher display will feel like a premium user experience.
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3. Longevity
A machine that can last nearly 20 hours on a single charge is drastically different from one that lasts only eight or 12 hours: you stop thinking about where the nearest outlet is. Long flights become less stressful. You don’t have to rush to the first power outlet you find at Starbucks, and you can pick a seat anywhere and enjoy your time.
So, how do you ensure a laptop has great battery life? Opting for a bigger battery certainly helps, but that’s only a part of the equation. The processor powering the laptop is arguably more important. In recent years, Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm have all made huge strides in making their processors as energy-efficient as possible, allowing laptops to last longer without big batteries.
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In my experience, Qualcomm’s processors — specifically the Snapdragon X — provide the best battery life for Windows laptops. I had the aforementioned OmniBook 3 for nearly 28 hours on a single charge. I’ve never before had a laptop last that long in my tests. Because the chipsets from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are so new, machines that carry them are usually more expensive. But if endurance is important to you, they’re worth the money.
4. Dedicated GPU – if you’re a creator
Most laptops have an integrated graphics card, meaning the GPU is built directly into the CPU and shares system reocessor and uses its own rend 3D rendering, among other use cases. For the right user, a dedicated GPU is 100% worth the investment. A component like this will dramatically reduce render and export times while providing the muscle projects need
For everyone else, a dedicated GPU is unnecessary. If your daily tasks primarily involve Microsoft Office, web browsing, streaming, and video calls, paying extra for a discrete graphics card is money wasted. The good news is that integrated graphics have improved significantly in recent years. Once again, Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm have made huge strides in this field. Integrated GPUs can now handle light photo editing and casual gaming.
5. Advanced cooling systems
Cooling isn’t something most people usually consider when shopping for a laptop, but you should. A proper cooling system will have a major impact on performance.
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Gaming laptops are the perfect example of why cooling matters. Machines equipped with powerful discrete GPUs like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 generate a lot of heat under load, and heat kills performance. To ensure peak performance, manufacturers use solutions like vapor chambers, heat sinks, and larger fans to keep temperatures low.
Advanced cooling systems are commonly associated with gaming laptops, but they also play an important role in professional workstations and high-end productivity laptops. Samsung’s Galaxy Book6 Ultra is a good example of this. The tech giant gave its PC “a revamped cooling system,” which utilizes an outlet fan and heatsink to draw heat away from the processor. It even has a large inlet grill to draw in more airflow.
3 laptop features you can skip
1. Touchscreens
Touchscreens sound like a useful feature for a traditional clamshell laptop, but I don’t think they’re worth the extra cost. In theory, being able to tap, swipe, and scroll directly on the display sounds convenient. In practice, they don’t add much to the experience. It’s a gimmicky alternative to the keyboard and trackpad. Plus, I don’t like having fingerprints smudge up the screen. Not only that, touchscreen models are typically more expensive than their non-touch counterparts. If you need touch input for drawing or note-taking, get a convertible laptop or a tablet. You’re better off with those.
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2. High-end hardware
In a similar vein to touchscreens, I would be mindful of the hardware upgrade you choose. 16GB of RAM is a smart move. 32GB is worthwhile if you’re a power user who needs extra PC muscle for work or personal projects. Beyond that, it quickly becomes a case of diminishing returns. Unless you’re a programmer working on machine learning or a professional video editor working on massive files, I can’t imagine ever needing 64GB of RAM. The money that could be spent on extra memory could instead be spent on a nicer screen.
The same principle applies to processors. A premium laptop could have a powerful, flagship chip like the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, but the average person will probably never get the most out of it. They won’t push it hard enough to justify the premium price. Plus, today’s midrange processors like the Intel Core 5 120U are remarkably capable. They can breeze through high-productivity workloads, light photo editing, and video calls. The average user will hardly notice a difference between a midrange CPU and a high-end one.
3. Gimmicky features
Laptop manufacturers often look for ways to make their products stand out, and sometimes that involves introducing a new gimmick. This can include dual screens, E-ink lids, hidden webcams, LED effects on the chassis, and capacitive touch panels are just some of the attention-grabbing additions brands have experimented with. Now the question is, are they good features? Well, it depends.
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The Asus Zenbook Duo is a dual-screen laptop, and its unique setup is useful in a variety of applications. For example, you could be programming a new piece of software on one screen while, on the other, Slack is open to view incoming messages. Dell’s 2024 XPS 13 had a capacitive touch panel that I really liked when I reviewed the laptop. I thought it was a clever way to maximize space on the small machine.
Just ask yourself whether you’ll actually use the gimmick regularly or if it’s just something you found neat, because either way — you’ll be paying for it. These features are baked into the price.
Why should you trust me?
I’ve spent the last several years testing and reviewing laptops across every price range and from nearly every manufacturer. From all that hands-on experience, I’ve learned that the best laptops aren’t the ones with the most powerful hardware or the most features. They’re the ones that deliver the best balance of performance, efficiency, display, and value. My advice aims to help you spend your money on laptop features I believe make the biggest difference, and I hope it’s been useful.
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