Black Friday, how to choose the best notebook on offer

The weekend of November 27 to 30 comes Black Friday and Cyber Monday: four days of special offers to make great deals. Those who need to buy a notebook will be able to find during the Black Week the most suitable device for their needs, whether they are for study, work or personal use, at a discounted price.

Both the big chains of electronics stores, as well as large online stores, have been participating for years in the traditional Black Friday, a pre-Christmas shopping Friday that falls on the last weekend of November, just after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. A discount event suitable for gift giving and especially for electronics shopping, for example to buy the right notebook. To choose the right laptop, you need to evaluate its processor, RAM, screen and other factors such as a good internal memory and also the brand. Here's a guide to choosing the next notebook to use during Black Friday.

Notebooks and Black Friday: understanding your needs

Before starting the search, the question every user needs to ask themselves is "what will I use the notebook for?". If the computer is intended for home use, such as online searches, surfing internet banking, watching movies or listening to music, an inexpensive device with few demands will suffice.

If, on the other hand, it is a device to be used for study, the needs will be different between a high school student rather than a university student. Finally, if you're using it for work, for example as a graphic designer or video editor, you'll need a powerful processor and graphics card to run specialized software. For smartworking, however, you can settle for a model that is not very powerful but it will be important to have a screen of excellent quality.

Black Friday, how to choose the hardware of a notebook

Reading the data sheet of the notebook is essential to understand the hardware characteristics of the device. It starts with the display, which can be glossy or matte, varying in size between 13 and 17 inches, with LCD panel (better if IPS) or OLED and with HD, Full HD or 4K resolutions. If you use it to watch movies or multimedia files, the 16:9 ratio will be the best, while to consult documents at work, even a 3:2 ratio is great.

The heart of the notebook is its processor and there are many alternatives available. The Intel family is divided into Core i3, i5 and i7. Then there are the ADM Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 processors. The progressive numbers of both processors indicate their power. If you are aiming for a low-end PC, it will be equipped with Core i3 or Ryzen 3, while going up to the mid-range we find Core i5 and Ryzen 5, which are recommended for devices that suit both study, work and personal needs. If, on the other hand, you want a powerful computer to run heavy programs, both study and work, you should aim for the top of the range i7 and Ryzen 7.

A good processor needs a good amount of RAM. If the PC is used only for elementary operations, 4 GB of RAM may be enough but it is very little and is recommended only for those who have a very limited budget. In general, a good unpretentious computer should have at least 8 GB of RAM, going up even to 16 GB or 32 GB for the high end. And the advice is to always check that the RAM is expandable, so that there are free slots to easily increase it.

As for storage space, go for notebooks with SSD disks rather than HDD: they are lighter and more compact, so they will also have an effect on the weight and size of the notebook, and above all they guarantee better performance. A good compromise for a notebook could be the presence of both HDD and SSD. The cut of the internal memory should be at least 256 GB. And then free choice on keyboard, mousepad and aesthetics, which are part of the factors of comfort and personal taste, because the eye wants its part.

Black Friday, the best brands for notebooks

Note the characteristics of a PC best suited to your needs, and the budget you want to spend, you go to the brand. After the success with smartphones, the Chinese company Huawei bets everything on notebooks and is getting noticed for computers with high quality and refined design at competitive prices. Samsung and Microsoft notebooks are also great devices that fit any need.

Lenovo computers in Italy are not very popular, but when you can find them they are a bargain, with great features at a good price. Acer notebooks, as well as the Asus and HP brands, are very popular and offer devices for every price range: from entry level to top of the range.

Finally, there are the MSIs that are a world apart and are dedicated to the world of gaming. These notebooks are very expensive, but extremely powerful, with attention to detail and exceptional cooling systems designed for those who play video games and need an excellent device, but also very expensive.