Comparison Asus ZenBook Pro UX550VE [UX550VE-BN050T] vs Asus VivoBook Pro 15 N580VD [N580VD-DB74T]

— Glossy. A glossy surface improves the overall picture quality: other things being equal, the picture on such a screen looks brighter and more colorful than on a matte one. On the other hand, pollution is very noticeable on such a surface, and in bright external lighting, a lot of glare appears on it, which can greatly interfere with viewing. Therefore, instead of the classic gloss, laptops are increasingly using an anti-reflective version of such a coating (see below). Nevertheless, this option still does not lose popularity: it is somewhat cheaper than the “anti-glare”, and in soft, relatively dim lighting, it can even provide a more pleasing image to the eye.

— Matte. Matte finish is inexpensive and does not form glare even from fairly bright lighting. On the other hand, the picture on such a screen is noticeably dimmer than on a similar glossy display. However, this moment can be compensated by various design solutions (primarily a good margin of brightness); so this option can be found in all categories of modern laptops — from low-cost models for working with documents to top gaming configurations.

— Glossy (anti-glare). A variation on the glossy finish described above, designed to reduce glare from external light sources. Such screens really glare noticeably less than traditional glossy ones (or even do not give glare at all); at the same time, in...terms of image quality, they are at least superior to matte ones. So it is this type of coating that is most popular nowadays.

The maximum brightness that a laptop screen can provide.

The brighter the ambient light, the brighter the laptop screen should be, otherwise the image on it may be difficult to read. And vice versa: in dim ambient light, high brightness is unnecessary — it greatly burdens the eyes (however, in this case, modern laptops provide brightness control). Thus, the higher this indicator, the more versatile the screen is, the wider the range of conditions in which it can be effectively used. The downside of these benefits is an increase in price and energy consumption.

As for specific values, many modern laptops have a brightness of 250 – 300 nt and even lower. This is quite enough for working under artificial lighting of medium intensity, but in bright natural light, visibility may already be a problem. For use in sunny weather (especially outdoors), it is desirable to have a brightness margin of at least 300 – 350 nt. And in the most advanced models, this parameter can be 350 – 400 nt and even more.

The contrast of the screen installed in the laptop.

Contrast is the largest difference in brightness between the lightest white and darkest black that can be achieved on a single screen. It is written as a fraction, for example, 560:1; while the larger the first number, the higher the contrast, the more advanced the screen is and the better the image quality can be achieved on it. This is especially noticeable with large differences in brightness within a single frame: with low contrast, individual details located in the darkest or brightest parts of the picture may be lost, increasing the contrast allows you to eliminate this phenomenon to a certain extent. The flip side of these benefits is an increase in cost.

Separately, we emphasize that in this case only static contrast is indicated — the difference provided within one frame in normal operation, at constant brightness and without the use of special technologies. For advertising purposes, some manufacturers may also provide data on the so-called dynamic contrast — it can be measured in very impressive numbers (seven-digit or more). However, you should focus primarily on static contrast — this is the basic characteristic of any display.

As for specific values, even in the most advanced screens, this indicator does not exceed 2000: 1. But in general, modern laptops have a rather low contrast ratio — it is assumed that for tasks that require more advanced image characteristics, it is more...reasonable to use an external screen (monitor or TV).

A display with a touch-recognizing sensor, similar to those used in modern tablets. The touch screen significantly expands the possibilities for managing a laptop: in some situations — for example, when viewing maps — it is most convenient to control the device precisely by touching the display.

Note that by definition, all transformers and 2-in-1 models are equipped with touch screens (see "Type"), but in more traditional laptops this feature is extremely rare — in such devices it is usually more convenient to use a keyboard and mouse.

The number of threads supported by the laptop processor.

A thread is a sequence of instructions executed by a processor. Initially, each processor core was designed for one such sequence, and the number of threads was equal to the number of cores. However, in modern CPUs, multithreading technologies are increasingly being used, which allow loading each core with two instruction sequences at once. Such technologies have different names for different manufacturers, but the principle of their operation is the same: during the inevitable pauses in the execution of one of the threads, the kernel does not idle, but works with a different sequence. Accordingly, the total number of threads in such processors is twice the number of cores; such a scheme of work significantly increases productivity (although, of course, it also affects the cost).

The result shown by the laptop processor in 3DMark06.

This test is primarily focused on testing performance in games — in particular, the ability of the processor to process advanced graphics and artificial intelligence elements. Test scores are reported as scores; the higher this number, the higher the performance of the tested chip. Good 3DMark06 results are especially important for gaming laptops.

The result shown by the laptop processor in the Passmark CPU Mark test.

Passmark CPU Mark is a comprehensive test that is more detailed and reliable than the popular 3DMark06 (see above). It checks not only the gaming capabilities of the CPU, but also its performance in other modes, based on which it displays the overall score; this score can be used to fairly reliably evaluate the processor as a whole (the more points, the higher the performance).

The result shown by the laptop processor in the SuperPI 1M test.

The essence of this test is to calculate the number "pi" to the millionth decimal place. The time spent on this calculation is the final result. Accordingly, the more powerful the processor, the smaller the result will be (this SuperPI 1M is fundamentally different from many other tests).

The maximum amount of RAM that can be installed on a laptop. It depends, in particular, on the type of memory modules used, as well as on the number of slots for them. Paying attention to this parameter makes sense, first of all, if the laptop is bought with the expectation of and the amount of actually installed memory in it is noticeably less than the maximum available. So laptops can be upgraded in RAM to 16 GB, 24 GB a>, 32 GB, 48 GB, 64 GB and even more - 128 GB.