A single 1 to 10 number that sums up whether what a laptop offers is worth what it costs today
The Kelaptop Value-for-Money Score compares what each laptop offers with what it costs and sums it up in a number from 1 to 10. Always within its type: a gaming laptop competes with gaming laptops and a Chromebook with Chromebooks. It does not measure which laptop is best in absolute terms: it measures which one gives you the most for your money, today and in your country. That is why a modest laptop can score higher than a far superior one, if its price more than makes up for it.
We grade five areas of every laptop using technical data and real benchmark results, not opinions:
How fast the processor is in real benchmark tests.
The power of the graphics card, dedicated or integrated, measured in those same tests.
Resolution, panel type, brightness, color gamut and aspect ratio. For gaming, the refresh rate too.
The amount and generation of the memory. On Macs it is rated slightly above its raw figure, because the system makes better use of it.
The storage capacity.
The same laptop is not equally worth it for everyone: paying for a big graphics card is the whole point if you game, and wasted money if you only write. That is why every laptop is graded against others of its own type, and each type weighs each area differently:
For work, study and everyday life, nothing special required.
With a dedicated graphics card fit for current games.
With professional graphics, built for rendering, editing and 3D.
With ChromeOS, a system for light tasks that runs well on less CPU and memory.
| Area | General use | Gaming | Video, design & 3D | Chromebook |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | ||||
| Graphics | ||||
| Screen | ||||
| RAM | ||||
| Storage |
One nuance to read them right: the dots do not say what that use needs, but what separates laptops from each other within their type. Each type already takes its qualities for granted: in video and design the screen counts little not because it does not matter, but because there almost all screens are already up to standard, and what really breaks the tie is the graphics card.
Three dots: what weighs most when grading that type. One dot: it counts little. The exact split is part of our recipe and we do not publish it.
The best you can buy for that money within its type, today and in your country.
The minimum you should expect today from a laptop of its type at that price. A bare pass.
Below 5 there are clearly better options for the same money. We would not recommend it at that price.
The score is recalculated every day with the real prices of each country. If a laptop drops in price, its score goes up; if the price rises or better rivals appear for the same money, it goes down. That is why the same model can have a different score in Spain and in Germany.
A laptop with no live offer in your country has no score that day: there is no price to judge.
On every priced product page you will see two numbers, and they should not be mixed up:
The score goes from 1 to 10, depends on the price and answers one question: within its type, is it worth what it costs today?
Power goes from 0 to 100, ignores the price and compares the laptop with the most powerful one in the catalog. Its five rings break down processor, graphics, screen, RAM and storage, each against the best in the catalog. A cheap laptop can have a score of 10 and little power: for that money it is an excellent buy, even if it is not one of the fast ones.
That it is the best you can buy for that money within its type, today and in your country. It does not mean it is the most powerful laptop, but the one that offers the most for its price.
It is a bare pass: the minimum you should expect today from a laptop of its type at that price. Below 5 we would not recommend it, because there are clearly better options for the same money.
Because it is recalculated daily with the real prices of each country. A price drop raises the score, and the arrival of better rivals for the same money lowers it.
Because today it has no live offer in your country, and without a price there is no value for money to judge.
No. Every laptop is graded against others of its own type (general use, gaming, video and design, or Chromebook), so scores of different types were calculated against different rivals.
It is a value for money summary, not a personal recommendation. A laptop with a 10 may not be for you if you need more power, more battery or less weight: the score says that for that money it is hard to find anything better of its type.