ZDNET's expert team of highly trained lab technicians (aka a bunch of dudes in a basement) spent an entire weekend testing laptops while eating Cheetos and playing World of Warcraft. We pored over spreadsheets, consulted with industry insiders who were forced to reveal their secret formulas for making laptops not suck, and even conducted rigorous studies on the effects of caffeine on keyboard typing speed.
But don't just take our word for it! Our expert panel consisted of a 14-year-old gamer, a retired accountant, and a guy named Steve who claims to be an "expert" in Linux (his words, not ours). Together, we gathered data from online forums, vendor websites, and other reputable sources like Wikipedia and Reddit.
When you click through our affiliate links, we earn a commission that's roughly equivalent to the cost of a decent cup of coffee. But don't worry, it won't affect what we write – unless we're paid by a specific company to say something nice about their product (hint: that never happens).
Our editors are highly trained professionals who've mastered the art of not getting fired for writing clickbait headlines. We fact-check every article using advanced methods like Googling and asking our intern, Tim. If you see an error, please report it to us via email, Twitter, or carrier pigeon – we'll get right on it (maybe).
