Build quality is impressive for the price, with a stylish black, brushed-metal-style texture on the keyboard tray and lid. It feels solid, although if you push hard enough you will see the plastic flex. The keyboard is responsive, if not the most satisfying to type on, while the touchpad and attached buttons are sensitive and willing to obey various multi-fingered gestures, such as scrolling with two fingers. You get only one USB 3 port and two more USB 2 connectors for peripherals, along with a full-sized HDMI output and an SD card reader to supplement the meagre 32GB of built-in storage. There’s no Ethernet port, so you’ll have to rely on the single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi.Of course, you don’t get an awful lot of grunt for multimedia tasks with such a low TDP, as our tough photo and video benchmarks prove. An overall score of 7 is a warning to those who edit photos in the field – you’ll spend an awful lot of time twiddling your thumbs.If you’re in the market for a budget laptop for lightweight work on the go, however, the Toshiba Satellite C40-C merits serious consideration. It may not be powerful, but its long battery life, decent build quality and near-unbeatable price will win over many.

In a bid to encourage customers to make the switch to a Windows 10 machine, Microsoft has launched a promotion going by the name of Easy Trade Up. To qualify you’ll need to buy (or have bought) a new Windows 10 machine between 6 October and 27 October. Depending on the value of the new device, you may qualify for up to £100 in cashback. Microsoft's Windows 10 device event – Everything you need to know about the Surface Pro 4, Surface Book and more
The device you trade in has to be a maximum of six years old, can be running any operating system, must have a working battery and power supply, and have a minimum display size of 11.6 inches.

Surface Pro 3 vs Surface 3
As well as the UK, a similar offer is running in the US, Canada, India, Brazil, Taiwan, France and Germany. In the US version of the sale, more cash is up for grabs if you’re trading in a MacBook ($300 instead of $200), which neatly demonstrates Microsoft’s intention to grease the wheels of change and pull customers away from Apple. This specific offer doesn’t seem to be available in the UK however. Choosing a new computer used to be oh-so-simple. Desktop PC or laptop, sir? Both formats had clearly defined advantages and disadvantages, they looked totally different and there was very little chance you’d make the wrong choice.Now, if you want tech to use on the move, you’re overwhelmed by options: conventional laptops, laptops with touchscreens, two-in-one devices with detachable keyboards, laptops that fold into tablets, pure slates… no wonder people are confused.

Nonetheless, these devices can still be split broadly into three categories: laptops, tablets and hybrids. In this guide, we’ll run through the pros and cons of each, judging them on various criteria – including price, battery life and performance – to help you reach a decision about which type of device suits you, or your business, best.If you’re looking for the cheapest device possible, compact tablets are the most affordable of the three device categories. A year or two ago, sub-£100 tablets were utter landfill, but there are now several decent compact tablets that don’t reach the three-figure mark.As you’d expect, these devices lack processing power compared to more expensive machines, but they’re still quick enough to run desktop applications. That’s possible because, despite their low prices, many come with Windows 8 installed.

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8GB or 16GB is the norm, meaning you may need to spend extra on boosting the available memory with a memory cardCheap, compact tablets also provide minimal storage: 8GB or 16GB is the norm, meaning you may need to spend extra on boosting the available memory with a memory card – if the tablet offers a memory card slot in the first place. However, if all you’re looking for is a handheld for browsing the web, scanning email and watching Netflix, a cheap compact tablet will do just fine.If you want a device with a proper keyboard, not just an onscreen model, you can pick up cheap laptops from around £250. At this price, most laptops don’t come with a touchscreen; if that’s a key feature for you, you’re better off exploring two-in-one hybrid devices – that is, tablets with a detachable keyboard.Hybrid and laptop prices range from £250 to £2,500 and beyond, but there’s a simple rule of thumb: more money is rewarded with higher-quality, higher-resolution screens, greater processing power and a better build standard.

Whether you’re talking about tablets, laptops or hybrids, performance is almost inextricably linked to price. At the bottom end of the tablet market, you’re looking at devices running on Intel Atom or ARM-based processors, which are predominantly designed with battery life and price in mind, not lung-busting power.Budget tablets also come with the bare minimum of RAM – 1GB or 2GB is common. In practice, this means these devices can handle single tasks quite well – certainly video playback, and even basic video editing – but performance will suffer when you start to use demanding applications side by side.

If you need a hybrid or laptop for more demanding work, look for devices running Intel Core processorsIf you need a hybrid or laptop for more demanding work, look for devices running Intel Core processors. These range in performance from low-budget Core i3 processors to the middling Core i5, right through to the expensive but powerful Core i7.As a rule of thumb, hybrids are generally less powerful than conventional laptops, as they have to squeeze in all their components behind the screen. Hybrids can also struggle to cool those crammed-in components, and so tend to use lower-power processors that don’t require as many fans to keep them cool.

If you’re performing intensive tasks such as serious video editing (say, creating an HD video that’s over five minutes long), 3D gaming or even ploughing through massive spreadsheets, you’ll benefit from the power of a full-blown laptop. Look for Core i7 processors, at least 4GB of RAM and dedicated graphics chips.Battery life Battery life varies greatly in every category of device and is dependent on a number of factors, including the size of the device, the size of the battery and the tasks for which you’re using the device.The very cheapest compact tablets may only give five or six hours of use between charges, whereas more expensive tablets might last ten or even 12 hours before needing a top-up. Tablet batteries will drain much more quickly if they’re used for demanding games, rather than for watching a film or using Facebook.

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Generally speaking, bulky 15in laptop screens will put much greater demand on a battery than a 12in ultraportable’s displayCheap hybrids and laptops tend to have poor battery life, sometimes as little as two or three hours. Here, both the size of the screen and the size of the battery are critical.Generally speaking, bulky 15in laptop screens will put much greater demand on a battery than a 12in ultraportable’s display. Larger budget laptops also tend to come with smaller batteries, as the manufacturers often assume those devices will generally be used in one place and so try to reduce bulk and cost.Battery capacities are normally expressed in watt-hours (Wh). If you’re comparing two similarly sized devices, the battery with the highest number of watt-hours will generally deliver better battery life. Treat the battery life figures quoted by laptop manufacturers as absolute best-case scenarios. Only at the expensive end of the laptop scale (£700-plus) are you likely to get "all-day” battery life, which means light-to-medium usage on a typical 9-to-5 work day.

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