Notebookcheck Logo

Our Rating Criteria

In this article we explain what makes up the final rating in our reviews and what the single percent values represent.

We rate the single categories as well as the end results in percent (0 - 100%). Here you can see our emphasis on the percent rates:

00 - 49 % - Insufficient
50 - 62 % - Sufficient
63 - 74 % - Satisfactory
75 - 87 % - Good
88 - 100 % - Excellent

Because retail prices partly significantly differ from each other and also quickly change, the respective price of a laptop is NOT included in our rating. So, it is up to the reader to judge about the current retail price of a reviewed notebook.
A table (including sub ratings) of all reviewed devices is available here: rating table.

Rating Update in 06/2024, Version v8:

This major update is not comparable to v7 and brings a lot of improvements, here are the major changes:

  • General stricter rating and a higher usage of the full 100% range for subscores, this will lead to lower scores on average.
  • Connectivity rating refreshed for new features and camera features moved to the camera subrating
  • Performance ratings updated for faster hardware and left some headroom for upcoming components.
  • Optional sustainability and AI performance

Rating Update in 08/2019, Version v7:

Another major update that is not compareable to former rating versions and includes the following changes:

  • Screen to body ratio is considered in the sub-rating casing
  • WiFi 6, 5G, Bluetooth 5.0 / 5.1, Wireless Charging, HDR and advanced GPS features are considered in the sub-rating connectivity
  • Adjusting the scoring limits of each class in the subrating for weight, battery life, display, application performance and gaming performance
  • Changed consideration of throttling in performance ratings
  • New audio rating based on automatic frequency analysis
  • New camera rating with automatic image analysis

Rating Update in 12/2016, Version v6:

This major update to rating version v6 (not compareable to former rating versions) includes the following changes:

  • 120 Hz display technology and display brightness on battery will be considered
  • throttling in various szenarios will have a direct influence on the rating
  • added new benchmarks, dropped older ones
  • bugfixes, especially in the weighting of our subratings

Weighting (as of 12/2016):

Multimedia Office Subnotebook Gaming Workstation Smartphone Tablet Convertible
Case 8 10 8 8 8 8 8 8
Keyboard 8 15 10 10 12 2 4 7
Pointing Device 6 8 10 4 8 16 16 13
Connectivity 7 7 4 10 10 2 2 3
Weight 4 5 14 2 3 18 18 16
Battery 8 6 12 2 2 16 16 14
Display 16 16 16 18 18 12 12 14
Gaming performance 12 1 2 20 5 4 6 4
System performance 9 8 6 8 7 4 4 5
Workstation performance 0 0 0 0 13 0 0 0
Temperature 8 8 6 4 4 6 6 6
System noise 8 12 8 6 6 2 2 5
Audio 4 2 2 6 2 2 4 3
Camera 2 2 2 2 2 8 2 2

Rating update in 02/2016, version v5:

A revision of our test criteria was necessary with the introduction of new processors from Intel (Skylake) and new high-end graphics solutions from Nvidia (Geforce GTX 980, 980 SLI). In course of this, we have also adjusted our criteria in connectivity, battery life, and display.

  • Connectivity: Revaluation of the incorporated interfaces taking into account new ports like USB type C. From now on, presence and performance of biometric access control, SD card reader, and WiFi direct have an influence on the connectivity sub rating, too. As for smartphones, we consider available communication features (LTE,...) as well as available sensors.

  • Battery life: Focus on realistic battery runtimes (WiFi test, video playback). Idle (max.) and load (min.) runtimes are no longer considered.

  • Display: Added the new measurements "response time" as well as PWM use to our rating.

  • Gaming performance: Changed the internal rating limits, because new high-end graphics chips from Nvidia are available. Changed benchmarks and games used for the evaluation.

  • System performance: Changed the rating limits. Changed the benchmarks and games used for the evaluation.

  • Workstation performance: Added a new sub rating for workstation notebooks.

Rating Update 14.03.2014, Version v4:

Thus far, the Notebookcheck rating system has graded on a weighted scale based on subratings such as notebook weight, performance, display and other specific aspects. Every subrating contributes to the final score with some subratings having more weight than others. This distribution between subratings has been independent of the category of the device in review.

  • From now on, subratings will depend on the category of the device. For example, an office notebook with a weight of 2.0 kg performs very well (91%) relative to its category, while a subnotebook with a weight of 2.0 kg would be considered heavy in its category and score only 65%.
    This same principle will apply to the Gaming, System Performance, Keyboards, Temperature, and System Noise subratings.

  • Because of advances in CPU and display technology, our evaluation of performance, display and battery life have also been made stricter.

  • The subratings "Audio" and "Camera" have been added to the rating.

  • From now on, the subrating "Impression" will have an indirect impact on the calculated total rating and will be displayed in the final rating more clearly as "(+/- XY %)". Essentially, the reviewer can bump the calculated score down or up depending on his or her final impressions of the device. If it is not displayed in the plugin, then the reviewer Impression had no effect on the calculated final score. This will also allow us to make corrections if the total rating does not reflect the overall impression.

  • The new weight distribution of each subrating is as follows on the table below. Our Display subrating in particular has been made more important to the final rating across the board in each device category.
Please share our article, every link counts!
Klaus Hinum, 2009-04-14 (Update: 2024-06-19)