Best windows platform

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What are you looking for? Preferences Community Newsletters Log Out. Written by Charles McLellan , Reviews editor. Full Bio. Dell XPS Best for knowledge workers. HP Elite Dragonfly G2.

Best for mobile professionals. Dell XPS 15 Best for power users and creators. Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 3. Best for workstation users. Acer Swift 3 AMD. Best for budget-limited users. Dell Latitude Rugged. Best for field workers. HP Elite Folio.

Best for early adopters. Microsoft Surface Laptop 4. Best for Surface users. LG Gram 17 Best for large-screen users. Read more: Dell XPS It's good to be king There are plenty of other Windows laptops that can handle video editing and other creative workloads. Read the review: Dell Latitude Rugged review Dell has the widest range of rugged laptops among the top-tier laptop-makers, but there are a number of specialist vendors, including Getac , Xplore , DT Research and Panasonic. Here are some notable examples: Panasonic Toughbook G2 Read review: HP Elite Folio review There are plenty of other innovative laptop form factors out there that might catch the eye of the early adopter.

See: The best Surface PC: Every Surface device is Windows ready Laptop users seeking a Surface device for mainstream productivity tasks are probably best directed to the Surface Laptop 4 , which comes in Read more: Six reasons I'm replacing my Surface Pro 7 with a Surface Pro 8 The original raison d'etre of the Surface brand was for Microsoft to showcase new form factors and technologies that its OEM partners could use as inspiration for their designs.

Why should you buy a laptop and not a desktop or a tablet? Laptop vendors: Should you stick to the 'usual suspects' or seek out lesser-known brands? How did we choose these Windows 10 laptops? Our selection process I have been writing, commissioning and editing reviews of laptops and many other types of tech product since the s.

Which Windows 10 laptop is right for you? Watch Now. My Profile Log Out. Join Discussion for: Best Windows laptop Top notebooks compared. Add Your Comment. Please review our terms of service to complete your newsletter subscription. There is one small exception, though: While we recommend getting this Blade Pro laptop with its 4K-resolution display option for creators, gamers will want to get the display with a MHz refresh rate that Razer offers for this model. Read our Razer Blade Pro 17 early review.

The Flow X13 keeps you from having to choose between getting a inch two-in-one and a powerful gaming laptop. CNET editors pick the products and services we write about. When you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Joshua Goldman. Best small laptop Dell XPS 13 Jump to details. Best small 2-in-1 HP Envy x 13 Best Surface laptop Microsoft Surface Pro 7. Best laptop on a budget Acer Swift 3. Best cheap gaming laptop Dell G5 See at Dell.

Best laptop with a large screen and long battery life LG Gram Best 2-in-1 with a pen Lenovo Yoga 9i. Best Windows 2-in-1 laptop with a tall display Acer Spin 5. Best laptop with dual displays Asus ZenBook Duo Best gaming laptop Razer Blade Pro Best small laptop. Dell XPS 13 Best laptop alternative to MacBook Pro. Razer Book Asus ZenBook Best small 2-in HP Envy x 13 It is a subscription-based service but highly beneficial for anyone looking to dive into Windows 10 app development.

It has several powerful desktop software development tools to use and is an excellent choice for its many windows app framework options. When talking about Windows desktop software development —. Every technology mentioned further in the section about the frameworks for the desktop app development is a part of it designed to help software engineers to complete some particular tasks developing the backend or frontend of the native Windows applications.

It is a software framework that was developed by Microsoft 16 years ago and has been a core part of its Windows desktop application development environment ever since. It provides a class library called Framework Class Library, which provides the ability to craft user interfaces, database connections, web-based application development, memory management, network communications and more.

Visual Studio uses the. NET framework extensively and the two have been intertwined since , with the second version release of. Any question of how to develop Windows applications comes down to the beginning with the.

NET desktop framework. Within the. This is a graphic subsystem that helps users create interfaces when they are involved in Windows app development.

As an important part of the. NET Windows app framework, it has been a part of the framework since and the third version of. One of the key features of WPF within the desktop app framework of. NET is to unify user interface elements such as the rendering of 3D and 2D, adaptive documents, vector graphics, and pre-rendered media or runtime animations.

The Universal Windows Platform is one of the biggest changes to come to. NET and the ability to do custom desktop applications and cross-platform applications.

The creation of UWP in Windows 10 is one of the best reasons that. NET is one of the best cross-platform desktop frameworks. Essentially, UWP will allow you as a developer to create an application and have that application spread across the many different Microsoft platforms. One entry in the Windows Store, but the ability to reach many devices essentially. This is done through a special Windows application development algorithm. Want to know more about UWP?

This algorithm scales your application for the device the person is using. If you make it as a desktop application, then it will be scaled for a smartphone and for a tablet, as well as things like the Xbox if you are making a game. It is one of the biggest advantages of using Microsoft Visual Studio and. NET for Windows app development. Windows Forms , also known as WinForms, is a class library that has been part of the.

NET desktop framework since the very beginning. Originally, it was going to be a replacement for the Microsoft Foundation Class Library, but instead now acts as a user interface tier platform. A desktop application that has been created in. NET using WinForms is an event-driven application. This library essentially is waiting for the user to do something in the desktop application, like clicking a button.

It supports a wide range of graphics cards, joysticks, game pads, and accessories. The install is not intended for beginners, though, and those unfamiliar with Linux probably don't want to attempt it. SparkyLinux Gameover Edition is a dream for the retro and indie gamer. Emulators are easy to find and easy to run, and gives you access to:. And SparkyLinux is a fully fledged operating system, fully capable of everyday computing and non-gaming tasks. It's a sleek, stable, free operating system that doesn't skimp on titles or game play.

As with other Linux systems, installation isn't easy for the beginner, and you may need advanced support to get up and running. For the PC gamer, the gaming world is still Windows. And, as Microsoft controls most of the market share, they continue to attract most of the titles, which gives them more market share, which gives them more titles, in a cycle that may benefit the company but may not always benefit the consumer. However, for people concerned about their privacy, who want to be more independent, and to have more control over their PCs, Linux provides some viable options for passionate gamers and shouldn't be written off just yet.