The best way to buy a suitable laptop is to consider the question; ‘what do you plan to do with it?’If you are planning to use the laptop only for checking your emails and some light office work, then you need only invest in a simple one having limited add-ons. Many budget machines can do those tasks efficiently and you can save quite a bit of money. Here are few more easy ways to choose a laptop.
1. Decide between Mac and PC
Apple products have a huge fan following but that does not mean that you too must jump on the Mac bandwagon. You can, however, compare the PC you want to buy to the Mac to ensure having all the best features. Today, many PCs have similar features and you can get comparable laptops within your budget. Your choice ultimately boils down to your personal preference. If you are used to a certain operating system, then it makes sense to choose a laptop with that operating system.
2. Understand technical terms
When it comes to selecting a laptop, it will help if you can familiarize yourself with the technical details. The key factor for a laptop is its portability. Depending on how much you will be moving it, you might want to consider a light weight device. The knowledge about the following parts is also important:
- CPU-Central Processing Unit. The speed of it is measured in GHZ or MHZ. It determines how fast your laptop is. You can get most value for money by selecting a laptop with CPU speeds of 2.0 GHz.
- RAM-Random Access Memory. If you plan to use your laptop for technical stuff like photo-editing etc, then you might want to select a larger RAM.
- Hard drive- look for as large hard drive as possible. This is measured in GBs. You can also upgrade it later or use an external drive.
- Graphics card- This is important for gamers. Choose a laptop with graphics card manufactured by ATI or NVIDIA.
3. Choose the right size
Laptops today can be ultra lightweight, thin and ultraportable. You can also choose from Netbooks which have less powerful hardware but are ideal for web surfing and other light tasks. Gamers on the other hand need to choose educated gaming laptops which have larger screens and superfast graphics card.
4. Choose from popular laptop brands 2016
The following brands have received great reviews and their sales are on the rise. To ease your laptop buying process, you can choose from the following list:
- Dell
- Apple
- ASUS
- Acer
- Toshiba
- Lenovo for professionals
- HP
- MSI- for gamers
- Samsung
5. Choose a laptop based on its operating system
Windows based PCs-Hewlett Packard DV4 or DV5, Sony VAIO NS and FW series, Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell Studio 15, etc.
6. Choose a laptop based on battery life
For 2016, laptops with best the battery life include:
- Lenovo Thinkpad x260 and 460- 17 hours approx
- Acer Aspire 14 inch-14 hours
- MacBook Air- 14 hours
- Dell ChromeBook-13
- Sony Vaio-11 hours
- Toshiba Chromebook 2 CB 35-10
7. Buy one based on accessories
You will also need to accessorize your PC with keyboard/mice, monitors, docking stations and so on. You can buy these online but always compare prices and performance reviews on popular technology/news sites like PriceGrabber, PCMagazine, CNET.com etc.
8. Compare ratings, reviews and after sales service
Before you go shopping online, do perform a comparative analysis of price and performance of different brands. PriceGrabber, BizRate and Cnet are some great technical review sites. The after-sales service is also as important as the price of the laptop. Many customers leave a feedback and it is a good idea to take the time to read those reviews.
Make use of these 8 easy ways to choose a laptop and buy one that best suits your requirements.