Laptop Buying Guide
As buying a laptop is going to be an expensive option for your home or business computing needs, it is important that the laptop you are going to choose should have all the features you desire and also be able to perform all the tasks that you have planned. In other words, it should be the best among all the various models and designs available in the market in terms of price, features and the capacity to meet your expectations and needs.
The foremost thing that needs attention is a clear assessment of your needs and once you have done it, you can proceed to compare all the models available in market. To make your tasks simpler and easier, this simple guide contains everything you need to know before choosing the right laptop for you.
Find out your needs
What kind or model of laptop you need largely depends upon your needs. You may need the level of performance and set of features that suits your needs as a home user or a traveler (mobile user) or business user. Do you want work on multimedia applications or website development? Do you want your laptop optimized for playing online games? Thus, the first thing you need to do before choosing the laptop is to categorize your needs.
You can list out what features you will require with your laptops:
- Compactness and weight: Decide on this factor. Smaller one with light features is ideal for frequent travelers. Heavier models can be considered if this factor is not of your concern.
- Screen size: Laptops come with less than 12” display as well as larger displays (17” and up to 20”) while 15-17 inches display is the standard. If you plan to work on multimedia applications or watch videos, photos or play games, larger displays are the best.
- Memory and hard drive: Your tasks will help you to determine how much memory or the size of hard drive you will require. For simple tasks like word processing, 512MB memory (often standard for modern laptops) is quite sufficient. Gaming, graphics and web related task may require larger memory. Unless you plan to store large quantities of data like digital photos, videos, the basic hard drive will quite suit your storage needs.
- Additional storage options: Laptops come with floppy drive, zip drive, internal CD drive, DVD and some of them allow you to record data using these drives. Choose these features depending upon your needs.
- Multimedia options and ports: You can connect audio and video equipment with your laptop using the standard options available. Ports help you to connect devices like USB devices, printers, external mouse, web cam etc.
- Networking options: Laptops can be connected to LAN or internet using Ethernet and wireless connectivity options. Make sure the laptop comes with these features if you plan to use it on travel or in a networking environment.
- Battery life: High-end laptops, especially ultra-portable models come with batteries that have longer battery life. Laptops that can run for longer time on batteries will suit you if you work mostly in environment where the standard electricity option is not available.
- Additional features: External keyboard and mouse can be of great help due to the limited features of the same devices that come within your laptop.
Laptops for a mobile user/traveler
If you want a laptop to suit your mobile usage, it is better to choose the one that is compact and weighs less. If you travel frequently, either an ultra-portable laptop or a thin-and-light will be suitable for you. Mainstream laptop can be chosen for its affordable price, however it is a little heavier than its thin-and-light or ultra-portable counter-parts. Ultra-portables, also known as notebooks are expensive while thin-and-light laptops are available in the mid price ranges.
On performance level, you can find a mix depending on the models available in the market. Ultra-portables come with extremely longer battery life and come with integrated graphics features. Take also your budget into account, before you choose the laptop as the most compact laptops with powerful features are generally very expensive.
Laptops for home users
Naturally, home users may work in a fixed location in home or office and the size and heaviness would hardly matter. Desk-top replacement laptops are ideal for this kind of use and also provide other advantages like sturdy design, powerful components and larger displays (up to 20 inches). Mainstream laptops weigh less and you can get the same features and display size up to 15 or 17 inches. Both these laptops will enable you to perform tasks like word processing, email and internet surfing with ease.
Laptops for business use
Ideal laptops for business use should have a mix of balanced features both in terms of portability and the capacities to run a wide range of applications. Unless you work in a fixed location, desk-top replacement laptops are not suitable as they are heavy and run for less time on batteries.
If your budget permits, you can go for high-end ultra-portable laptops as they are quite expensive. Thin-and-light laptops are extremely suitable for business use as they are affordable and they come with all features you will need - high levels of performance, medium size display (14 - 15 inches), variety of storage options (CD-RW, DVD-RW) and connectivity options (wireless network, USB ports etc) and long battery life.
