Laptop buying guide: Whether you need to buy a laptop for just web surfing, writing your next research paper, teaching a class, or whatever reason is, you must invest in the right one.
A few people think that considering the budget for buying a laptop is enough. But, unfortunately, it is really not. If you go to a shop to make a purchase without considering a few important things, you may end up buying the wrong laptop. Buying a wrong laptop is definitely a loss. I once experienced this. So, I don’t want anybody else to have such a time i.e. regretting later over purchasing the wrong laptop.
The most important thing is that there is not a single laptop you can call the best one to buy. Well, you have to define your requirements first in order to get the best one that fits the purpose.
Avoid these mistakes while buying a laptop
We often make a few common mistakes while buying laptops. Like, if we are low on budget, we go for buying the one with the lowest price blindly. We see nothing else. This is the biggest blunder. Conversely, a few may pay higher amounts while they don’t need much high speed & performance. This is also a blunder. Not considering the ports, compatibility, screen resolution, power, size & latest tech area few more blunder you don’t have to make while buying your next laptop.
List of 9 things to consider when buying a laptop
#1 Consideration: Laptop size
When it comes to buy a laptop, the most important consideration is its size. In this regard, it is important for you to determine the purpose for which you need it. This is the way you can consider the best size to fit the purpose. Why I am putting so much emphasis on selecting the size? The reason is that it is not something you can upgrade later, like RAM/ROM. So, making a sensible decision is best for you.
The most common three sizes available that all the big laptop selling companies offer is 13.3, 15.6 & 17.3 inches. But, there are a variety of other sizes available in the market. If portability is your main concern, you will be definitely choosing the smaller screen. But, one thing to mention here is that with smaller screens, you may suffer a lot. Like, it doesn’t support discrete graphic cards & much more.
Once you get to know what size you need, it will be fairly much easier for you to find a suitable laptop.
#2 Consideration: Laptop screen quality
Using a laptop is all about staring at its screen for hours. It makes necessary to choose a laptop of the high-quality screen. It will make you feel comfy while working around.
At present, touchscreen laptops are more popular than the traditional ones. But, in my opinion, I don’t feel comfortable working with touch screens. Despite the fact that old is gold, I usually feel a sort of glossiness on its screen, which is sometimes irritating.
The glossiness of its display screen leads to reflection & it might affect your eye-sight as well. So, considering the one that doesn’t have a touchscreen is a good option, in my point of view. Well, you may have a different perspective. Like, a few people argue that touchscreens are easy to work with.
Next comes considering its resolution, when choosing the best screen quality. For the best quality, you will be buying full HD laptop, which a resolution of 1920 x 1080p. But, it also depends on your needs as well. If you are low on budget, you might choose the one with medium screen quality. Well, if you aren’t a videographer or a photographer. If you consider the viewing angles while selecting the screen quality, it will be good for you.
#3 Consideration: Keyboard quality
For me, choosing the laptops with smooth keys is the most important thing ever. Well, I am a writer. If you are not going to have long writing sessions, you might ignore this. But, the hard keys always give a user a poor experience.
So, look for the keyboard that has full-sized keys with a smooth press. I recommend you to type a paragraph or two, when buying laptops. It will make you decide if their keys are smooth or not.
#4 Consideration: Central Processing Unit
CPU is generally termed as computer’s brain. So, having the best possible brain is a good choice. Choose between core i3, i5 or i7.
For the entry level, you might choose to have core i3. If you are going to buy the laptop for office use or whatever, core i5 might work the best for you. Lastly, if you are expecting the best performance from your laptop, go for core i7.
One more important thing to mention is that you are now having an option of core i9 as well. But, it is really powerful & isn’t for the regular use. The cost factor is also very much high, which doesn’t make it suitable for regular use.
#5 Consideration: Random Access Memory
A few years back, 4GB RAM was considered sufficient for best system performance. But, with the passage of time, we now expect minimum 8GB of RAM in our laptops. You can go higher if you want, like 16GB, 32GB etc to have the best experience.
Obviously, the performance of your laptop greatly depends on its RAM. If you are expecting to install more & more application, 8GB won’t be enough for it.
#6 Consideration: Laptop storage
A few years back, HDD was considered everything, when it comes to the storage. But now, SSD has replaced it due to a lot of perks it provides, for instance, high speed, no noise, less weight etc. So, all the latest laptops are having it. I highly recommend you to choose the one with SSD. It offers a great user experience.
Higher price? Definitely, when you go towards the latest tech with a variety of perks, you have to pay its price too.
#7 Consideration: Battery life
I often observe that people don’t often consider this when buying laptops. We literally hate it when our battery dies in a short time. So, keep this in mind while buying your laptop.
But, the battery life somehow is in our control as well. There are a few factors that affect it, like brightness, running applications, screen resolution etc. Now, the question is that how to check the battery life? You can check on laptop specs. The higher the figures for battery rating in Wh or mAh, the longer lifespan it has.
#8 Consideration: Build quality
When we use laptops on a regular basis, it gets dust, water drops & much more from the surrounding, no matter how much careful we are. In this regard, you must look for the laptop with superior build quality.
Here are a few ones that come to withstand dust & water drops. A few others with military-grade protection withstand brutal acts. Well, it all depends on the way you use it. If you are seriously expecting it to use like in a brutal educational environment, you must consider & discuss build quality with the seller.
#9 Consideration: USB 3.0
A few great laptops failed because of not having USB 3.0 ports. Yes! It really does matter. If you are already using the one with less than one USB 3.0 port, you know the difficulty. It is necessary for connecting fancy keyboards, a conventional mouse, & the most important, your phone. There are a lot of essential reasons to must have it.
Also, don’t consider buying the one with USB 2.0 port. It is drastically slower the one mentioned.
So, let us wind up the things here. Purchasing a laptop isn’t something we do more than often. We hardly change our laptops after years. I want you to make a good and reasonable purchase with all the above-listed considerations to fit the purpose you need it for.
