Usage of laptops has increased these days; it’s not just about playing games or streaming movies, surfing the web, checking the emails, documentation work or watching serials on a laptop. Laptops are used these days for Blogging, Video creation, animation work, coding, photography, music production, marketing presentation, branding projects, and study purpose in this new era. Thus, you can understand what vital role laptops play in our lives. Those who work in offices, students who need to take notes in classes, people who work from home and those who are living the laptop lifestyle need a perfect laptop for their daily use. Choosing a random laptop you saw in the TV commercial or by word of mouth is not recommended at all. You’ve to do a deep research before considering any laptop. We know How to purchase a perfect laptop to fulfill your working needs.
In this article, I am going to share checklist for you to mark while searching for the laptop. Also, you can find the things to consider before buying new laptops. This ultimate Laptop buying guide will help you to choose the best laptop which will help you to fulfill your computing needs for next few years.
Things to Consider Before Buying a New Laptop
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Operating System
The operating system of any laptop is the heart of it. It manages all hardware and software including memory, files, and connected devices. There are three options of operating systems such as Windows, Chrome OS, and OS X. OS X is installed on Mac computers. Whereas, Windows is an eminent operating system and very popular among people. Chrome Operating system is specially designed for Chromebooks.
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Screen Features
Laptop screen sizes range from 11 inches to 17 inches. A larger screen is perfect for watching movies, gaming, video & photo editing, etc. Well, keep in mind that a big screen can increase the weight and power consumption of the laptop. Higher resolution gives you better picture quality so you can get laptops in HD, HD+, Full HD, Retina Display, Quad HD and 4K Ultra HD resolution.
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Processors
The processor is the brain of your laptop, and most laptops feature AMD processor and an Intel processor. Intel’s processors are made for MacBook and majority of Windows laptops. Intel has core series such as Intel Core M, Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7. Whereas, the AMD has two categories including FX & A-Series and E-Series. E-Series is the old processor of AMD and A4, A6, A8, A10 and FX is the latest series of AMD processor.
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RAM
Random Access Memory (RAM) is an important memory as it helps processor to tackle the multiple tasks at once. If you are into graphics, advanced photo or video editing, then 6GB RAM is recommended for you, though the minimum RAM is 2GB for basic computing. Most of the laptops already have 4-8GB pre-installed RAM, and some have the capacity to expand it to 32GB.
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Internal Storage
As you know, that traditional hard disks drives are popularly known for larger storage capacities, but it also adds weight and thickness while generating noise and heat. Alternatively, flash storage (SSD) are much lighter, faster and cooler than hard drives. SSDs are expensive than hard drives. Thus, for internal storage you have to options, one is hard drives and the second is flash storage. If you require huge space on your laptop, then better go for hard drives but if you can compromise with space for high speed and performance then go for SSDs.
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Ports and Connectivity
You can connect your laptop to the internet and other devices too at one time with the help of ports. These days Bluetooth and Wi-Fi helps you connect your laptop to the internet easily without any cables. You can connect your laptop to TV, Cameras, SD Cards, Pen Drives and other devices by these ports: USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB Type-C, Thunderbolt, HDMI and Media card slots.
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Battery Life
Manufacturers claim the life of battery up to 12 hours or more. You shouldn’t always believe the claims and numbers provided by laptop manufacturers because the manufacturers test their laptop in laboratory conditions. So the results may be different than the real life use. Check for the capacity of the battery, which is denoted in unit “Mwh.” The laptop battery may not perform as stated by the manufacturers because there are many factors like larger and higher resolution screen, processing power, and faster hard drives.
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Keyboard and Touch-pad
Make sure your keyboard has enough space between the keys and offers you solid tactile feedback and plenty of vertical travel. An accurate touchpad that responds consistently and doesn’t given you a jumpy cursor is the requirement of everyone.
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Brand
Your laptop is only as good as the company of the laptop stands behind it. What if you don’t timely technical support from the company? What if you purchase a laptop from a new company that has no experience? Well, these factors matter a lot. There are many popular and best laptop brands for you to choose. Make sure you buy a laptop from branded company such as Apple, HP, Dell, Samsung, Lenovo, etc. Branded companies make the good changes in their products time to time so mind the brand.
Final Call
We’ve given you a list of things to consider before buying a new laptop but what type of laptop you need is depends on your usage, such as people use laptops under three categories; Light Use, Average Use, and Demanding Use. Under light use, surfing the net, paying bills online, email, organizing and sharing photos, and social networking comes. Whereas, under an average use, doing tasks such as document creation, spreadsheet, storing and streaming music and movies comes. And finally under demanding use, sophisticated graphics, video production, photo editing and multitasking with multiple tabs and programs comes. Thus, it all depends on your needs that what type of laptop you would like to buy and we’ve given you a list of features that you should look for while buying a laptop.
