How to choose the right laptop?
Choosing a laptop can be daunting with a variety of different brands and types of laptop available. You can get overwhelmed by the technical jargon when looking at laptops. I have made a quick and easy guide to get you started which will hopefully help you to filter the correct laptops that you are looking for.
1. Define a budget
Before you even start to browse for the perfect laptop you will need to define the budget as there are so many options out there in the market you will get distracted by the laptops that you cannot afford. Once you have decided a budget then you will need to define how much over the budget you are willing to spend. You may find that there are slightly better laptop specifications if you pay £20 - £80 more for a higher model. By defining the buffer you will know how much you are willing to spend over the budget which will mean that you can decide if you want to wait and save a bit to buy a more expensive model.
2. Who is it for?
You will need to decide who will be using the laptop, as his or her needs will be different from someone else. For example, you might be purchasing a laptop for someone going to college or university or you are buying a laptop for an adult who isn’t quite tech-savvy. You will also need to consider what kind of tasks will they be doing on the laptop, for example, will they be browsing the internet, creating visual products, video editing, gaming, are they on the go a lot or will they use it in an office mainly.
3. Time to browse the internet for laptops
Now the more complicated part of your adventure is about to start. If you google laptops you will get tons of laptops from a variety of different price points, so you might be suckered in to buy a cheap laptop, however, do not be fooled. You buy what you get. Hence why you have defined a budget and the type of user it is for, now try Googling the user and laptops. For example, laptops for a video editor. This will get you a more defined search result which will provide more specific results.
4. Defining the jargon
Now you have seen a few laptops on your adventure, however you have no idea what all these terms mean. Well luckily, you have found the correct blog. See below as I have defined the main ones you will have to consider.
Processor – This is the brain of the laptop and this will do all the hard work that will allow you to do tasks in a timely manner. Processors have a number of cores that are essentially little brains; the more little brains the better, as the laptop will be able to perform more tasks. The next thing you will need to consider when looking at the processor is the speed of the processor. The speed will greatly affect the processor's performance to perform tasks quickly. You will see two numbers, which are the minimum and maximum of which the processor is able to go up to. The higher the number the better.
RAM – This means Random Access Memory, as the computer performs tasks, it will start to store bits of information in case you need it to enable quicker operation. It’s like short term memory in a human brain. As humans, we can only remember certain amounts of information for a short span of time, this is similar to RAM. Higher the number means that the laptop will be able to remember more information that enables the laptop to crunch through tasks quickly.
Storage/Hard Drive – This can be considered as long-term memory, this will allow you to store photos, documents, videos, files and many other things on the laptop. Higher the number the better as it will allow you to store more. There are two types of hard drive HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and SSD (Solid State Drive), I won’t go through the technical jargon on the difference between the two. SSDs are quicker than HDD due to how they are constructed. If you have a choice go with the SSD as they are slowly becoming cheaper and standard when it comes to pre-built laptops. Do remember to consider the amount of storage it has.
5. Time to choose
Narrow your options to three and consider the specifications carefully, use Youtube and other review sources to gain a better understanding of whether the laptop is good. If the specifications are similar between them then you can decide which looks nicer. Don’t forget you don’t have to decide there and then, you can always come back and have a look at another time. During that period you may find a better laptop has gone down in price.