How To Choose The Right Laptop?

There are many things to consider when we plan to purchase a laptop. As an example, we should check its specifications. Researching a laptop should be quite easy and we could just type its model number and the name of the manufacturer in Google. If our model is popular enough, we should be able to find reviews that can provide us with information about its real life performance and not something that we typically read from marketing materials. Depending on our requirements, we should know what kind of features that suit us. Processor is the most important component of any computing device and it could have the biggest contribution in cost.

It should depend on what task we expect to do with the laptop. Any processor clocked above 2GHz should be more than enough to perform basic tasks. However, it should be noted that clock rate is no longer considered as the primary factor to gauge performance. In fact, some new 1.5GHz processors could be as fast as or even faster than 3GHz models released years ago. Because Intel and AMD regularly release new processor models, we should ask the representatives about the latest processor families in the market.

After we obtain the right processor family, then we could consider about the processor speed. Intel Celeron and Atom are considered as the cheapest models around, although they could come from the same family with the fastest Core i7 models. AMD-based laptops are usually praised for their embedded graphics cards, which could benefit any entry-level users. However, Intel’s solutions have also included their own graphics modules. For basic tasks and light gaming, it should be safe to choose laptop models without dedicated graphics cards. We could read reviews about integrated graphics solutions from both AMD and Intel to make sure that they are enough for our daily requirements.

In general, the more memory our laptop has, the better it will perform. Larger RAM could ensure smoother multitasking performance. Laptops with 2GB RAM could be enough for older Windows XP systems, but they are already woefully inadequate for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. Even in their basic state, the newer operating system already consumes more than half of the available RAM. In this case, we should consider laptops with 4GB of RAM to ensure acceptable basic operations. Models with 8GB RAM are adequate if we have high-end processors and dedicated graphics cards for advanced computing.

Laptops are more than just about processors, graphics cards and RAM. We should also consider the screen size and resolution. If we often work in bright and outdoor environment, we should consider choosing models with ant-glare coatings. Some low-cost models with 11.6-inch display may not have embedded graphics cards due to their slim dimension. We should also consider models with Blu-Ray drive if we prefer to use them for multimedia purposes. It should be easy to upgrade the hard drive of our laptops, but it should be much better to upgrade it just before we install the operating system.