The Ultimate Guide To Buy A Laptop Without Regretting It Later

April 30, 2011 - PRLog -- There are just too many things to look for when buying a laptop. Therefore, I have written this buying laptop guide to assist the buyers. Here is the list of the factors that you should consider when buying a laptop, from the most important to the least important.

1. Budget

Yes, money means everything. How much are you willing to and able to spend on your laptop? Ask yourselves.

2. Laptop's usage

How and where are you going to use it? At home or business? Or both?

There are two types of home user:

1. Normal home user (surfing, typing, chatting etc.)

You only use your laptop to complete assignments, school projects or social networking. My recommendation is:

Processor: Mid or low end
RAM: Mid or low end (eg: 2GB)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Basic or Premium (Don't use Starter as the features are too limited)
Display: 14 inch and below
Storage: Sufficient to store your documents and programs (250-320 GB)

2. Entertainment

If you love gaming, watching movies (esp. HD movie) or listening to music (obsessed to high quality audio), I would recommend:

Processor: High end (Intel Core i3 and above)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium and above
Display: 15 inch is the ideal size for entertainment laptop
Storage: At least 320GB, if you want to store lots of games and videos, go for 500GB and above

There are also two types of business user:

1. Normal business user

You only use laptop for checking e-mail, typing, reading, conferencing etc. Your laptop specification is similar to normal home user.

2. Professional in designing, programming, engineering etc.

If your profession requires heavy/technical use of computer, you probably know what laptop to buy: high end laptop with superb graphic card, large RAM, multi-core processor etc.

These are just my personal recommendations and you are not necessary to follow them strictly.

Additional things to look for when buying a laptop:

1.Webcam - for those who use laptops for video conferencing and video call
2.Built in microphone - essential for audio and video communcation
3.Number of USB ports
4.Optical drive
5.Card Reader
6.Network device
7.Bluetooth support

Comparison of CPU and GPU performance

You can check the performance of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) by referring to these lists:

1.http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarkl...
2.http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchm...

Its performance goes from higher to lower as you scroll down then list.

3. Mobility

If you need to carry the laptop with you most of the time, choose a lighter (less than 2kg) and longer battery life (at least 4 hours) laptop. Look for netbook if you want.

4. Brand

Brand can be misleading. However, some company such as Samsung, Apple, Sony etc. do have very good reputation in this industry. I would recommend you to read on Reader's Choice Awards 2011: Desktops and Laptops by PCMag. It provides a really good insight in all the laptop brands.

5. Design

Design does not only refer to the "look" of the laptop, you have to concern about some other designs which you prefer:

Keypad - If you often use numbers while typing or calculating, you definitely need this.
Function/shortcut keys - They are really useful to carry out some simple tasks.
Touchpad - Is it easy to scroll and tap? Can you zoom or right click effortlessly? Test before you buy.
These are some design elements that you should look on. Nevertheless, it is up to you to choose a laptop design that suits you the most.

6. Security

Many people don't look serious into this factor. Check whether the company includes anti-virus software in your laptop. If you need to store important information in your laptop, try to look for laptops with biometric/face recognition or any other security feature.

7. Warranty

Never consider buying a laptop without warranty. Choose a laptop with at least 1 year warranty. Besides, different manufactures have different warranty policies. Check before you buy!

8. Upgradability

Can you add additional RAM on your own? Can you change your laptop's CPU/GPU/Hard Disk in the future? Some manufactures allow upgrades for certain hardware. If you expect to upgrade your laptop in the future, then you should consider about it.

9. Accessories, free gifts and promotions

Everyone loves freebies. Check whether they offer some free gifts such as pendrive, cooler, mouse, laptop bag etc. Besides, look for promotions and buy laptop during promotion period to save some money.

I hope you find this buying laptop guide useful. Enjoy shopping!

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