Choosing a Laptop – What to Look For

Choosing a laptop can be a nightmare, there are so many on the market, each one of them seems to offer more for the money than the last, or does it?

When looking for a new laptop ignore phrases such as, super fast processor, large hard drive, massive 1gb of RAM, CD/DVD, can be ignored none of these actually mean anything as they offer no specific laptop computer ratings or information, they only give us very little in terms of the laptop actual specification.

A good base spec to look for when choosing a laptop includes

Processor

This should be a Dual core type of processor, there are two main makes here, the first is Intel with its Core 2 Duo and the second is AMD with their Turion 64 x2 for more on laptop processors

RAM

1gb of RAM is simply not enough to run Windows with other applications at a satisfactory speed, 2gb of RAM is the real minimum to look for.

Hard disk
The hard drive should offer a minimum of 80gb and it should be SATA (Serial) as opposed the older slower IDE types

CD/DVD

Make sure the laptop has a DVD Writer – many have CD/Writers and DVD Readers which means you can only read DVD’s and not write to them

Operating system

A choice of Vista or XP can still be found, but Vista is becoming more and more predominant in the industry so it’s just a matter of time before it does become the most popular operating system. It received a lot of bad press when it was launched, but today most of the faults have been ironed out and as long as your computer has a high enough spec it runs very well.

It’s not to every ones taste, but I remember Windows XP receiving the welcome when it was first launched.

USB Ports

Every new or newish laptop today should have USB type 2 ports, if you find one with USB 1 ports, no matter how great the price, I would walk away, there are just too many USB devices around that will not work properly with USB 1 ports

Networking

All new laptops should come with 2 network cards, this means a Wireless card which support for 54g network and an Ethernet port so a physical cable can be plugged in.

Warranties

Usually a laptop will come with a back to base warranty of around a year, this means if you have a problem you return it to the manufacturer who resolves the problem, as for the period you are without a computer its down to the manufacturers fine print.

Other warranties, many manufacturers offer other types of laptop warranty this could simply mean extending it by a number of years, or by having on site support, this means someone will come to your house or place of business and repair the laptop in front of you, this type of warranty will cost more, but most offer onsite repair the next business day and if you cant be without your laptop or need it repaired quickly, this could be the warranty for you.

Makes and Models

Everyone has a favourite and least favourite make of laptop, if a laptop brand were truly so bad they would not be in business, every laptop manufacturer has a number of units that will become faulty due to unknown reasons, just like buying a new car, so try not to think about the name too much when choosing a laptop , find one you like the look of, one that’s the right size too as there’s nothing worse than getting one that’s too big for your needs if you travel a lot as it will be heavy. Smaller laptops are a lot more forgiving as you can plug in external screens, keyboards & mice, to increase it’s usability, using it as a desktop computer when required, but with the added option of it being portable when needed.

Other Points to Check

Check to make sure your chosen laptop does not run hot, there seems have been one or two laptops on the market which run very hot, although this does not cause an issue to the laptop, it’s not very pleasant if you have the laptop on your lap or the palm rest gets very hot.

Does the laptop come with free software

Many laptops come with free software such as Antivirus or word processing that only last for 90 days before you have to pay to extend the license – it’s not compulsory to continue using the software, but this is not advertised though.

As a final point to think about when choosing a laptop, think of expandability, in the sense that apart from the RAM and hard drive there is none, in 99% of laptops your stuck with the processor and video card it comes with

for more on choosing a laptop

checkout our many other laptop articles where cover much more in detail to help find the laptop thats right for your needs

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