GUIDE TO BUYING A GOOD LAPTOP COMPUTER
1)First, know what is the main use of buying it:
If your intention is to just sharing and viewing the contents about the social networking sites, then you probably should go to casual inexpensive 15-incher
that mostly stays in your living room to a lightweight 11- or 13-inch system you carry around the house. If you would prefer for gaming, then go to laptops of big screen, consisting of graphic card of good memory which ranges between $400 - $800
Business:
Whether you’re a traveling executive or a student, your main goal is
writing and editing text, manipulating spreadsheets and creating
presentations. So you’ll want a laptop with a good keyboard, durable
design and sharp screen.
Gaming:
If you play high-end games, go for a laptop with an equally high-end
Core i7 processor, top-of-the-line discrete graphics (perhaps even dual
cards), a high-res screen and strong speakers. For the best performance,
expect to spend well over $1,000.
Professional:
If you edit video, photos or illustrations for a living, you need a
laptop with a powerful processor, discrete graphics, a Solid State Drive
(SSD) and a large and high-res display (full HD or higher). Expect to
spend over $1,000
Light surfing/Email:
If you plan to give your laptop to the kids or use it as an adjunct to
your main PC, you can go with a low-cost laptop or a Chromebook that
runs Google’s browser-centric OS.
2)Choose the right size:
In this regard, you'll have to figure out according to your purpose. For instance, if you're using it for practicing web designing, then you'd probably go to larger laptops.
11-12 Inches: The thinnest and lightest systems around have 11- to 12-inch screens and
typically weigh less than 3 pounds. (Many Chromebooks come in this
size.) However, the screen and keyboard may be cramped for some users.
13-14 Inches: This size provides the best balance of portability and usability.
Laptops with 13- or 14-inch screens usually weigh between 3 and 4 pounds
and fit easily on your lap while still providing generously sized
keyboards and screens.
15 Inches: The most popular size, 15-inch laptops are usually the most affordable
and typically weigh 5 to 6 pounds. If you’re not planning to carry your
notebook around very frequently, then a 15-inch system could be a good
deal for you. Some 15-inch models have DVD drives, but you’ll save
weight if you skip it.
17-18 Inches: If you prefer the biggest screen possible, a 17- or 18-inch system could
provide the kind of processing power you need in order to play high-end
games or reach workstation-level productivity. Because of their girth,
laptops this size can pack high-voltage quad-core CPUs, powerful
discrete graphics and multiple storage drives. Just don’t expect to
carry around these 7-pound-plus systems often.
3)Be aware of checking Keyboard and Touchpad:
Be it high end laptop or inexpensive one, check the condition.Ask yourself a few questions to test this important quality: Does the
keyboard have solid tactile feedback and enough space between the keys?
Is the touchpad smooth to operate, or is it jumpy? Do the mouse buttons
have a satisfying click, or do they feel mushy? How well do multitouch
gestures work? Can you zoom in and out with ease, and select text using
the touchpad without the cursor skipping around?
4)Know your specifications:
Here are the main components to keep an eye on.
CPU: The least expensive laptops on the market have
AMD E Series or Intel Pentium/Celeron CPUs, which will struggle to
handle serious productivity, gaming or media tasks, but can handle Web
surfing, email and social networks use. If you’re buying a system with
an Intel Core series processor, make sure you get a 4th generation Core
or “Haswell” for the best combo of performance and battery life. You
know you’re getting Haswell if the model number begins with a 4 (ex:
Intel Core i5-4200U).
Unless you’re buying a secondary computer, don’t settle for less than
an Intel Core i3 CPU or AMD A Series. If you’re spending more than
$500, demand at least an Intel Core i5 CPU, which is capable of
increasing its clock speed dynamically when you need more performance.
Power users and gamers should settle for no less than a Core i7 system,
preferably a quad-core chip.
RAM: When it comes to memory, or RAM, even the
cheapest notebooks have 4GB these days, so don’t settle for less. If you
can get a system with 8GB, you’ll be better prepared for high-end
applications and lots of multitasking.
Hard Drive/SSD: For most users, a fast drive is more
important than a large one. If you have a choice, go with a Solid State
Drive (SSD) over a hard drive, because SSDs provide twice to three
times the speed of their mechanical counterparts. However, SSDs are
usually more expensive and come in much lower 128/256GB capacities.
If you can’t afford an SSD or if you need more capacity, go for a
7,200-rpm hard drive over a 5,400-rpm unit. Even if you have several
movies and games on your hard drive, a 320GB should provide more than
enough space, but 500GB or 750GB drives usually don’t cost much more.
Flash Cache: Some Ultrabooks and some other
notebooks come with 8, 16 or 32GB flash caches that can increase
performance when paired with a traditional hard drive. While it won’t
make your computer as fast as an SSD would, a flash cache will help
boost load and boot times while allowing you to store all your data on a
large hard drive.
Display: The more pixels you have, the more content
you can fit on screen, and the sharper it will look. Most budget and
mainstream notebooks come with 1366 x 768-pixel resolutions. However, if
you have the option, choose a laptop with a higher pixel count — 1600 x
900, 1920 x 1080 or even higher. Always go for the highest res you can
get. You’ll see more of your favorite Web pages, multitask better and
have an improved movie-watching experience. Full HD panels (1920 x 1080)
cost about $150 more than your typical display, but are worth the
splurge, especially on larger screens.
Touch Screen: Windows 8 is simply more fun and
immersive with a touch screen, but if your laptop is not a hybrid with a
bendable or rotatable screen, you can probably live without it. Though
you can get a touch-screen system for under $500 these days, the
difference in price between similarly configured systems with and
without touch is $100 to $150. Touch screens also add weight and make
the machine consume more power than non-touch counterparts.
Graphics Chip: For the most part, an integrated
graphics chip (one that shares system memory) will be fine for basic
tasks, including surfing the Web, watching video and even playing some
mainstream games. But a discrete graphics processor from AMD or Nvidia
makes a huge difference when you’re playing the most-demanding games.
Such a processor will have dedicated video memory. Plus, a good GPU can
accelerate video playback on sites such as Hulu, while also speeding up
video editing.
As with CPUs, there are both high- and low-end graphics chips.
Nvidia maintains a list of its graphics chips from low to high end, as
does AMD. In general, workstations and gaming notebooks will have the
best GPUs, including dual graphics on the most expensive systems.
DVD/Blu-ray Drives: Fewer and fewer laptops these
days come with optical drives. That’s because you can download most
software, and download or stream video from the Web. Unless you burn
discs or want to watch Blu-ray movies, you don’t need one of these
drives and can save as much as half a pound of weight by avoiding them.
5)Battery life:
While this is the one of the main aspects to be considered, do no skip this nor ignore it.
Nobody wants to be chained to a power outlet, even if there’s a
socket within reach. If you’re buying a 15-inch notebook, look for at
least 4 hours of endurance. Those who plan to be fairly mobile should
shop for notebooks that offer more than 6 hours of battery life, with
7-plus hours being ideal. The longest-lasting laptops in the business
(ex: The ThinkPad X240) can last for 10 to 20 hours.
To determine a notebook’s expected battery life, read third-party
results from objective sources — LAPTOP notebook reviews, for example —
rather than taking the manufacturer’s word for it. Your actual battery
life will vary depending on your screen brightness and what tasks you
perform (video eats more juice than Web surfing).
If given the choice, pay extra for an extended battery; you won’t
regret it. Keep in mind that some notebooks (such as the MacBook Air)
feature sealed batteries that you can’t easily upgrade yourself.
6)Knowing about your budget on your laptop:
Generally, people go to the expensive one without ever thing about the specifications or features that it has got
, thinking that the expensive laptops are surely good.
Here’s what you can get for each price point.
$400 to $600: For well under $600, you can get a
notebook with an Intel Core i5 or AMD A8 CPU, 4 to 8GB of RAM, and a
500GB hard drive, all respectable specs.
$600 to $800: As you get above $600, you’ll see
more premium-designs, such as metal finishes. Manufacturers also add in
other features as you climb the price ladder, including better audio and
backlit keyboards. You may also be able to get a flash cache and a
screen with a resolution of 1600 x 900 or higher.
Above $800: At this price range, expect notebooks
that are more portable, more powerful or both. Expect higher-resolution
screens, faster processors and possibly discrete graphics. The lightest,
longest-lasting ultraportables, like the MacBook Air and Lenovo
ThinkPad X1 Carbon, tend to cost more than $1,000. High-end gaming
systems and mobile workstations usually cost upward of $1,500, even as
much as $2,500 or $3,000.
7)Checking about the brand:
Your laptop is only as good as the company that stands behind it.
Accurate and timely technical support is paramount, which is why LAPTOP
evaluates every major brand in our annual Tech Support Showdown
. This past year, Sony came in first place, followed by
Apple and Samsung.
Support is only part of what makes a notebook brand worth your money.
You also have to consider how the manufacturer stacks up to the
competition in terms of design, value and selection, review performance
and other criteria. In our 2014
Best and Worst Laptop Brands report,
Apple placed first, followed by
Lenovo and
ASUS
