Quite a few people are in the market for a new laptop,
whether it be they ran out of room on the hard drive, their previous laptop
crashed or freezes up a lot, because of the new processors by Intel, the I
series, or because of the release of Windows 7. But if you’re having trouble
picking out a computer or in the market for one, here’s an article on how to buy
one.
If you’re thinking between buying a laptop or desktop, ask yourself this: Will I
need my files to be accessible at all times, or can I just have my computer
stationary in one location?
Step 1: Look, Design, feel, and the location of ports, etc.
Look, Design, & Feel: Before you buy a laptop, you want a laptop that will look
new, professional, and up-to-date. More
professional colors for laptops include silver, dark blue, or black, it would
also be good if your laptop wasn’t a fingerprint or dust magnet on the front,
but you still need to keep in mind that you need to have a laptop that looks
professional. You also need a keyboard that you can type fast on, so I don’t
recommend an Apple Macbook, unless you’re a lifetime Mac user. Being able to
type fast is one of the things a student would need to keep in mind, too.
Sometimes you have a feeling that a certain laptop is meant for you, does that
ever happen to you? It does to me, even when I’m just looking (or wanting). It
can be helpful if the laptop is made slanted, so it’s easier to type on. I find
this to be helpful.
Keyboard: You also need a laptop in which you can type on, along with a track
pad and numeric keypad. Ask yourself these questions about whether or not you
need a numeric keypad:
1. Do I really need a numeric keypad?
2. How much will I use it?
3. Do I use numbers often at school, home, or work?
Track pad: If you’re going to be using your laptop on the go often, such as
in-flight, at public places, or anyplace else, you’re going to need a track pad
that works well, and that you can use easily.
1. You’re going to need a track pad that registers your
movement well and one that will move the cursor on your screen fast, but even if
it doesn’t, you can change the settings on the track pad to fit your speed.
2. Apple’s Macbook series has a track pad where it is
all one button if you just press down, ask yourself this: Do I need the left and
right click buttons at the bottom, or can I survive with just one left-click
button?
3. Do I need a track pad that has a smoother track pad
or one that sticks more?
Location of Ports: Another important feature is the location of the ports,
including whether you have a slot-loading or a tray loading disc drive- a slot
loading doesn’t get in the way, but, if the slot loading drive breaks, it will
be a lot harder for companies to get because not very many companies make those,
tray disc drives are a lot more common in laptops.
If you sit on the couch while using your laptop often, the location of ports can
matter a lot. For example, if you’re sitting on the left seat of the couch, and
the USB ports are on the left side also, be careful that the armrest doesn’t
break off the tips of the USB ports. But if you’re more of a desk user, there’s
not much of a problem for you there, just a caution to couch laptop users. I’m
used to having the disc drive on the right, and all of the ports on the left. I
don’t like having any ports on the back, because it cause a problem: you have to
close the laptop to plug something in, putting the laptop in standby, making it
even more difficult to get back on your laptop. Just another thing you may want
to think about, but I started noticing that after 2007 the computer
manufacturers (such as Dell, HP, and Gateway) stopped putting ports on the back,
and putting the battery in that location instead- I think they realized the
defect about that.
Portability: If you will be taking your laptop on the go, you will need a laptop
on that’s portable, such as a 13”. But if it’s only going between work and home,
then you could buy a 15 or 17 inch. Just ask yourself this question: When and
where will I be using my laptop?
Step 2: Performance (processor, hard drive, etc.)
Processor: One of the most important things to consider is the performance of
the laptop. I would have to recommend Intel processors, especially Core 2 Duo,
and the new I-series by Intel, too. The core i5 seems to be the perfect one for
normal usage everyday and using continuously-such as hours at a time. However,
if you’re a graphic designer, I would recommend the Core i7 processor by Intel.
Graphics Card: Another important feature is the graphics card. The graphics card
can be a very important tool, after all, you need to see the right colors, after
all, you don’t want a graphics card where it looks like you’re typing in red,
but it shows black. I recommend a graphics card by N-vidia, but I haven’t seen
those in laptops anymore, because the graphics card is so good it drains the
battery so fast.
Hard Drive: The hard drive is another one of the most important components in
your laptop computer. Now what is a hard drive? A hard drive is what stores all
of the files on your computer, including Windows, Linux, or Snow Leopard
software. On net books, the average size hard drive is 160 GB, on laptops, the
common size hard drive is 320 GB, but I would recommend a 500GB hard drive,
plenty of space, without having to worry if you run out of storage. However, the
Apple iMac’s hard drive can go up to 2 terabytes of memory, which would be
2,000GB of memory, but the iMac is an all-in-one desktop, so that’s off topic.
The Macbook and Macbook Pros’ hard drives are disappointing, too, because
they’re only 250GB of hard drive.
RAM (Random Access Memory): RAM is what makes your computer run, such as running
Windows 7, word documents, spreadsheets, email, etc., etc. RAM is also very
important, most computers come with 3 or 4GB of RAM, however, the Macbook and
Macbook Pro only come with 2GB of RAM, which is very disappointing with Apple.
It would be best to buy a computer with 4GB of RAM, but if your find one with
more than 4GB of RAM, I recommend possibly buying that, but don’t forget about
the other factors you have to think about in purchasing a laptop, don’t just
look for RAM.
Battery Life: THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT THING TO CONSIDER. Battery life is very
important, if you’re going to be on-the-go often. I would recommend buying a
laptop with a battery that has anywhere from 5 to 7 hours of battery life. With
this, you will be able to work on your laptop for a very long time, but net book
batteries are VERY awful, considering you only get about anywhere from 1-3 hours
of battery life on the net book, so I don’t recommend net books, the screen is
small, so it’s hard to see the lettering, the battery life is bad, the keyboard
is small and smashed together to fit on that little 10 inch screen, etc., etc.
Boot up Time: Another important thing for some businessmen and students is the
boot up time. The boot up time is something that a student would need to
especially need to look up, after all, you have to start up your laptop pretty
fast before the teacher (or professor) starts talking, and you have a laptop
that has a slow boot up time, you may lose some important key notes in the
lecture, so that’s something to think about.
Step 3: Price
The price can be (for some people) all that matters. This is the part where most
people hesitate when they’re buying a computer- forking out the cash. The best
budget to have would be about $1000, but if you’re interested in buying a
Macbook or Macbook Pro, then you’re budget should be about $2500, depending on
the size, hard drive space, RAM, processing chip, iWork, and more. If you’re
going to buy a Macbook, I would recommend buying it online so you can choose
what specifications you want or need. If you want my opinion, here it is:
Processor: Core 2 duo, Core i5, or Core i7 by Intel
Hard drive: 320GB or 500GB
RAM: 4GB or 8GB
Extra Software: Microsoft Office 2007 or iWork
Also, these specifications (I recommended above) are not only for Macbooks, but
also for PC’s, too.
