Buying a new laptop?? Here is a complete laptop buying guide that will cover all the points you need to consider before you purchase your new laptop.
Well, there are a lot of technical aspects to consider like processor, RAM size, HDD or SDD, graphics card, and so on. But, before getting into these, let us first understand your needs and requirements from a newly purchased laptop. We will cover the technical aspects along the way.
1. Purpose
Firstly, you need to find out why do you need a laptop? How are you gonna use it? Is it professional or personal?? Well, Let’s find out.
Personal use
If you want to have it for your personal use like listening to music or watching Netflix or maybe doing some online shopping, you can go with a basic laptop with at least 512GB Hard disk space, i5 processor (5th generation+), and RAM with at least 4GB of capacity. You don’t need to worry much about the graphics card in this case.
But wait, are you a pro gamer and want to play some heavy games with cool graphics like Sleeping dogs, GTA 5, or Far cry 3 and 4? In that case, the type of laptop you use can majorly impact your gaming experience. We will recommend you to go with the laptop having a fast processor with at least 8GB of RAM and 1-2GB of graphics card for a wonderful gaming experience.
Professional use
If you are using it for professional purposes, In what profession are you? Are you a graphic or UI/UX designer? Or maybe a software engineer or a chartered accountant.
Every profession has some specific requirements. Like, if you are into graphics or audio/video editing, you must be having a system with a powerful processor, a high-resolution screen, and a good graphics card. In this case, gaming laptops are the best as they have all the high-end features that you need to produce excellent multimedia output.
But, in the case of a software engineer or accounts professional, you might not be needing a laptop with high-end graphics but a relatively high-speed processor than a basic one.
There are various companies offering different chipsets and graphics cards as per your need. Choose the one that fits your usage requirements.
2. Portability
Portability is an important aspect when it comes to buying a laptop. It can be determined by screen size and how much a machine weighs.
If you are a standard user, who uses the system at your home, watches movies, and stuff, a laptop with a bigger screen size will improve your experience. The ideal screen size for you would be 15 to 17 inches. But as they are big in size, they are less portable than the screens of 13-14 inches. So, if you are a person who takes the laptop with you to the office, a smaller screen size would offer more portability than a big one. Also, choose a laptop having less weight to reduce the load on your back while you are traveling.
3. Budget
What’s your budget?? I mean how much can you or want to spend on a laptop?
If you are not on a very tight budget, we would recommend you to focus on secondary or you can say advanced features like sleek and compact design, fingerprint-lock for improved security, express charging features, etc. This will improve your computing experience and since, it’s a long-term investment, spending an extra penny won’t be such a burden.
But, If you have a limited budget for the same, first choose a laptop that fulfills almost all of your usage requirements and then look for advanced features and the latest tech.
There are different brands in the market having laptops of the same configuration at varied prices, compare them, and try to save a bit for the future.
Conclusion
A laptop is not something you would change every 3-4months, so we would recommend you to try and buy a system with the latest technology. Of course, the most latest features will cost you a bit extra, but if you are planning to use this laptop for the next 4-5yrs, It would be a wise decision.
