Buying a laptop is never an easy task. One has to focus on budget, purpose, performance and several other factors. So, we have prepared a guide and tried to make this process simple for you.
Mainly, there are 4 factors you have to keep in mind while buying a laptop.
- Performance
- Display
- Weight and size
- Sound quality
Performance
The performance of a laptop depends upon 5 major components:
Processor, RAM, Graphics card, Battery, Internal Memory.
1. Processors
Processors are the brain of laptops. Better the processor, better is the speed and efficiency in doing heavy tasks or multiple tasks.
There are numerous laptops out there with different processors.
Selecting the processor of the laptop basically depends on the demands of the work that you want to do on your laptop.
Intel is the market leader in manufacturing of processors. Its processors are:
Celeron, Pentium, Core i3, i5 and i7 (in increasing order of processing power)
Here’s a breakdown of what type of processor suits your need:[Text Wrapping Break]
| PROCESSORS | CELERON | PENTIUM | CORE i3 | CORE i5 | CORE i7 |
| Tasks | Browsing, Watching movies,email | All Celeron can do + light productivity work (MS-Excel) | All Pentium can do + multitasking and better HD playback | All i3 work + light gaming , Light photo editing , Heavy Excel usage | All i5 work + Photo editing, Heavy gaming, Video editing |
| Cores | 2-4 cores | 2-4 cores | 2-4 cores | 2-6 cores | 2-8 cores |
| Clock speed | 1.1-3.7 GHz | 1.2-3.7 GHz | 1.9-4 GHz | 1.9-4 GHz | 2.4-4 GHz |
2. RAM (Random Access Memory)
RAM is the internal storage of laptop which stores the files and apps which are opened at the same time.
The more the RAM, better is the laptop’s multitasking ability, that is, it can run more number of files without any lag.
Types of RAM:
DDR4 – This type of RAM is faster and consumes less power.
DDR3 – This type of RAM is slower and consumes more power.
Upgradation
RAM of the laptop should be upgradable, because with time, your applications and operating system will upgrade and will require more RAM that can slow down the laptop’s performance.
3. Internal Memory storage
Internal memory is the capacity of hard drive of our laptop.
Internal memory is the place where the operating system as well as all the documents,files, movies, songs, etc. are stored.
Therefore, more the capacity of your hard drive, more data you can store on your laptop.
Types of Hard Drives
There are three types of hard drives:
Hard Drive (HDD)- It gives ample storage space in low budget, but it is slow.
Solid State Drive (SSD)- It is faster but more expensive than HDDs. It can start windows in less than 5 seconds.
Solid State Hybrid Drive- It is the combination of SSD and HDD.
4. Graphics Card
This is a dedicated chip inside your computer whose sole purpose is to provide quality graphics.
The more the GB of the graphics card, the smoother your games will run.
Types of graphics card
(a) Internal graphics card – This can serve for light purpose like watching movies and light photo editing.
(b) Dedicated graphics card – This is used for heavy gaming and heavy photo editing.
NVIDIA and AMD are the two famous dedicated graphic card manufacturers.
5. Battery
More the watt-hours of the battery, more it will last without power plugin.
But with increasing battery backup, laptop’s weight and size also increases gradually.
But performance is not only what matters.
Display
Having a glare-proof non-reflective display is equally important as it will directly affect your overall experience.
Types
- HD, Full HD or 4K
- Touch Screen or non-touch
- Matte or glossy
Weight and Size
Laptops come in different screen size and weight.
You should select screen size accordingly as small laptops are easy to carry and big ones are awesome for games and movies.
But as screen size increases, it contributes in increased weight as more glass and other materials are being used.
Most popular screen size is 15.6 inches and have weight nearly 2 kgs.
Operating System
Most of the laptops come with windows operating system, apple laptops have MAC OS and chromebooks have chrome OS pre–installed .
(A) Windows – Most of the applications and softwares available are compatible with windows OS and it is the most popular OS across the world. Have full version of MS-Office installed.
(B) MAC OS- Apple laptops have mac OS pre-installed. Almost all applications and softwares are common for MAC and Windows OS. Have to buy MS-Office.
(C) Chrome OS- Comes with Chromebooks and have limited number of softwares compatible with it.
(D) Linux- Open source operating system which can be installed on any laptop for free. It is basically used by programmers.
(E) MS-DOS-Most basic OS . None of the applications are compatible with this OS. Needs Windows or Linux Installed in order to work on it.
We hope that keeping these factors in mind will fetch you a laptop worth your money.
Happy Buying!
Disclaimer: The facts & opinions of this post are written by the author in his personal capacity. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Edukeeda and Edukeeda does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.