5 Areas to Consider When Buying a Laptop

Today we are going to talk about laptops!

Why start with laptops you might be wondering? Why not tablets or mobile phones?

Well, PCs have been taking a beating due to the easy and cheap access to tablets like Apple’s iPad and all the 3rd party Android tablets, which basically cover your basic needs of web surfing, mail and entertainment.

In June 2008, during a live interview, Steve Jobs compared tablets and PCs to cars and trucks, saying "[PCs are] still going to be around. They’re still going to have a lot of value. But they’re going to be used by like one out of x people.”

True enough, today we can see that laptops and desktops are being over taken by tablet sales.

But how are laptops still relevant to education? And how do I select the right type of laptop for me as a user?

It will not matter if you are a teacher or parent. I am going to reveal and un-bunk myths of what kind of laptop is generally suitable for you and give you 5 areas for you to think about when deciding your next laptop purchase.

Lets begin!

———————————————————-

1) What platform should I get?

Before looking at specifications, you need to ask what platform should I get.
Obviously your 2 main choices are Microsoft Windows and Apple’s Mac OS X.
If you are just the general user, stick with Windows. But if you want a higher premium product, go for Mac OS X.

Frankly, it will depend on how adventurous you are. But here is a suggestion, you may want to give Mac OS X a try, if your budget allows. The one big advantage for getting a Mac, is that it can also run Windows, so you have the best of both worlds, on a very good performing machine.

There is a 3rd option, which is the Google Chromebook.
To be honest this is not for everyone, but if you like using Google services and are familiar with their capabilities and are always in a Wifi location, this might not be a bad choice for you. But take note you won’t be able to install your traditional software on it because it runs everything from the ‘Cloud’ (Online services).

So if you are weary on trying something new and want to stick with the familiar, Windows is for you.

2) Screen Size

Here is a common problem when deciding on a laptop, you need to ask yourself what screen size you want. Smaller may not always be better and larger may not always mean better either.

Here I have a comparison of 3 laptops using the generally accepted sized screens for a laptop.

Now before I continue, there are 2 things you need to know about screens, the size and their resolution. Size is obviously the physical size of the display and resolution is how sharp the display will be and ultimately how sharp pictures and text will appear on the screen.

The smaller the size of the screen, the more portable the laptop would be, but then it also means the laptop is also more likely be weaker in processing power and hard to look at the screen. The best Laptops I have seen at the 11inch size is really the Macbook Air 11inch and the Yoga 11.

The larger the size of the screen, the heavier and bigger the laptop would be. You would only consider these kind of laptops if you want higher end specs for gaming or for media creation.

Now something to take note: in this day and age, graphics card DO NOT MATTER anymore UNLESS you are planning to play games on your machine.

3) Know your Specs

If you are a general user, it really doesn’t matter that much on what specs your laptop will have, because it will be able to do all the basic things you want to do. But how do you differiate what is a good and bad laptop then?

Here are some components to look out for:

CPU: Go for an Intel i5 and above, they will last you longer over the years
RAM: Your minimum should be 4GB, I suggest 8GB to last you longer

Hard Drive: If you are a casual user, stick with what they give you, normally it would be about 500GB or more. If you are a road warrior and is constantly on the road, look out for a laptop that comes with SSD, it is faster and has no moving parts so you won’t need to worry about it every crashing.

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 or 1920 x 1080 —always go for the highest res you can get.

Touch Screen: If you are going for a Windows Laptop, most of them will be running Windows 8. To best experience Windows 8, go for a laptop with a touch screen.

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 (which has dedicated video memory) will provide better performance when it comes to the most-demanding games.

DVD/Blu-ray Drives: Fewer and fewer laptops these days come with optical drives. Most videos can be streamed online and if you really need to, use an external drive. It allows you to have a laptop that is more portable and less prone to damage as there are lesser moving parts. Very few people watch DVDs on the go anymore.

4) Battery Life

Even if you only plan to move your laptop from the desk to the couch and the bed or from your cubicle to the conference room, battery life matters. 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 5 hours of battery life, with 6-plus hours being ideal.

Now with the latest release of the Hanswell Chips from Intel, your laptop battery life should give you a minimum of 6hrs.

5) Brand does matter!

Your laptop is only as good as the company that stands behind it. Accurate and timely technical support is paramount.

Understandably, price can be a concern for some, but sometimes coming out with the extra $50 might save you a lot of other issues in the future. We call this ‘Cost of Ownership’.

Brands like Apple and Sony, charge a premium for their machines, because they use the best parts and don’t break down easily. And even when they do, their support is excellent. So do take note of where the service centres and the brand’s track record too.

———————————————————-
So I hope these tips will be helpful to you and if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and we will try to address them in next week’s article.