Things to Consider before your First Laptop
Written by Pavan Kumar on December 30, 2008
In this new generation, everyone needs the mobility. Obviously, the number of users of mobile phones and laptops / notebooks have increased in a wide number and is still increasing to the peak. Recently my friend was looking to purchase a laptop and we both did some search to digg out the right one. Here I am sharing few tips we need to consider for that.
Processor:
This is the most important thing you need to consider for any computer as all processing is carried based on the speed and performance of processor. It also depends on what kind of user you are. If you are a video junkie performing jobs of video conversion, or gamer or the one who use power softwares which squeeze the processor, you must go with high performers. If you are simply a beginner or the one who use your laptop just for checking mails or reserving railway / air tickets, you may compromise here.
Memory:
This is the second thing I look for while planning a PC or laptop. The discussion for processor applies here also. But in today’s generation, I recommend you NOT to go for anything less than 1GB. If I were the buyer, I would have gone for 4GB. If you limit yourself with a bad one, you will suffer finally. Its better you go for high memory ones than the lesser ones. Keep in mind before buying laptops, upgrading them is not as easy as it is for your PC.
Hard Drive:
This particular thing is where we store our data. Its recommended to go with a large one as you cannot assess yourself if you are buying your first notebook. Your interests may vary in time and you may need more space to store data. Your interests may vary in time and you may need more space to save your photos, videos, images, music, mp3, movies or anything. Though I can manage myself on my 80GB hard disk, for a new one, my choice would be some 250GB or more. Let the unneeded thing too stay on HDD so that some day it will be useful 😉 . Important thing is you need to make the partitions as storing everything on your C drive is not good.
Battery:
Priority should go to this as it is the factor which defines your gadget’s mobility. If you have the world’s fastest laptop whose battery is drained, its of no use. Pick the one which gives long backup.
Display:
It depends on what for you use your laptop. If you are a blogger and regular on laptop like working online or reading feeds, better pick the large ones like 17 inch or so, but if you are a frequent flier or simply use laptop for marketing demo purposes, you may go with 13.3 or 14.1 inch ones. All we need is to care our eyes. You may also go with 9 inch display netbooks which cost you less than $400.
Other factors:
All above are most common and important ones for buying laptops, but there are few other important ones which will not come into picture of all. They may be DVD Burner, Graphics card, wired and wireless options, keyboard, mouse, audio, weight, OS and few more. But all these don’t matter for a buyer who use laptops for general purpose. OS is also an important thing to consider, but most of the laptop sellers include Windows Vista these days and it is sufficient for normal user. I agree everyone will look for budget, choosing cheap laptops is not a bad thing at all, but you need to be wise at your choice.
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Hi Pawan.
I think some more things are need to be discussed.
1. For home users, there wont be much differance between core2duo and dual core. They can go for dual core if they are tight on budget.
2. Going for 7200rpm harddisk is really a good option and increase your system’s performance significantly.
3. The only thing that I dont like with my Studio 1555 laptop is that it has only 2 USB ports and no bluetooth.
4. Weight of the laptop
5. Onsite warranty
I think these things should also be considered while buying.
Dr. Lokesh