5 Tips for buying a laptop
As computers, the internet and social media become an integral part of many peoples business and social lives, more and more people are thinking of buying a laptop. The following 5 tips will help you decide which laptop you should buy.
Tip 1 Need.
In order to decide exactly which Laptop you should buy, you need to consider what you will need the laptop for. If you are looking for a machine to browse the internet and type a few letters then you probably don’t need to remortgage your house. However if you are thinking of using the laptop for graphic design of photo editing then you will need to look for something with a large clear screen with a reasonable Graphics capability. Or perhaps you are thinking of using the laptop to edit large amount films and audio then you will need to look at a high end systems with a fast CPU, large hard drive, 4mb RAM, and excellent graphics. With this in mind you will be able to specify your budget.
Tip 2 Your Budget.
Before thinking about the laptop you want to buy you need to decide your budget. As your budget will ultimately impact the systems you can consider. So using the examples above I would suggest a budget of upto £500 for a Laptop to browse the internet and write a few letters, between £500 and £1000 for a higher spec system to edit photo’s. For Video editing on a laptop you will be looking at a budget of £1000+
Tip 3 Specification Mem / processor/ Hard drive.
Once you have decided your requirements and budget you should look at the specification of the laptop. There are 3 main specifications you need to consider. Which are Processor type and speed, Memory size and Hard Disk drive Size.
You should always buy the fastest processor (CPU) for your budget. however there are many options. Perhaps the most important question to answer is should I buy a 32 bit or 64 bit CPU. With out going into technical detail, in general the 64bit processor will be the better option. Having said that to get the best out of 64bit technology you need to use a 64bit operating system For example Windows 7 64bit. You should also buy software optimised for 64bit processors. Software for 32bit cpu’s will work but will not benefit from the extra processing power.
You should look to maximise each spec for your budget, make sure you have at least 2 Gigabytes of RAM and at least a 100 Gigabyte hard drive.
Tip 4 Software.
Every laptop vendor offer lots of free software when you purchase a laptop, but is it all worth it. A good software bundle can make an average laptop more than worth it price. For example if you are looking for a laptop to edit photo’s and one laptop comes with good photo editing software and the other doesn’t you know which one to pick. However its worth remembering that there is lots of software available for free on the internet that can perform most of the task you will want to do.
Tip 5 Size and Feel.
Before buying a laptop you should visit a few department stores to check out the size and feel of any laptop. If you intend to sit on the sofa with the laptop on your knee and look at Ebay then you need to make sure the laptop is not too big. If you intend to use the laptop on a desk to edit pictures then you should look at laptops with big screens.
If you would like to have a chat with someone about buying a new laptop or any other IT Hardware for your business give us a call on 08081081843.
