Laptops or Notebook computers are becoming more and more common place in the home these days. If you are in the market to purchase a new laptop you may want to consider what is inside that little box and what comes along with it, before you purchase it. In this article we will cover some nice pointers and tips as to what to consider when purchasing a laptop computer.
Hardware:
You really want to stay away from anything that says "integrated graphics," or likewise terms. This is real bad news for anybody that intends to play any type of game or movies on the laptop. Without a decent video card in the computer, playback will skip and maybe even just freeze up the computer. Ram or memory is the next most important component. Ideally, if you can afford 1 gigabyte or more then do it. Applications are getting much more demanding and will only get worse on memory requirements. Without adequate ram, you will notice the computer takes excessively long to load and multi-task applications. Hence, you may feel annoyed. Third, consider your hard drive space and the speed of the hard drive. Don't buy the cheap 4200 rpm drives, they are not worth it, go for the 7200 rpm drives if you wallet allows. You will like this later on when your not waiting on your data. The size is really up to you. If you are a person that stores tons of mp3's, pictures, and movies; then your going to want to get the largest drive available. Next, when your looking at the screen types, definitely stick with at least 15.4" or higher, your eyes will thank you later. Whether or not you choose a screen with a glossy finish or plain is up to your circumstances. If you plain on using the laptop in an environment that has a lot fluorescent lighting, then glossy is probably not the way to go, but if the area is dark or low lighting, then it would be ideal and look the best. Last, but not least stay away from budget processors like Celeron and Sempron, unless you want a budget laptop.
So in a nutshell for the hardware:
Stay away from integrated graphics, and get a video card included.
Get as much ram as you can afford.
Stick with a decent size hard drive for your needs, and don't neglect the spinning speed (7,200 rpm's)
15.4" or greater size screen
Stay with "1st class" computer processors like AMD Athlon or Intel Pentium, not budget chips like Sempron or Celeron. (This names are changing all the time, so do your research what processors are on the market to know what is what.)
Shop around for the best price and most bang for your dollar.
Software:
Not all laptops are programmed equal. Manufacturers are skimping out on the software more than ever to make the system look "cheap" on the bottom line. Make sure you are given a set of recovery disks along with all disks to reinstall your programs if you need to in the event of a disaster or emergency. If you don't ask about it upfront in the begining, then you will be finding yourself paying a premium "shipping and handling" charge for these disks later. The average cost for laptop or desktop recovery cd/dvds start around $25.00 and go up.
Red tape: Warranties
Never buy a laptop without a minimum 1 year warranty. If you do, you are just asking for trouble down the road when the computer fails mechanically. Laptops are abused more so than a desktop computer mainly because of their portability. If you can afford a longer warranty, get it. That is the bottom line. Some manufacturers provide accidental warranty coverage as well. This is nice for that coffee spill, fall off the table incident. While this is more optional than the standard warranty, we still recommend purchasing this as well, because the truth is "stuff happens!"
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What to Consider Before Buying a Laptop
