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Buying a new laptop whether for your academic purposes or for your business is a massive task in itself. With an unlimited number of options available across different categories, it is should definitely be one of the toughest tasks to pick the best laptop.
What laptop should I buy that is the persistent question every laptop buyer wants to find the answer to.
No matter whether you are a newbie or an expert, it is always much challenging to understand what to look for in a laptop. If you are confused about which laptop to choose, we will help you find how to choose a laptop.
What Laptop Should I Buy a Comprehensive Laptop Buying Guide
Well, that may not be an easy question to answer. Irrespective of the budget you have set aside for the best laptop that you want to buy, it should equally be essential to pay attention to a wide range of features and options available on your new laptop.
With too many options available at your disposal, that should indeed be one of the toughest tasks ever.
While we may want to share the best options you would want to check out on your laptop; it may not be easy to choose a laptop that would meet every practical need.
Having understood that, here are a few great options, you should have a close look at when deciding how to choose a laptop.
The Size
By size, we specifically mean the size of the screen. Laptops ideally begin with a screen size of 11.6 inches, moving all the way up to 17.3 inches. Most of the popular laptop manufacturers offer their devices in sizes ranging from 13.3 inches to 15.6 inches.
In essence, the 15.6-inch screen has been one of the most common sizes among the best laptops. However, your preference for the size would be dependent on the actual requirements you may have.
One of the prime factors would be portability. If portability is what matters much to you, it may be a good idea to stick to the smaller size.
A laptop with a screen size between 12 inches to 13.3 inches and a weight between 1 to 1.5 kgs would be the most ideal.
However, the size would also be one of the essential elements when you want to have access to better specifications and high-end components such as Intel Core i7 CPUs. A smaller size may also limit the number of ports available on the laptop.
If you are still in doubt, just ask yourself – what kind of laptop do I need, and that should help you pick the size wisely.
Pick the Platform
Well, which operating system are you looking forward to? You may perhaps need to choose between Mac, Windows, and Chrome OS.
That is what most of the laptops come equipped with. Your choice should be your personal preference, and perhaps we do not have a say in this regard.
Windows 10 has been observed to be one of the most popular and flexible operating systems ever. In fact, it can even run on laptops that come with Mac or Chrome OS.
A MacBook, on the other hand, comes with Apple’s operating system, vizMacOS. It does appear similar to Windows 10, but enhanced touch compatibility should be one of the excellent options. You would also get access to iOS apps on your MacBook.
ChromeOS is yet another operating system and comes from Google. Of course, it is quite limited in terms of functionality when you compare it to macOS and Windows. A Chromebook can be extremely flexible and can be an excellent option for students.
Quality of Keyboard
The keyboard on your laptop is what you would use the most on your laptop. Add up the touchpad to the keyboard, and that would make an essential peripheral that you would want to focus on.
While you would want your keyboard to offer a very flexible experience in typing, another critical factor in your laptop buying guide should also focus on the best standards in terms of ergonomics.
An excellent key journey, comfortable tactile feedback, and good space between the keys are a few factors you need to look at when picking the best laptop.
An excellent touchpad that does not jump the cursor and offers consistent multiple gesture options should be what you should focus on. A pinch to zoom functionality is yet another essential feature you would want to focus on what to look for in a laptop.
The CPU
That should be another essential factor you can focus on if you are wondering what laptop I should buy. The CPU or the processor is what we would consider being the brain of your laptop.
The choice of the processor will have a lot of importance on your laptop’s performance and how it would continue to serve you.
Intel Core CPUs are one of the much-preferred options for long. However, the new range of AMD CPUs, too, has been offering an excellent service in terms of performance.
In case you want to pick a laptop with an AMD processor, it may be a good idea to go with the ones equipped with Ryzen CPUs from the brand.
The AMD CPUs come with AMD’s Vega Graphics, which have been observed to be more efficient than the integrated GPUs that come with an Intel Core CPU.
RAM
Gone are the days when a 2 GB or 4 GB RAM would have been offered by the best possible service quality and functionality. The growing number of high-end programs and applications have focused on the need for a higher RAM capacity.
If you are wondering what to look for in a laptop when it comes to the RAM, our recommendation would be to make it at least 8 GB.
However, if you are a power user, it may be an excellent choice to opt for 16 GB RAM. In case, you are a gamer, the next best thing that would suit you would be a minimum of 32 GB.
Simply put, more RAM will translate into letting you run more applications simultaneously. That would mean you would be able to run more complex tasks such as photo or video editing options.
Storage
Hard drives have been ruling the roost for a long. However, the laptops have now been moving towards SSDs. The HDDs are known to be bulky and may produce noise and heat. The SSDs provide higher speeds, but they also tend to offer a smaller form factor.
Most of the OEMs have been moving towards the SSDs, and that should be one of the excellent options you should ideally opt for.
However, for all the practical purposes, we would recommend choosing a system that has a combination of both HDD and SSD. SSDs do not offer more storage capacity, and that is precisely why you should go with a combination of an SSD and HDD.
Battery Life
The last factor we would discuss in our laptop buying guide would be to check the battery backup. Remember one thing for sure – the battery life of a laptop as specified by the manufacturer may not be indicative of real-time experience.
Of course, the battery life is affected by a number of factors, and a few of them would include brightness, the number of applications running, and the resolution of the screen.
The Closing Remarks
Well, that was all about how to choose a laptop. We assume that the list of the best factors we have outlined in this guide should help you find what to look for in a laptop and pick your new laptop wisely. If it does, our efforts are repaid.
