Don’t be surprised but buying a laptop can be even harder than
buying a desktop computer. In fact, buying a computer is very
straightforward. Laptops, however, are very personal stuff
because it’s something that you will carry around with you and
sometimes act as more than just a computer for you to work on.
They become a companion! That’s why finding and selecting the
right laptop can be very tricky.
Hard core computer gamers or people who will use their laptops
for designing or video production may need more help than just
reading about buying laptops. For conventional laptop users,
here’s something for you to digest.
The price for laptops varies drastically from brand to brand.
Some laptops can cost $500 while some laptops can cost you
$6,000. Some entry-level (meaning basic laptops) can be bought
for between $600 and $900. If you grab a laptop off eBay or
other rebate or dropshipping websites, you might get a mid-range
laptop for far less than that.
Even for basic laptop users, the description and specifications
for the laptop is very, very important. If you’re not sure,
check around and ask your friends for advice on how to buy a
good laptop for the lowest price possible. You should be getting
a laptop that comes with AT LEAST 512 megabytes of memory. The
size of the memory ensures that your laptop can run multiple
programs smoothly. As for hard drive, invest in as big a hard
drive for your laptop as you can afford. Another thing that you
may have to look out before you invest in the laptop is to find
out how many USB ports that the laptop has. Most laptops come
with at least 2 USB ports, the more the better. If you use a
camera or thumb drive (disk key), this is where you insert the
cable – the USB ports. You don’t want to have to remove the USB
cable for your printer and mouse every time you try to save
pictures from your camera to your laptop! Some laptops come with
slots for camera memory cards, for instance, your compact flash
cards.
If you’re keen on getting a Windows based laptop, the security
of your laptop should be at the top of your priority lists.
Windows SP2 XP should be ideal because it comes with antispam,
antispyware, antipopups and antivirus programs. Some laptop
retailers may offer you cheap or free programs that you can
install into the laptop as a second layer protection to your
laptop.
Other factors to take into account when shopping for laptops are
the screen size, the life of the battery, the processor of the
laptop, screen and keyboard, wi-fi networking, size and weight
of the laptop.
Dakota Caudilla, journalist, and website builder Dakota Caudilla
lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of
http://www.laptop-source.net on which you will find a longer,
more detailed version of this article.
About the author:
Dakota Caudilla, journalist, and website builder Dakota Caudilla
lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of
http://www.laptop-source.net on which you will find a longer,
more detailed version of this article.