So, you’re trying to shop for a brand new laptop, however, you dont know what to look for. Dont worry as ill is showing you the most effective tips for you to shop for your new laptop.
Pick a platform
The first step in shopping for a laptop computer is you would like to settle on the platform you wish. primarily there are 2, window and mac os (only for MacBooks).
Firstly we have windows 10 (the latest version of windows) this os is one of the most flexible os. It runs on more devices than mac os. Windows laptops range from 150$ to the thousands, with a wide variety of features, like a touchscreen, fingerprint scanner and windows hello with face id (not all of them have this feature). It also has a reconstructed Start menu with Live Tiles and the Cortana digital assistant. Windows 10 laptops are great for students and business owners, and it’s the only OS gamers oughta run.
Next, we have mac os. Overall mac os offers similar features t windows 10 but with a different approach to the user interface. Instead of Cortana mac os users have to use Siri. but unlike windows 10 mac os is not made for touch, as no MacBook has a touch feature at the writing of this article, and is very unlikely there will ever be as apple have their line of I pads.
Is a 2-in-1 for you?
2-in-1 laptops are the same as a usual laptop the hinge can flip 360 degrees back.
This allows the laptop to become a big tablet, with other positions in between like tent mode which is good for presentation and stand made which is preferred for drawing. 2-in-1s generally come in two different styles: detachables with screens that come off the keyboard and flexible laptops with hinges that bend back 360 degrees. Most of these systems are much better at serving one purpose than the other, with bend-backs being laptops first and detachables offering a superior tablet experience. However, if you don't see the need to use your laptop as a slate, you'll usually get more performance for your money with a traditional clamshell laptop.
What is the right size for you?
Before looking at specs and pricing you need to look for the right size for your laptop, and how portable you want it to be. Laptop sizes are mainly categorized by the screen sizes like:
11 to 12 inches: The thinnest and lightest systems around have 11- to 12-inch screens and typically weigh 2.5 to 3.5 pounds.
13 to 14 inches: Provides the best balance of portability and usability, particularly if you get a laptop that weighs under 4 pounds.
15 to 16 inches: The most popular size, 15-inch laptops usually weigh 4 to 5.5 pounds. Consider this size if you want a larger screen and you're not planning to carry your laptop around often. Laptops with 16-inch displays are rare but Apple might get the trend started with its 16-inch MacBook Pro.
17 to 18 inches: If your laptop stays on your desk all day every day, a 17- or 18-inch system could provide you with the kind of processing power you need to play high-end games or do workstation-level productivity.
Keyboard and trackpad
The most impressive specs in the world don't mean anything if the laptop you're shopping for doesn't have good ergonomics. If you plan to do a lot of work on your laptop, make sure the keyboard offers solid tactile feedback, plenty of key travel, and enough space between the keys. If you're buying a Windows laptop, be sure it has Precision touchpad drivers and one that doesn't give you a jumpy cursor and responds consistently to multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom.
Specs!
Laptop components such as processor, hard drive, RAM and graphics cards/chip can confuse even laptop aficionados, so don't feel bad if spec sheets look like alphabet soup to you. These are the min components you should keep an eye on:
CPU(processor)
GPU(graphics card/chip)
RAM
Storge
Ports
Display
(all the things listed here are my opinion and if you dont like your laptop that you bought according to this article this is your responsibility )
Firstly we have the CPU, the CPU is the brain of your laptop. Picking the right CPU is very important because it determines the laptop’s power, which depends on the work you want to do.
Best CPU for students: intel core i5 or core i7 (7th gen or above )
Best CPUs for light work: intel core i7 5th to 7 gen
Best CPU for heavy work: AMD Ryzen 7 4000 and above
Best CPU for video editing/content creation AMD Ryzen 7 5000 or cire i7 8th gen
powerful CPUs: core i9 9th gen AMD Ryzen 9
Now we have the GPU, if you’re not doing gaming heavy, editing or 3D editing you dont need a dedicated GPU, the one integrated one will do perfectly fine. But if you there are two main companies AMD Radion and Nvidia. As with CPUs, there are both high and low-end graphics chips. Low-end gaming or workstation systems today usually have Nvidia MX450 or GTX 1660 GPUs while mid-range models have RTX 2050 or RTX 2060 and high-end models have 30-series chips like the RTX 3070 or 3080 GPUs, and on the other hand, Nvidia's rival, AMD, is Apple's vendor of choice for graphics cards, although you really shouldn't buy a MacBook for gaming. AMD launched the Radeon RX 5600M and the Radeon RX 5700M GPUs last year.
Now for RAM. Ram is how fat your laptop runs, the more the RAM the faster the laptop. Ideally, you want at least 8GB of ram, but there are also models with h16 ans also 36 GB of ram. For light work, 8 to 16 GB of ram will be perfectly fine, but for heavy work, it’s better to go for 16 to 36 GB of RAM
Next, we have storage. Depending on the work you do and your budget storage can vary from user to user. If you want to do video editing you can opt for 500 or more GB of storage but for lighter work, less than 500 GB will be fine. After the amount of storage, you need to find out which type you want. Nvme and SSD where SSD the fastest
Now for ports, all laptops have different types of ports. It’s a big deal breaker l if some ports are missing because there is most definitely a dongle for it, but it might be a deal-breaker for you so here are some ports to look out for.
Usb-c
Usb 3.0
Thunderbolt port with usb c compatibility
And HDMI
Finally, we have the display. This shouldn’t be a big problem for an average person but if you view or edit a lot of content you should get the most colour accurate screen. Ideally, you should get a full HD or a 1080p display, this is more than enough for an average person but for video editing, 4k is the best, but this will dread the battery quicker, but if you dont care about your battery life OLED displays are the best for viewing thins in its best form. For the best colour, it’s better to look for something with sRGB that is over 100%, as for brightness at least 300 nits and above.
Battery life
If your thinking of buying a bulky laptop or any laptop that is mostly staying on your table near a socket battery life isn’t super important, but you plan on travelling a lot battery life is very important, mainly 7hours or more of battery life is the bast for more people. One thing t note is never to determine the battery life of a laptop by the manufacturer’s word but use third party results.
Plan Based on Your Budget
These days, you can buy a usable laptop for under $200, but if you can budget more, you'll get a system with the better build quality, stronger performance and a better display. Here's what you can get for each price range.
$150 to $250: The least-expensive laptops are either Chromebooks, which run Google's browser-centric OS or low-end Windows systems with minimal storage and slower processor, or used ones.
$350 to $600: For well under $600, you can get a laptop with an Intel Core i5 or AMD A8 CPU, 4 to 8GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive, all respectable specs. However, at this price, most laptops don't have an SSD, a full-HD display or long battery life.
$600 to $900: As you get above $600, you'll start to see more premium designs, such as metal finishes. Manufacturers also start to add in other features as you climb the price ladder, including higher-resolution displays and SSDs.
Above $900: At this price range, expect laptops that are more portable, more powerful or both. Expect higher-resolution screens, faster processors and possibly discrete graphics. High-end gaming systems and mobile workstations usually cost upward of $1,500 or even as much as $2,500 or $3,000.
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