How to choose your first laptop

We are living in a digital world!!!

To stay updated with the new world, we need to be digitally literate. New gadgets are launched in the market every day with different configurations and enhanced features. 

Sometimes, a person gets confused, which gadget to buy and which to leave.

This blog will try to address this confusion.

Now, I will start with a laptop buying guide. I am writing this because I too faced a lot of issues, concerns, frustration, etc while opting for a new laptop. As technology is evolving, Options are increasing day by day. So is the confusion. 

Today, we will discuss the main factors which one should keep in mind while opting for a laptop.

 Let’s understand few things first before jumping to any conclusion:

1. Purpose: Before buying a laptop, the first and foremost thing that should come to mind is the purpose of purchase. Ask yourself this question. Why do I need a laptop? What am I going to do with this laptop? Am I going to play games on it or am I going to code on it? or am I going to maintain business stuff? When you get this answer, you know exactly what you are buying.

2. Budget: Once you know the purpose. Why a laptop is required? Then you have to check your budget. This is the most important factor while purchasing. You should always know how much you can spend on a laptop. But if you have a lot of money, probably you don’t have to bother about purpose or budget.

3. Processor: Once the budget is finalized, you can start searching for a processor that caters to your need and is good. Currently, in the market, two companies provide processors. AMD and Intel. Intel is the oldest market player for processors as compared to AMD. At this time, the most promising product from AMD is the Ryzen series of processors. On the other hand, Intel and its generations are well known to everyone. There is very strong competition between both companies. You can get an AMD-equipped laptop comparatively cheaper than the Intel-equipped one. Purchasing Intel I 3 latest generation is better than I 5 older generation. This will save a bit of money. Also, check the speed of the processor.

Before opting for the processor, you should understand the alphabet in the name.

K: K chips are the fastest chipsets available in the market and have higher clock speeds as compared to other chipsets. K chips are unlocked as well. That means you can alter the clock speed as per need. 

G: G chips usually denotes that this chip has a built-in graphics processor.

T: T means that this chip has comparatively low performance and hence uses less power as compared to basic chips without any letter associated.

U: U chips mean ultra-low power. These chips consume very low power as compared to T  models. Generally suited for mobiles and thin laptops which require less cooling as compared to high-end processors which generate a lot of heat.

4. RAM: Make sure you are opting for the latest RAM available on the market. If not the latest. Then you should buy DDR4 RAM only. Make a note here “ATLEAST RAM SHOULD BE DDR4”. If it’s  DDR4, then the speed should be in the range of 2400 – 3200MHz. Not less than 2400.

5. HDD / SSD: SSD is the successor of HDD. It is quick as compared to HDD. Since SSD is the latest technology, one should always look for it. SSD is a bit costly and it may impact the budget. In such a case where opting for an SSD is surpassing the budget, one can buy a laptop with HDD and it should have an M.2 slot. Later on, you can add an SSD for enhanced speed and performance. 

6. Graphics: One should opt for graphics options only if he/she is going to work on projects where graphic designing is involved or some designing Softwares have graphics as a prerequisite. Those who are buying a machine for gaming should mandatorily require a graphics option. But, if you are buying a laptop just for entertainment purposes, watching movies, Netflix, series, etc. graphics option is not required at all.

7. Brand: Another most important point which one should keep in mind before buying a laptop is that the brand should be trustable and should have good after-sales services. But if you are quite an explorer, you can try new brands as well. You never know what you may find.

8. Review: Once you have made your mind keeping in view all the above points. I would suggest you please go through the reviews once. Sometimes it happens that you can find all desired features in a low-cost laptop but the build quality of chassis is so poor that after one year you become a permanent gold customer of the service centre and believe me it happened with me also. Most people ignore this point but if you are spending more than 50,000 rupees then you should be using that machine at least for 4 years.

I hope you would like this information.

Please comment if you like this information and want me to write more such stuff.