Want to buy a new laptop? New to computers and don’t know what features to look for? No sweat, I will explain this with non-techie, easy to understand language so you don’t get lost or confused. Hopefully, by the end of this short article, you will have an idea of what features to look for when buying a new laptop. Here are some basic things to consider:
Central Processing Unit (CPU]
This refers to how fast your laptop works. You should be asking how many GHZs it has? What will you use for your PC? Toys? After that, you need an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. If it’s for school or just surfing the net Intel Celeron or AMD Athlon should be fine.
Memory Cards
These days laptops usually come with at least 2GB of memory and that should be enough to use windows vista, windows 7 and other basic programs. But if you plan to do multi-tasking or gamble more memory is better.
Hard Drive
Also rely on the type of work you will use for your laptop. 80GB, or 100 GB should be more than enough for the average user. But if you are a heavy user download file you should get a laptop with at least 400GB to avoid going to BestBuy to buy you another portable hard drive three months after purchasing your laptop.
Operating System (OS)
This refers to the basic software that works on your laptop. Common OS is Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 (new version of Microsoft Windows), Mac OS X (Apple Computer’s OS), and open source OS such as Linux. In those OS, Windows is used by most PCs and laptops worldwide. Windows XP is the most popular OS even though I heard something very good about the new Windows 7 but it is still too early to comment on it.
Wireless network
Your laptop should be fitted with a wireless-n card which is becoming the most common wireless technology these days. Otherwise it must have at least a wireless card that can support 802.11 a / g / b wireless technology.
Disk Drive
Most laptops now come with a DVD ± RW / CD-RW drive. That drive basically allows you to create your own CD or DVD from music or video files from your computer. How do you know if a laptop has been found? Just look at the front of the drive should mean something like this DVD ± RW / CD-RW. If you do not want to create your own CD a standard DVD drive is enough to play CDs and DVD movies on your laptop. You have to be careful though, if you buy a small 9 “or 10” laptop, you will not find a disk in it. You will have to pay extra to get an external disk drive for these small laptops. If you want to enjoy the quality of Blu-ray movies you should consider getting a laptop with Blu-ray drive but it will be more expensive than a laptop with DVD ± RW / CD-RW drive.
Card reader
If you take a lot of pictures or record a lot of video on your mobile phone, digital cameras should consider a laptop with a card reader so that you can insert a memory card and send your photos or videos to your computer. If your favorite laptop doesn’t have a card reader in it, don’t worry, you can always buy a portable USB card reader for about $ 40-50 or very cheap online.
Webcam
New laptops often come with a built-in webcam for online chat and web conferencing. If you do not plan to do any of these activities do not worry about this feature.
Color
The final feature. Some laptop manufacturers are now starting to make colorful laptops to meet market needs but if you really want to buy a fashionable or stylish laptop, you can recommend looking at Dell laptops as they have a whole range of products and color choices and patterns to choose from. You can’t go wrong with them.
There are other features but the above are the basic features that you should look for on all laptops you plan to buy. If you follow these guidelines in this article, you should have a very good idea of the type of laptop you want to buy. I hope this article has been helpful to you and I wish you the best of luck in getting a good laptop.