Tips on buying a new laptop

With the amount of electricity brands and manufacturers that are around at the moment, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with choice when trying to find something new, whether that be tablets, phones or laptops. Instead of being able to go out and buy the bog standard product, spending money on something like a laptop needs careful consideration to make sure you’re getting what you need and for the right price. A lot of variety means a large price range, which is especially good if you’re on a budget.

There are a couple of things you’re going to need to look for when buying a new laptop, firstly, it would help if you knew what you were using the laptop for. Is it for gaming? Everyday browsing the internet? Studying? This is important as it decides on what storage you need and RAM which determines how much your laptop can handle at one time. Once you get this sorted then it gets a little easier.

Gaming laptops generally need a higher RAM, so when looking at the specifications for your prospective purchases, you need this to be high as possible, which can come at a hefty price, but sometimes you can find a middle ground. All it means is that your laptop will be able to run the programmes needed to play games smoothly, making sure they don’t glitch etc. (You’ll also need to look into graphics and sound cards as well which again, aren’t cheap). If you’re looking for something to use for studying and general internet browsing, then lower storage and RAM will be able to accommodate how you use it.

Battery life is also important, especially if you’re using the laptop to study and as a portable device to type up documents in different places. Usually longer life batteries are a little more expensive, but nowadays batteries on laptops come with at least 6 hours as a standard, but if you’re heavily browsing all day then the more hours you need there’s a little extra you’ll probably have to pay.

CD/DVD Drives. Another consideration to make is whether you will use your laptop for entertainment often. Generally, gaming laptops do come with a disc drive, which means you can have the physical game, CD or DVD and play it straight to the laptop. Although a few years ago, disc drives came as standard, making the laptop a bit more clunky and heavy, and nowadays it’s harder to find one with a drive for a decent price. If you know you can download your entertainment online, it may be worth you not having a disc drive, but if you’ve invested in an extensive entertainment library you wish to use your laptop for, then this is definitely something you’ll need to consider when buying a laptop.

Some people also like to factor in what type of games that they predominately play because this may affect their choice when they are looking to buy a gaming laptop. For example, if someone mainly played World of Warcraft online then they would look for the best laptop for world of warcraft, so that they could cater their gaming needs to the type of laptop they buy. This is not the same with all games but some games are much better on a more specific laptop than others.

Overall, you can get a cheap laptop that has everything you need for 200 and up, with some chromebooks that work to their full extent being cheaper. But If you’re looking for a really high spec laptop that can do absolutely everything then expect to be paying over 600 for one.