Sooner or later, any computer user is faced with the need to buy a laptop. Many choose a laptop for work, some for entertainment, for some it is necessary because of frequent business trips, others have a dynamic rhythm of life and they do not sit in one place. In any case, buying a laptop brings additional features and convenience to our lives. But today, a huge range of a wide variety of models, hundreds of different configurations make the choice so difficult that instead of pleasure, it can become torment. To prevent this from happening, we have written for you a small guide to choosing a laptop that will help you not get lost among thousands of offers. We hope that it will help you to buy a cheap laptop that fully meets your needs.
Laptops, classification
Let's start with the fact that, theoretically, a laptop is capable of yielding almost nothing to a powerful desktop computer, but the cost of such a device will be many times higher, and even then the laptop will still lose in screen size and upgrade options. Therefore, almost all laptop buyers have to decide on a set of requirements for it.
The first selection criterion will be the format of the laptop, characterized by the size of its screen. There are many different classifications, but for simplicity, we will divide all laptops into two classes:
1. Netbooks. Screen diagonal from 7 to 12 inches. The smallest, lightest and cheapest laptops. At the same time, they have the lowest power consumption, which means they work longer than other classes. But, of course, you can not do without minuses. The small size makes it impossible to install an optical drive in a laptop, and energy-efficient components do not have high computing power. The small screen size is quite convenient for browsing websites, reading or lightly editing documents, watching movies and photos on such a laptop. But for serious, constant work with graphics, video or even text, such a small screen is not suitable for anyone. In this class, after choosing the screen diagonal, you can be guided only by predilections to design, the difference in performance between different models will be minimal.
2. Multimedia laptops. Screen diagonal from 11 to 17 inches and above. This class includes the rest of the laptop models from the cheapest to the most expensive. In devices of this size, it is already possible to install sufficiently efficient components and ensure their cooling, so choosing a laptop in this class comes down to choosing the necessary set of components, which will be discussed below.
CPU. Unlike netbooks, multimedia notebooks tend to use fairly efficient processors. The latest models are quite capable of coping not only with office work and movies, but also with large databases. A laptop with a dual-core processor at about 3GHz provides opportunities for working with video, design systems, and many games are becoming available. Try to choose a laptop processor that exactly matches your needs, because replacing it is usually not possible.
RAM. Modern laptops are equipped with at least one gigabyte of RAM, but we recommend choosing models with two gigabytes or more. With the increase in the amount of RAM in the laptop, the performance in all applications will noticeably increase. It should be remembered that 32-bit operating systems are not able to work with more than three gigabytes of memory, so install 4 gigabytes of memory in your laptop only with a 64-bit OS. When choosing a laptop with memory, you can save a little, because all models have the possibility of expanding its volume.
HDD. The principle “the more the better” works here, because no matter how much disk space a laptop has, it always runs out. But even in this component, you can save money when buying, since laptop manufacturers provide for the possibility of easy replacement of the hard drive.
Video card It is found in two versions - either built-in (an inexpensive, but low-power option that uses laptop RAM), or external (it has its own memory and works much faster). For most tasks, the laptop has enough built-in graphics card, but to work with video or computer games, you will need an external card. This component can greatly increase the cost of a laptop and, like the processor, is extremely rarely subject to replacement, so we recommend that you carefully choose a video card in your laptop.
In any, even the cheapest laptops, there is a USB interface, WiFi and Ethernet technologies. Some laptop models also offer options for bluetooth, firewire, etc. Consider what you will connect to your mobile assistant and select the necessary communication interfaces.
Once you have a set of requirements for a laptop, you can do the most enjoyable part - the choice of design. The same configurations are assembled in hundreds of different multi-colored cases from dozens of manufacturers, feel free to choose the one that you like the most. We hope that now it will be easier for you to buy a laptop!