What laptop should I buy?

This is a question I am asked almost weekly. The selection available is huge so it’s a fair question, everyone wants to make sure they get the right one whilst at the same time keeping a lid on how much they’re spending. With my top tips you’ll have a plan of attack on deciding what lappie is right for you, and without any help from IT you can do it on your own!

Note: Now that netbooks, ipad’s and other portable ‘versions of the modern day computer’ are available a laptop may not even be the best fit for you. But to keep this post to the point I’ll just be addressing how to buy a laptop specifically.

Let’s set a budget

This is always the first question I ask and generally the answer goes one of two ways.

Answer 1: About $1000.00-$1500.00
OR
Answer 2: I don’t know, how much do you think?

If you already know how much you have to spend, just work your way down through the points listed below and prioritise what’s important to you. Once you have your budget and priority list in hand you’ll have the info you need to choose a laptop most appropriate for you. Then you can jump on to the websites of Dell, Sony, HP, Apple, Asus and Toshiba, just to name a few, to see what matches up best!

With those of you that don’t know your budget, or would like help on deciding on how much to spend, we first need to work out what you want to do with it. Gone are the days where you had to spend a minimum of $3500+ to get a “real” laptop. Almost any laptop these days will perform basic internet and email functions along with performing office document functions.

What tasks are we going to use it for?

I’ve split the most common uses into three options, just choose what fits you best and this should give you some idea of how much you need to spend.

Occasional Use
If it’s just occasional use such as utilising MS Office, browsing the internet, checking your email and dumping your digital photos then generally any laptop will be powerful enough to cater to your needs. There’s no longer the need to spend a small fortune to get the necessary tech specs to perform the common functions needed today. Set your budget range for $800-$1300.

Everyday Use + more…
If you’re using your computer almost daily and you also have some hungry applications you need for work, a little more grunt may be required in the memory or processor department. Everything will run a little bit snappier than the base model laptops and if you prefer that and willing to invest a bit more set your budget for $1300-$1800.

High end use
No room for sluggish behaviour here! If you’re into engineering, gaming, design or any graphics intensive applications you’re going to need a high end piece of equipment. Or, if money is no option this is the one for you. Set your budget for $1800+

Minimum Tech specs

There are some simple minimum requirements I’d like to recommend on any laptop you choose…
2GB RAM (memory) – It’s cheap and makes your programs load up and operate that little bit faster and in most cases it will be the default offering anyway.
Dual Core CPU or processor – You’ll be able to tell if the lappie has this as it will mention ‘Dual Core’ when talking about the processor. If it doesn’t say this or it is labelled as ‘Celeron’ instead I’d advised you upgrade it or move on to one that does. (Celeron is the extremely poor cousin which equals cheap but very slow in comparison).
7200rpm hard drive – Generally the hard drive is the slowest part of your computer as it still has moving parts in it (think of it as like a record player with the pin scanning the spinning disk like a record), so I’d recommend you demand a minimum rpm speed of 7200. Most of the extremely large drives 500GB+ are still running at 5400rpm and there is a significant boost in performance by choosing the 7200rpm drives.

(You may have heard about solid state hard drives (SSD), which have no moving parts like USB sticks. These are fast, but from a bang for buck point of view I don’t think they are quite worth the extra dosh required…yet. If your budget allows I’d get one, but I stress they are far from necessary.)

I like brand ‘X’

If you like to buy via a brand recommendation then in all honesty I’d have to say Dell. Their range is massive, their website is very user friendly, their price is generally the cheapest and their warranty is fantastic. I’ve personally experienced good laptops from Acer, Toshiba, HP and IBM as well, but at the moment Dell has it for me.
For a warranty example, a couple years ago the hard drive in my Dell laptop started ‘ticking’ which is normally a sign that it is about to go. I had ProSupport warranty on the laptop and Dell sent someone personally out to deliver the replacement hard drive. Not only did I not have to send the laptop away, I was able to keep both hard drives for the next 7 days so I had time to transfer all my data across from the old drive to the new. It’s not if a computer fails it’s when, so this type of support from Dell speaks for itself.

Do you like ‘em BIG or small?

Small
I personally like small screens, eg 12 – 13”, because portability is more important to me than screen size. Plus I can mitigate the screen size issue by plugging into a docking station hooked up to a large LCD. Being small also makes it easy to balance on the armchair of our lounge when working at home! (although I’ll admit my last laptop didn’t balance too well and came off second best hitting the floor!).

Medium
Medium size are generally your 14 – 15″ laptops. These are the most commonly bought and sold laptops. They have a good balance of size versus weight and have a decent enough screen size to cater for most.

Large
The large laptops are 16 – 17″ and above. Most people I’ve found that like these have wanted the largest screen they can get in a laptop, and their laptop generally stays in the same spot on a desk. Therefore portability is not an issue and you get the full size keyboard with the keypad. I’ve found the older generation love these due to their poorer eyesight and accountants love them for the keypad!

If you are unsure on size, have a look and get a feel for the different sizes in a shop or have a look at a friend’s laptop for size. Like buying a car until you’ve actually taken it for a test drive you won’t really know for sure whether it is the right size for you.

What’s your favourite colour?

Ok, so in the old days, the options were black and…..black. Nowadays, the laptop is a personal item and the marketing departments have gone nuts with not only all shades of colours, but you can now buy laptops splashed with graffiti styling much like racing cars. If colour is not important to you then black is still there, but I’d definitely recommend checking out the options. I recently got a brushed chrome look on my new Dell 4310, very sleek! But I also really like the new graffiti styles on offer.

On the move?

How often would you like to pick up your laptop and take it with you? If it’s at least once a week I’d recommend the smaller sized laptops as their design is specifically centred on portability. If portability is not so much of an issue or it’s on rare occasions then put portability down the bottom of the priority list.

Warranty is a must-have.

Out of all points listed, this is the most important and a must-have. Do not buy a laptop without having the full after sales parts and labour warranty on it for 3 years. With Dell it is the ProSupport, however other companies will have the equivalent offering on warranty as well. The cost may be a couple hundred, but this gives you the piece of mind that when you have a problem you have a number to call instantly – and they are more than happy to help you.

Arggh…low battery!

Probably the biggest complaint from laptop users is the lack of battery life. If you are going to be working off your battery often such as sitting on the couch at home or out on client sites put in the biggest battery you can. The batteries are measured in cells and most laptops come with either a 4 or 6 cell as standard. I’d upgrade this to a 9 cell, as this can allow some laptops to operate for 5 hours+ just from the battery. Again, if it’s rare you are moving the laptop around and generally have it plugged in to the wall most of the time it’s pointless upgrading the battery.

Also to consider…

Weight – Weight generally only matters to those lugging their laptops around. So it’s worth mentioning along with all other batteries, laptop batteries are heavy. So although upgrading the battery to achieve an extended power life, be aware you will add significant weight. It’s up to you what’s more important to decide the right balance between weight and battery life.
Docking stations – If you are working from both the office and home, consider putting in a docking station or port replicator at both locations. Once plugged into a docking station you can use your laptop via a full size keyboard, mouse and large LCD monitor(s). If this is important to you make sure you check your desired laptop has a supported docking station as not all do.
Webcam – Most laptops come standard with these, however some don’t and even if you don’t use one now, you’ll probably want to in the future with skype and other video chat programs.
Memory card reader – Same with the webcams, memory card readers are very common and do make it extremely easy for you to dump the photos from your flash card in your camera direct onto the computer without the need for a USB cable.
DVD burner – Some laptops don’t even come with a DVD player let alone a burner so if it’s important to you make sure you get one. The really thin laptops have no room for internal DVD burners so these days you can get by with an external one. Personally I don’t use mine much but I still prefer to have it in the laptop as I couldn’t be bothered carrying around an external one for ’just in case’.