I’ll be getting a laptop for Sixth Form next year and just wanted to share a few tips with you all:
- How Long Will You Have This Laptop?
- Laptops are very difficult (or expensive) to upgrade for the average computer user so make sure the hardware will still be OK for the life of the laptop.
- Do You Really Need A Powerful Graphics Card?
- In most cases of school work, you’ll never need a graphics card. That said, if you may need one, get one.
- Can You Risk Low Battery Life?
- Using wall sockets when available is obvious but what about when you can’t access mains power? You’ll need to depend on your battery which needs to be fully charged and, where possible, have a lot of power.
- Get A Mouse
- Even if it’s just a cheap one. Using the trackpad everyday for two years can really be a pain and a time waster. Just getting a cheap mouse can save a little time and it may make it easier for you.
- Is That Keyboard Comfortable?
- Quietness is an issue but what’s more important is how comfortable you feel typing on it. If you can, try testing it out before you buy. You can always buy an external keyboard but it’s a lot bigger than a mouse and can be a hassle in itself.
- Are You Getting The Best Deal?
- Shop around and see what prices you can get.
- Don’t Buy Unnecessary Hardware
- If you’re able to customize your laptop (like on Dell), then begin customizing the cheapest model, only adding on hardware that you’ll need. You’ll save a lot of money this way.
- Have You Got A Decent Bag?
- It’s best not to advertise your laptop but you need a decent bag to carry it around. Try one with lots of padding — it’ll pay off on your back and maybe if you drop it.
Comments
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How about if you need a laptop for school and movie making or school and music/grpahic designing? What would be best?
For those circumstances, it’s best focusing on the processor and memory. Especially for movie making, a decent screen is good but you can always connect it to a proper display. If you’ll be doing a lot of editing, it might be a good idea to have a big hard drive as well.
I strongly advise XP over Vista purely because of the performance gains but ultimately this boils down to the applications you’ll be using.
Unfortunately, it’s a situation where you’ll need to spend a bit of money.
Something else that will save a lot of money are discount codes. Search around for them and try any you find. Chances are that you will save quite a bit — I managed to save £150 on Dell which equates to around $300!