While the delays abound, the return to office looms large for many people. For some, it means going back on a full-time basis. For others, though, it means coming back in for a few days per week.
When remote work was the expected norm, many workers set up home offices with full-on desktop computer systems. The new expectation of shuttling back and forth to the office on a part-time means many people will need a good laptop to move their work between locations.
That leaves workers with the question of what to look for when buying a laptop. If you’re not quite sure what you need or want, keep reading for our guide to buying a new laptop.
What to Look for When Buying a Laptop?
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Whenever people start a search for a new laptop, they start by thinking they need the best laptop. The problem with that approach is that “best” means different things for different people.
Let’s say that you’re an engineer. For you, the best may mean as much processing power as possible, so your laptop can crunch numbers or run 3D modeling programs.
What if you’re a graphic artist. Sure, you want good processing power, but you also want a laptop with a great onboard graphics card.
So, rather than focus on “best” laptops, let’s dig a little deeper.
Your Intended Use
As noted above, different professions need different things from their laptops. So, you must ask yourself how you intend to use the laptop on a normal day.
Will you use it for highly demanding purposes, like scientific number crunching, video production, and audio production? Or, will your laptop typically see use as a means for writing documents, looking over spreadsheets, and throwing together presentations?
If you know you’ll ask a lot from your laptop, then you will need a laptop with really good specs in terms of processor speed and power. You’ll probably want one above lots of RAM.
For those with less demanding requirements, you can probably get away with a mid-range laptop. If you just need to check email and access cloud storage and office applications, you can probably get away with a fairly low-end model.
Onboard Software
Different types of laptops come with different kinds of onboard software. One of the big differences is in the operating system.
A Chromebook will come with the Chrome OS. Apple laptops come with the macOS. Windows is probably still the most common operating system.
You may even see laptops equipped with a Linux OS.
None of these operating systems are inherently better or worse. The challenge comes with compatibility. If your office runs on Windows, you want a laptop running the same operating system.
You also want to keep an eye out on what kind of secondary or optional software comes on the machine. For example, what office suite does your company use? Is it cloud-accessible or are you all working off of locally installed copies?
Minimally, you want something in the same software family.
Size
Since you’ll haul this laptop around from place to place, you should consider the size and weight of the machine. Do you really need a 17″ laptop or will a 15″ or even 13″ laptop do the job? As a general rule, the bigger the screen size, the heavier the laptop.
If you don’t relish the idea of carrying a 4-pound to 8-pound laptop, you’ll want one with a smaller screen. The only caveat with this is that smaller laptops often come with less powerful processors and may even come with less memory.
If you need your laptop for something like computer programming, you’ll probably end up with a larger laptop to get those better components and extra processing power.
Keyboard
The quality of the laptop keyboard is a make-or-break issue for some users and a non-issue for others. If you won’t likely write anything longer than an email or a one-page memo, you probably don’t need to worry too much about it.
If your job involves typing for hours each day, you want a responsive keyboard that feels good under your hands. That can sometimes mean getting a larger laptop so you get a bigger keyboard to work on. Typing for hours on a cramped, undersized keyboard can leave someone with larger hands with aching hands by the end of the day.
Storage
Buyers often confuse storage and memory. In the world of computers, memory refers primarily to RAM. Storage refers to the amount of space on your laptop’s drive or drives.
There is no perfect amount of storage for all situations. Complicating the matter a little is the divide between traditional hard drives and solid-state drives.
SSDs offer a huge advantage in terms of speed. These drives typically load up your operating system and applications in a matter of seconds.
The drawback is that they cost more — a lot more — than a traditional hard drive. That means laptops with an SSD usually feature much smaller amounts of pure storage room. While you can find laptops with 1TB SSD drives, you’ll shell out for it.
They typically max out around 512GB. One solution you can see if you need a lot of storage for large files, like video production files, is an SSD and HD combo.
With these, the operating system lives on the SSD for speed. The traditional hard drive handles the storage duties for pretty much everything else.
RAM
RAM is one of the more technical areas of laptop and even desktop computer buying. There are issues like latency and matching performance between the RAM and the processor. Fortunately, that’s mostly a problem for the manufacturer and not you.
As a general rule, more RAM is better. The more RAM your laptop has, the better the performance you typically see from it. As a general guideline, you shouldn’t get less than 8GB of RAM. If you need your laptop to do a lot of difficult processing, aim for 16GB of RAM.
Processors
While the RAM and the drive type will have a big effect on your laptop’s performance, the processor will play a big role in that as well. Chip manufacturers routinely roll out a new generation of chips with enhanced performance every few years, so there isn’t a clear winner.
Most laptop brands use a processor from either Intel or AMD. For all-around performance, you’ll want at least an Intel i5 or an AMD Ryzen 5 chip. For higher-end performance, you’ll want an i7 or Ryzen 7.
You can find laptops with an i9 or Ryzen 9 chip, but those come with substantially higher prices.
Screen Quality
There is a certain amount of personal preference at work when it comes to screen quality. Higher quality screens typically offer more pixels, so you get a sharper image on the screen.
As laptops and tablets become increasingly entwined, though, touchscreen features are now a consideration. Laptop touchscreens are often very glossy. That feels good for your fingertips, but it also increases the glare off of the screen.
Staring at a screen with a lot of glare can grow wearisome and even contribute to eye fatigue. That, in turn, can trigger headaches. If at all possible, you should check out the screens of potential laptops in a store to see what you like and dislike.
Knowing that can help eliminate potential laptops from your list.
Future-Proofing
If budget isn’t a primary concern for you, you should consider the issue of future-proofing. Low-end and even mid-grade laptops work fine for now, but often see a steep decline in performance within a year or two.
The processing demands of the software, as well as websites and even online applications, continue to grow as processor power improves and the amount of onboard RAM increases. What worked like a dream a year ago can feel sluggish now.
While nothing will ever prove completely future proof, you can do some future-proofing on laptops. You can get the best available processor and graphics processing units on the market. You can also get the maximum amount of RAM available for that model.
Those will extend the working life of your laptop.
How to Buy a Laptop?
You have two main options when it comes to buying a laptop. You can buy one in a retail outlet or you can buy one online.
Some people like buying at a retail outlet because you can interact with laptops and walk out with one that day. The pitfall is that your only choices are the laptops they have in stock that day.
When you shop online, you can typically get exactly the features you want. If you want a particular brand, you can even shop for deals on their site.
Choosing Your Laptop
Answering the question of what to look for when buying a laptop means digging into what you need and want from the laptop. If you need it to do a lot of heavy lifting, you need a higher-end model with a good processor and lots of RAM. If you need something to edit documents and check email, you can get away with a lower-end or mid-range model.
Looking for more tech buying tips? Check out the posts over in our Tech section. Also, read Which Headphone Types are Right for Gaming?
