A Laptop Buying Guide for Students

If you are a student, then here is a guide that will help you understand what to look for when buying a laptop.

Size and portability- The first thing you must consider when buying a laptop is what size you want. We buy laptops for their portability so size matters, but do you want a smaller more portable laptop that would be better suited for work or a larger lap top to be used as a portable all in one entertainment center?

Power- Make sure the laptop you buy has enough power for what you want to do. Nowadays it's tough to find computers that can't handle our regular needs when our biggest demands are watching videos. Right now I'm using a $300 Acer aspire laptop with a 1.6 GHz processor and I have no problems doing anything I want. So the moral is you can find a powerful enough laptop with your budget.

Battery life- Laptops are great for their portability and it's the battery that allows us be free and go wireless so a huge factor for buying a laptop is the life of the battery. This is definitely something to pay attention to because if your battery dies out when there are no outlets to plug into then your computer is no good to you. Many laptops come with different battery options for small differences in prices. If you opt for a bigger battery you can get twice as much juice for about an extra $20 as opposed to spending an extra hundred for another battery the same size as the first one.

Stored Memory- Do you plan on saving large files on your computer? If you are using your computer as a media center and plan on storing movies and mp3's to have with you at all times then I suggest you consider the amount of storage you will need and look for a suitable hard drive. My computer's base model came with 120 gb of storage but for an extra $50 I received an extra 40 gb of hard drive storage, twice as much battery life, and twice as much ram. So always ask about upgrades.

Ram- Ram is short term memory, which means it is the amount of memory your computer can handle while it's on. When you are multitasking between projects you are using Ram, but when you save a file to your computer you are using the long term storage memory on your hard drive so the file you saved will be there for you when you restart your computer.

Screen clarity- I use my computer for watching videos and personally need a screen that I can see from every angle without the picture getting distorted. I recommend looking at the screen from every angle while checking it out at the store. Stand to the side and also flip the screen up and down to make sure the screen is always visible. I use my computer on the road and don't always have conventional places to set my laptop so the screen NEEDS to be viewable from EVERY angle.

Connectability- Consider the amount of usb ports as they are your laptop's options of staying current with new devices in the future. Card reader slots are also very good to have. Most important to me is built in Wi-Fi connectivity. With my integrated Wi-Fi I can walk around my house with nothing hanging off or sticking out of my laptop. There's no bulky card to worry about bumping, I'm totally free. The more built in peripherals you can get the better even though built ins are not always the best products they do serve their functions without taking up any usb ports and are clutter free.