With the rapid growth of the technological sector, the variety of gadgets available in the market is huge. Even if you want to buy a particular gadget like a laptop there are hundreds of options available for a particular price range. It even becomes very difficult to categorize laptops from the best to worst considering there is no single kind of laptop user. So now the question that arises is which laptop should you invest your money on? Here is a list of 3 criteria everyone should definitely consider before splurging on a new laptop.
1. Size
The size of the laptop is of immense importance considering where you are going to use it. The size that we are talking about here is not like the RAM or ROM, you cannot upgrade it later. Laptop sizes tend to start from 11.6 inches and go all the way to 17.3 inch. Most brands like HP, Dell, ASUS and Acer offer three display sizes – 13.3-inch, 15.6-inch and 17.3-inches. However, some brands do sell laptops that fall outside these sizes including 11.6-inches, 12.5-inches and 14-inches. If portability is your priority, you would want to go for smaller sized laptops that are thin, light weight and hence easy to carry around. However, smaller-sized 13.3-inch machines often don’t support the same Intel Core i7 CPUs or discrete graphics cards you’ll be able to find in the 15.6-inch models. If you intend to use your new laptop for some work that requires a larger display or standalone graphics power, you would probably need to look at a larger size.
2. RAM
The time when 4GB of RAM was more than enough to run your system, is long gone.
The basic requirement of RAM is now 8GB for the system to function properly. If you are a power, you should go for 16GB and for people editing videos and downloading games; 32GB should be the minimum requirement if you want the best experience.
More RAM allows more applications to run together on your laptop. Hence a laptop with a bigger RAM enables the user to complete multiple tasks at once. People using the laptop for video or image editing should go for laptops with a 64GB RAM.
3. Battery life
The manufacture quoted battery life is almost never similar to how long it is going to last in real terms. There are too many variables that affect the battery life like the screen brightness, screen resolution, background applications and your connectivity to any Bluetooth device or wifi. Hence it becomes very difficult to determine the battery life of a laptop as it depends on the usage by the user. The operating system also determines the battery life. The Ultrabook and convertibles that run on Chrome OS tend to offer a greater battery life than those running on windows 10. The best way to determine the actual battery life is by looking at the rating of the battery in Watt-hours (Wh) or milliamp-hours (mAh). The larger these figures are, the longer the battery would last. Like in a 13.3in Ultrabook, a battery with a rating from 44Wh to 50Wh will give you the best results.