Top 10 Laptop Buying Tips

When buying a cheap laptop or a refurbish one, here are some important laptop buying tips to guide you through the buying process.  I will be adding more laptop buying tips as I think of them.  So this is not an all inclusive laptop buying tips list.  If you can think of some laptop buying tips to add to the list, please send them. 

Cool Tip. Most low cost cheap laptops can handle most of your computing needs.  You can surf the Internet, do email, watch videos, capture images from your camera, do word processing, spreadsheets and more.  

1. Laptops come in three different form factors.  Basically this means that they come in three different weight categories and sizes.  Choose the best weight that fits your needs and budget.  Ultra thins tend to be more expensive. 

Laptop Weight and Size Categories

• Ultra light size, these are normally very thin and weigh around 2 kilo grams or less. 
• Thin size, these weigh around 4 kilo grams or less. 
• Normal size, these come in with a weight of about 5 kilo grams or less 

2. When choosing a laptop, always go with the fastest CPU Central Processing Unit you can afford. There is nothing worst than a slow laptop. Fastest speed is the best choice.

3. The wider screen or display will be sharper and larger. They will be better for viewing DVD's on long trips and offer the nice luxury of being able to display two doucuments or web pages side-by-side.  So go for the 17-inch wide screen laptop if you can afford it.  I do recommend a wide screen laptop if you do not plan on traveling too much or too far.

Cool Tip: Keep in mind the travel weight of a laptop when you get a 17" wide screen.  It does provide you with a noticable increase in onscreen content space.  It makes a great display for movies, still images and gaming, however this will greatly increase the laptop weight.  So your arms might get tire quickly when carrying the laptop for long periods of time. 

4. Buying a laptop without enough RAM memory slows down everything in your laptop. You can have the fastest CPU Central Processing Unit and without enough memory it will be slow. Be sure to have at least 2gb giga bytes of memory installed or upgrade to it.  Sufficient memory is necessary for graphics work, photo editing, videos and gaming. Don't leave the store without enough of it.  If you can afford the extra few dollars for 4gb of memory...I recommend getting it.

5. Always be sure to try out the keyboard. If it does not feel right, move on to a different laptop model. 

6. Personal choice here: when I am using my laptop on a desk I like to use a real external mouse rather than the pointing device that is on the keyboard. Buy a real mouse for these occasions.

7. Check to see that the laptop you are buying has wireless networking included. Now adays wireless is the smart way to go. Wireless 802.11g is the industry standard.

8. Buy a good set of headphones or a three piece speaker set. Laptops come with lousy small speakers.

 9. Most newer laptops normally come with a 200gb - 250gb hard drive or better. Older laptops will have around a 40gb - 80gb hard drive. Check the specifications to be sure it has at least a 80gb hard drive installed for your data storage.  Plenty of room for documents and your photo's.  A 200gb or better hard drive for a new or refurbished laptop is great.

10. Always remember to set aside some money for the little extra' s that you will need. This would include such important items like: a laptop case - bag, a spare battery, a mouse and of course any software that does not come included with the laptop of your choosing. Microsoft Office suites can be a good hit on your budget so put some extra money aside just for them.

11. Remember the first 10 laptop buying tips.:)