By 2023, many experts predict that there will be 171 million laptops in the world.
If you’re thinking about choosing a new laptop along with millions of people, you’ll be wondering how to choose the best one.
While reading online customer reviews can be a great start, keep reading to learn different factors to consider when buying laptops online.
Operating System
One of the different options for laptops to consider is the operating system. There are two main ones: Windows and macOS. This can be a difficult question to answer because once you buy the laptop, you won’t be able to change the system in most cases.
In general, this is a personal preference.
Windows 10 comes on most PCs. These PCs can be very cheap or very expensive, so they can offer a lot of different options for people.
Windows 10 has all kinds of great features, like Cortana, touchscreens, and more. Windows 10 is great for almost anybody, including business users, students, researchers, photographers, and gamers.
On the other hand, you have macOS. This is only available on Apple computers.
macOS Big Sur is Apple’s latest release, and there are some features that are similar to Windows 10. However, it’s a different interface, and you’ll have apps on a dock rather than a start menu and a taskbar.
You’ll also be able to have Siri on your laptop. Since it is an Apple product, you can also have a seamless workflow with your iPad and iPhone as well.
If you do decide that you want to go with a Mac operating system, you should consider getting cases for your MacBook to protect them since they are so expensive.
Processors
Now that you’ve decided on an operating system, you’ll have to figure out what processor you want. This is the equivalent of the computer’s brain.
This will determine how fast it can run the software and how complex your software can be. It will also determine how many programs you can have open at once.
If you’re going to be doing light work on your computer, you don’t need the highest processor. However, if you’re going to be doing work like graphics or gaming, then you’ll want to get a laptop that has a great intel processor.
Storage
How many files will your computer need to hold? There are two main types of storage that you can get for your laptop. You could get a solid-state drive (SSD) that holds the memory rather than a hard disk drive.
Now, SSDs are the better option because they can hold more data and make your computer run faster. However, they are also normally more expensive.
SSDs are like a flash memory that’s in your iPad or iPhone. They are faster and they’re smaller so that you can have a thinner laptop as well. An SSD of 1 terabyte would equal around 1,000 gigabytes on a hard disk.
However, with the cloud and streaming options, storage isn’t as important as it was years ago. You don’t have to download files, and you can upload all of your documents to the cloud. So you may not need as much storage space.
Graphics Card
A graphics card is also important if you’re going to be gaming or using a lot of heavy software. AMD and Nvidia are two common graphic cards makers, and you’ll find them on most laptops.
If you have a laptop that has an Intel processor, then you’ll likely have an Nvidia graphics card.
However, AMD’s GPU line is called Radeon and is still very powerful. There are different options in the Radeon R series, and the R9 is one of the fastest options.
If you decide that you need a more powerful graphics card later on, then you can buy one and install it on your computer.
Battery Life
If you’re going to be using your laptop in different places without an outlet, then you’ll need to consider how long your battery has to last.
Some manufacturers will say that their battery life will last different lengths. Some will only have a few different hours of battery, and others could take up to twelve hours.
If you’re going to be using your computer to go to college or work remotely, you might want to find a laptop that has longer battery life.
RAM
You’ll also need to find a laptop that has enough random access memory (RAM). This will hold the data while you wait for your processor to handle it.
If the processor is like the brain, this is like the waiting room. When your processor or CPU has more power, it can take on more tasks than the RAM had handled.
So if you’re not going to have a good processor, you should make sure that you at least have good RAM. But if you have a good processor, you might not need as much RAM.
In general, 8GB of RAM is enough for the average computer user. However, if you want to upgrade to 16GB, then your computer will run faster and be able to do more intensive tasks like gaming.
Keep in mind that the RAM is one thing that you can’t update after you buy the laptop.
Learn More About Choosing a New Laptop
These are only a few factors to consider when choosing a new laptop, but there are many other factors to consider, like the price.
This can be such a big purchase, and it’s important to do all your research before deciding.
If you’re looking for more research to help you make that decision, check out our website.