Points to choose perfect laptop - Honest Laptop Buying guide in 2016

Before I start, I want to make sure that I go for performance devices rather than bulky brand based lazy ones .Laptops can be useful for people in many ways, for travelers and professionals who cannot afford to waste space on PC.Before continuing make sure that you keep away all the superstitions that advertisements have infected you with.

Let me tell you one thing first, you have to make sure what type of laptop you are going to choose, The way you are going to use your laptop, as a gaming machine, 'business partner', video editing station, programmer,etc. The configuration required may vary.
We value the device by its performance rather than its brand name.Why should you give your hard earned money for the person who pretends to sell "value for money devices"??

Well I'm not going far, lets get into details

First thing to look out for is obviously

• Built Quality

Any good laptop can only succeed if it can last longer under any use. Only High quality materials use in manufacturing will render good stability. Many manufacturers try to use plastic panels for body as a price cut measure. We see HP and similar reputed manufacturers coming up with best performance hardware but low quality. Such laptops can soon prove to be a waste.

Opt for aluminium or brushed aluminium body for more rigidness and stability.also touch-pad can be deceiving as many don't work as promised. In my personal opinion Asus touch-pads have more comfort and has good response. Laptops with good quality can be felt in hands while using the for some time.So I would recommend, after a small research online, go down to the nearby computer store. Using some laptops on live demo can help you to understand which suits you best.

• Display

Choosing a display depends on the use. A Gamer or a video editor will opt for high resolution vibrant displays. But common people doesn't even care about extra pixels as long as it bright enough.Laptops mainly comes under three standard sizes. 14.1 inch, 15.4 inch and 17 inch. 17 inch screens are not really meant for portability, They are meant to be workstations.
The Apple released their macbook air in 13.3 inch display, allowing it to be portable.14-15 inches is the sweet spot for display. For daily use small screen is an advantage. but for gamers and professionals big screen is a must.

When it comes to resolution, good resolution means more clarity. A 15-17 inch laptops must have 1440x900 pixel resolution. Meanwhile a 11-14 inch should possess a 1200x800 pixel resolution at least.

There are Widescreen and standard display sizes, For laptops widescreen is preferred over standard size as they are useful for multitasking on windows 8 and windows 10.

Note for Professional gamers: Go for TN panel Rather than IPS as they can easily render high frame rates. this can be helpful in counter strike or online multiplayer games.

• Operating System

Operating system is platform on which you work, so its crucial to choose wise. If you think you are not going in as a hardcore user,make sure that you settle on the windows 8 or higher options. This is also applicable for business oriented users.
A programmer or web dev  has to options like choosing a DOS laptop or going the hard way (backing up windows, installing linux, then reinstalling windows...$$)
An original windows installed system will ensure easy future updates, but is cumbersome for developers.

OS X is a different story, once you are a professional, it can give good advantage, but if you are still in the intermediate mode or learning, OS X can become a burden. Many softwares are not supported on it. During conferences or workshops, this can easily lead to compatibility issues.

• Keyboard

Regarding keyboard on laptops, my personal best choice is chiclet keyboard. Keys should have proper spacing between them. The best laptop keyboard I could find other than apple was that of Asus. You can easily work on such keyboards with comfort.

Back-lit keyboard have huge advantage over others. Using laptop in dim light conditions can prove that to you. If you can get laptop equipped with one, get it.

• Processor

Processor is a very crucial component for laptop or a smartphone."It decides the amount of lag you are going to face in future. ;D". There are mainly two brand, INTEL and AMD. In Indian market, AMD comes under the budget category. they perform good, but people do prefer INTEL over AMD.

For an Average performance, you can choose any series between i3 or i5 though i3 can be a low performer. i5 and i7 processors do not vary much in the budget prices.

If you Intent to go for mainstream computing, you should make a note of the series they come with.It is not the generatino of processor, but the numbers. for example, i7-6200U is a laptop oriented processor, but does not offer very high performance when compared to i7-4720HQ.
Make a note of the last letters in the series.They mean a lot.

Also keep in mind that new ultrabooks come with intel m-series processors that are low in power and less in dissipation of heat.

AMD processor are coming in the market with Asus and HP in the 30 to 50K price range. Sure they are good performers and they can do basic stuff like web surfing, editing, etc.

• RAM

Simple words, go for the highest in your price budget. There is DDR(Double Data Rate) which shows the class of memory integrated circuits used in respective computers. Latest technology goes for DDR4. Most common now is the DDR3. 

For Video editing, go for the sweet spot, 8GB. For gamers I would recommend 8 or more gigs for advantage. Ultrabooks in lower price range supports 4 gigs which is pretty enough for its use.

Also most laptops offer an option for upgrading the RAM.

• GRAPHICS CARD

Only people who go for graphics intensive softwares or games need to really care about this.

The Video Card or Graphics card can be a huge matter when it comes to video editing or gaming or huge performance. AMD and NVIDIA are the main manufacturers of video cards. The primary vote always goes for NVIDIA these days.For NVIDIA, they release a series of graphics cards for different purposes.

For Laptops, NVIDIA graphics cards come with a 'm' at the end, which means lower perofmance with lower power requirement than their non-'m' counterpart.

As an example of 900 series, performance increases manifold as,

GT910M <GT920M <GT930M <GT940M <GTX950M <GTX965M <GTX970M <GTX980M etc.

The GTX means higher gaming level performance which comes only in high performance laptops. While their GT video cards can come in budget laptops as well.

NB:IF you intend for gaming, never rely on inbuilt graphics, it can prove disastrous. Always choose a laptop with dedicated graphics card.

Thats pretty much it. consider all these factors in accordance with your budget. IT affects the specifications of your laptop a lot.

IF you have any Queries or Suggessions ,feel free to comment in the section below...

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