Laptop Buying Guide: How to choose the best laptop

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Whether you are planning to buy a laptop to work from home or attend online classes, finding a good laptop requires proper insight of must-have features and specifications. To streamline your search, here’s a laptop buying guide that can help you identify a laptop best suited to your needs.

Operating system

Choosing the right Operating System (OS) is the first and the most important step when buying a new laptop as it determines the environment you will work in. Therefore, verify that the pre-loaded OS meets your end-use needs.

Windows

Latest version is Windows 11.
Easy to use, intuitive GUI.
An ideal platform for work or study use.
Most devices are Windows compatible.

MacOS

Latest version is macOS 12.5 'Montere'.
Simplified user interface.
Ease of multitasking for robust users.
Less vulnerable to security lapses.

LINUX

Open-source operating system.
Secure to malicious programmes.
Supports wide range of programming languages for coders.
Reliable and does not compromise performance

Tips for buying a laptop

Category	Tip
Screen size	15.6 is standard, but 12 to 14 inches can be more portable
Display type	Pick IPS for great viewing angles
RAM & ROM	4GB RAM or more for multitasking with at least 512GB storage
Battery	Around 8 hours of battery life support

How to determine the storage capacity

More storage capacity helps a laptop perform actions in the background seamlessly. It is always good to have more storage in your laptop to save media files and give enough space to the device to boot flawlessly. Different types of hard drive are:

HDD	SSD	SSHD
Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) offer huge storage size at a reasonable cost per gigabyte.	Solid State Drives (SDDs) provide smooth booting and multitasking performance and are good for thin and light laptops	Solid State Hybrid Drives (SSHDs) offer maximum capacity at an affordable price along with sound booting and loading

How to identify right RAM size in laptop

Larger RAM renders good multitasking abilities in laptops. You can identify the right RAM size for your new laptop, depending on your usage, i.e. office work, casual browsing, or online classes:

Light use	Medium use	Heavy and demanding use
For browsing websites, watching videos online, or doing office work	Intensive usage like photo editing, and run semi-demanding office programmes	Professional gamer, video editing and rendering, working with large number of images, animation and graphic design work
Budget laptop with a decent 4GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage	Core i3 – i5 processor with 4GB to 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage	Core i9 and above, 16 to 32GB RAM and a top-end SSD storage unit

How to choose the best processor in laptop

When it comes to choosing a good laptop, the CPU processor must be considered wisely. The best CPU processor not only offers the fastest speed but also the number of cores.

Features to look for in a new laptop

Now that you know about the most important features that you should look in a laptop before making a buying decision, here are some of the additional specifications that you mustn’t miss out.

USB Port USB Type-C offers speed and functionality	Display OLED screen displays better than real life images	Touchscreen Makes the interface simpler and eases access
2-in-1 PCs Next-gen laptops that can fold flat and even detach for a tablet experience	Wi-Fi Get next-gen Wi-Fi 6 which is faster than the standard 802.11ac Wi-Fi	Graphics Look for a laptop that has a Nvidia Graphic chip