What Features Should a Person Look For When Buying a Laptop Computer?
Buying a computer can be a long-term investment and, with all of the options in today's market, it can be a daunting task. There are many types and brands of laptop computers available, all with different features. When choosing a laptop, is it important to know what your needs are, and to be aware of what features will help you fill those needs.
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Storage
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Storage is the amount of information that can be placed on the hard drive. Office documents and emails take up very little storage; games, music and movies take up a great deal. For business laptops, even small amounts of storage (by current standards) will be more than adequate, but multimedia producers and gamers may benefit from larger amounts.
Memory
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Memory determines how many simultaneous applications you can run without slwoing down your computer. Again, for business laptops, one which the user is making use of office productivity software, internet and email, large amounts of memory are not required. Games require large amounts of memory, as does productivity software such as that used for encoding/decoding videos. Your choice of operating system may impact your memory requirements. Windows 7 and Vista take a large amount of memory. For these systems, you should try to have 2 GB of memory. For Mac OS, and most Linux distros, 1 GB would suffice, depending on the application.
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CPU
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The speed of your CPU controls the number of simultaneous operations your computer can complete. Each application will request some number of operations per second, so it is a combination of memory and CPU that effect your computer's speed. Encoding video, modelling and working with high-end graphics take a lot of CPU power, as these applications perform many, many operations. Gaming also requires a good CPU. Productivity software is not CPU intensive.
GPU
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The GPU, or video card, affects your computer's ability to render information on your screen. GPUs require memory. Most laptops have GPUs that use your system's memory, but some have their own dedicated memory. The GPU is important for gaming, but not for much else. A low-end GPU meets the needs of most users.
Optical Drive
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All laptops come with a DVD burner/reader of some sort, but there are a few types available. If you plan on watching Blu-Ray movies on your laptop, ensure that is has a Blu-Ray compatible drive. You can also get a Blu-Ray burner, or a dual-layer burner, if you plan on saving movies or large amounts of data to discs.
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References
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