How to Select Best Laptop
The laptop is a device that many people rely on, especially in the current period, because it is simply a computer that can be moved, and exploit its capabilities to perform multiple tasks, without being restricted to a specific place.
But what is the best laptop? How do you choose a laptop that suits your tasks, and its price is cheap?
Answering this question can be a bit tricky, especially if your knowledge of the technical field is average. Therefore, in this article, we explain to you the most important factors that help you choose the best laptop that suits your tasks and budget.
The process of choosing a laptop differs from the process of choosing a computer , this difference is in several aspects, for example you can choose the motherboard in the computer, this is not available in the laptop, weight is a key factor in choosing the laptop, while it is completely ignored While selecting computer components.
Despite this, the two are similar in many other aspects, this clearly shows during the selection of the power of their components, because the user will choose central processing unit to perform his tasks, whether while choosing a laptop or choosing computer parts.
Now let’s start helping you choose the best laptop for you.
First, factors to be determined before choosing a laptop
1. Usage
You must determine the tasks that you will perform on the laptop, this greatly contributes to reducing the confusion of choice and determining the category that you will start choosing between, and then you can easily choose the best laptop that suits you and suits your needs.
For office use, for example, a medium-powered laptop will suit him, equipped with a processor containing 4 cores and 8 threads, and a cache size of 8 GB.
While a user who plays games or works in video editing needs more powerful components, such as 6 cores and 12 threads, with a cache of at least 16 GB.
2. Category
Determining the use helps you determine the category of laptop that is suitable for you. Each laptop falls into a specific category. This category is determined by the capabilities of the laptop itself, which in turn determines its price.
laptop High-end
It will contain the highest possible technical hardware, the processor cores may reach 8 cores and 16 paths, the temporary memory may be 16 GB or 32 GB, and a powerful independent graphics processing unit, to be valid for most of the tasks performed by any user, but its price is high Extremely.
laptop Mid-Range
It will contain technical equipment suitable for office purposes, and may be suitable for playing some light games, or that do not require large technical equipment.
Often it will contain a processor with 6 or 4 cores, twice the number of paths, with a graphics processing unit integrated with the processor, and an 8 GB cache, and for its price it will be much cheaper than the previous category, sometimes its price reaches half the price of the upper category.
c) Low-End . laptop
It is also called by other names such as economic and office, it contains less technical hardware than the other categories, with a processor that contains four cores or less, and a cache of 4 GB, and it is often small in size and its main purpose is browsing, or doing very simple office tasks.
Note that technical development changes the concept of these categories every period. What is today an economic category was considered a top category a few years ago, and this may change with the emergence of new processors from Intel and AMD, which are expected to be released next year.
3. Budget
After you have determined the category of laptop that suits you, it remains to determine the budget. Determining the budget will prevent you from getting distracted in the search, because it will rationalize the available options to a smaller number, and thus will enable you to choose the best laptop according to your own budget.
Determine the budget that fits your economic capabilities, and consider buying a laptop as an investment. Will the amount you will pay result in a profit or benefit of the same amount or higher?
Some determine the budget before defining the use, but this is up to the user, and for our part, we recommend setting the use before the budget, as the use affects the budget greatly.
In the event that the budget does not fit the available options, it is preferable to wait, because it is better to have the budget available for the required category, to avoid buying an inappropriate or expensive laptop.
Tips for choosing the best cheap and suitable laptop
1. Value for price first
Loyalty to companies is excellent, of course, but it should not be at the expense of the value of their products themselves. Do not look for the best laptop that fits your budget from one company, just because you have a positive buying experience with one of its products, as no company succeeded in making all its devices, or at least You didn’t make a mistake in designing at least one device.
Do not be surprised by the cheapness of some laptops. Some companies use poor manufacturing materials for the device’s body, in order to reduce its cost, but of course it loses other advantages, such as durability, flexibility and good ventilation.
2. Do not buy a used laptop, whatever its price
Do we really need to explain this point? Do you think buying a used laptop is a good deal? Well, there is a lot of information that you should know, and most importantly, there are lies that must be refuted in this matter:
A) Buying a used laptop saves your money
This point is only theoretically correct, but in practice you are buying a used device with old technical capabilities and equipment. This equipment cannot be equal in strength with the newer hardware, so we cannot say that the power of a fourth generation processor is equal to the power of a tenth generation processor, even if it contains Both have the same number of nuclei.
This is because modern technology overcomes the older ones, meaning that the older processor is weaker than the newer processor, even if the latter contains fewer cores, so it is due to many factors, including the accuracy of processing processors, which the smaller they are, the less heat they consume, and thus heat emission. less.
It is worth noting that technology is currently heading towards manufacturing smaller and more efficient processors, which is one of the reasons why the newer processors outperform the older ones, in addition to the technology used in manufacturing, the architecture of the processor itself and the speeds it can reach, which increases with each new generation of processors.
b) Imported abroad, clean use
How can this be confirmed? What is the meaning of clean use, making sure that the laptop is imported from abroad is difficult to determine, it may actually be like that and it may be used locally, and in any case there is not much difference between this and that, with regard to the idea of use.
Any user will use his laptop to work between 6 to 8 hours a day, meaning that the components were exposed to heat and dust, and the processor’s thermal paste often dried out.
This is a serious problem, because in this way it will not be able to cool the processor properly, in addition to the fact that the original battery will never be as efficient in charging.
It is true that the problem of dust and paste can be solved, but it will cost the merchants, so most of them do not mention it, and it is also a point that is not raised by the buyer, although it is a very important point.
If you yourself want to change the thermal paste, you will have to buy a new one, and we do not mean that paste, which costs a few pounds, because the latter does not serve the purpose in the first place, especially with the laptop.
You will also need to be a very experienced user to clean the laptop from dust, or change the paste, because both processes are very complex and you may end up breaking or damaging one of the parts of the laptop during disassembly and installation, or sending it to a maintenance store to be dismantled and installed for a sum of money.
The problem of dust and paste greatly affects the performance of the laptop, and this is something that can be confirmed by asking any of your friends who own a laptop that has been a few months old, because heat generally affects the performance of the processor, which in turn leads to a slowdown in the performance of the entire laptop.
Unlike all the previous problems, there is the biggest problem, which is to make sure that the laptop has not been repaired before, no matter that this is difficult to verify with any electronic device, it is the most difficult for a laptop, because discovering the repair process requires opening and checking the laptop by a professional, which the seller will not allow you to do.
To illustrate the seriousness of the idea, it suffices to say that there is a temporary repair process for the GPUs, this process is done once in the event that the unit is damaged in a certain way, and if it is damaged again (which is very possible), you will have to replace the entire unit, and buy a new one .
Now imagine the following: You bought a used laptop at a great price, but you didn’t know that the GPU was repaired before, and the seller didn’t tell you about this (of course), and gave you a month to test and replace (note the word replacement and not return), after a month the laptop broke down Top, and upon examination it was found that the GPU had to be replaced.
This is not a fictional story, this is a story that happens to a large number of users, the details may vary, and of course it does not happen to everyone who buys a used laptop.
But the bottom line is that this process contains a lot of risk, and you may end up losing a large amount, as it was possible to buy a new laptop with stronger capabilities.
c) The possibility of changing or increasing the temporary memory and storage space
This is a feature found in almost any laptop. On the contrary, there are old types that cannot be changed because the temporary memory has been soldered to the motherboard.
Also, finding a temporary memory unit for a used device may be difficult, and most importantly, it may be expensive, because it may be rare and has been discontinued, in the case of DDR3 or DDR2 generation.
Volume swapping is available on any laptop as well, but the difference in modern devices is the motherboard’s support, either through its BIOS, or through the storage port itself.
More clearly: Any SSD storage that supports SATA connection, and supports reverse connection, that is, if the unit works on SATA 3 system while the entrance of the unit works on SATA 2 system, the unit will work without problems, but it will not benefit from SATA 3 speed in reading and writing data .
In other words, replacing the storage unit in a used laptop is actually possible, but it will not work as efficiently, unless the unit is compatible with the connection port on the motherboard, and this is something that most sellers do not mention.
3. Do a company search
The major laptop manufacturers are:
- Apple
- Dell
- HP
- Lenovo
- Acer
- Asus
- Huawei
- MSI
Buying a laptop made by Apple needs its own article, because its design and operating system are very different from what we are talking about in this article, not to mention that its price is high.
Therefore, we recommend that the subject of your research be the previous companies except for Apple, but what is the subject of the research? Well, let your search be about what distinguishes the products of these companies, and what is wrong with them as well, and what are the latest new products they have, and the best ones.
The prevailing opinion about any HP laptop is that it overheats significantly, this is something I have personally noticed, and many users worldwide have complained of the same problem.
Lenovo products are said by some that the material is not the best, but they offer great value for a relatively cheap price.
Note that any successful company addresses its defects quickly. This means that any defect that many users complain about, the company will try to avoid its presence again in the new devices.
4. Find the advantages and disadvantages of the laptop you have chosen
After searching in general for companies, you should search specifically for the laptop you have chosen, are there common problems with it? In terms of heat, performance, or something else?
It is important to watch more than one live review of it, read articles about it, do not make a choice unless you know all the advantages and find that they suit you, and you know all the disadvantages, and make sure that you can bear them throughout the period of your use of the laptop.
5. Consult your friends and acquaintances
Everyone has some experiences, especially when it comes to a popular device such as a laptop. Benefiting from the experiences of your friends and acquaintances is important, and you may not benefit from technical information, but you may benefit from them in knowing which stores offer good discounts, or after-sales service that suits you, Or even whichever one offers free shipping.
But if you have a friend who is interested in technology, do not forget to consult him before buying, he may have a piece of information or two regarding the timing of the purchase, or he can change your mind completely regarding what you need from the capabilities, or how to choose the best laptop in general.
Technical and practical aspects of choosing the best laptop
One of the worst drawbacks of any laptop is its limited ability to update its components, which results in careful thought while choosing its technical specifications, so that you do not end up buying a laptop that does not meet your requirements, and fails to perform the tasks you bought it for after a short period of time.
So you can follow the following tips while choosing laptop components, or buying higher components, in the end it depends on your current use, and how it will develop in the future, and the available budget factor is also important.
Note: In this section, we will cover tips and recommendations regarding a number of important components and components of a laptop.
1. Processor
The power of the processor you need is directly proportional to the tasks you perform, the more your tasks increase, the more powerful you need a processor, for choosing a suitable processor that you can rely on for a good period of time. We recommend no less than a processor with 6 cores and 12 threads.
For the average user, a processor with 4 cores and 8 threads will be a very suitable processor, but for a limited period of time, so if you have a habit of changing the laptop every three years or less, we recommend buying a processor with 4 cores.
But if you mainly depend on the laptop and change it every 5 years or more, it is better to buy a powerful processor that fits your budget.
Multiple cores and paths is important in the idea of multitasking, because it means that the processor will handle several tasks running simultaneously without any shortcomings in performance. You can browse, listen to music, and deal with Word and Excel files without feeling slow.
The speed of the processor is also a factor that must be paid attention to, whether in its basic speed or the speed it reaches in the event of stress, because it is aware of its ability to perform tasks faster.
2. Temporary memory
We do not recommend ever buying a laptop that has a cache memory less than 8 GB, higher than that is preferred of course, but its use will be related to tedious tasks and playing games.
In the past it was possible to run a large number of programs with less cache, but now even Internet browsers such as Google Chrome eat up the cache space, it is enough to open a few tabs and you will find that 4 GB of temporary memory is fully occupied.
Antivirus software also takes up a fair amount of memory, other than what the operating system from temporary memory to function properly.
You should also pay attention to another important point about the temporary memory, which is its frequency, which is preferably not less than 2400 MHz or more, which is determined in advance based on the support of the processor and the capacity of the motherboard.
3. Weight
This is a laptop factor, and frankly, this factor may concern some users more than the processor power and temporary memory space. What is the benefit of a laptop with strong capabilities, but its weight is close to the weight of an ordinary computer?
As a user, you chose to buy a laptop because it gives you freedom of movement by carrying it and moving with it. If you choose a heavy laptop, you have lost a large part of the basic features.
Choose a laptop that weighs in the range of 1.2 to 1.5 kilograms, you can find out its weight from the manufacturer’s website or from its box, and the most important thing during the selection is is its weight suitable for you?
Can you carry it and walk it with in addition to its charger for a while? Backpacked or in reality?
The appropriate weight of the laptop varies from one user to another, but it is an important factor, especially if you do not own a car and have to walk carrying the laptop.
4. Temperature
The temperature of the laptop is an important factor that should not be overlooked, no matter what the temperature of the room you are working in. Its performance, specifically the performance of the processor, which will have to reduce its performance to reduce its temperature.
Do not buy a laptop fan because it does not reduce its temperature significantly, other than its sound, which is often loud, or use a room with an air conditioner to reduce the temperature of the laptop, but rather choose a model carefully designed to deal with heat.
You can watch reviews of this laptop on YouTube, to find out what the maximum temperature it can reach under pressure.
5. Volumes
The main purpose of the laptop is to perform tasks, and the presence of an SSD storage unit helps to achieve this, especially if the system is installed on it, and used to install basic programs, because it provides a speed that an HDD cannot reach.
So it doesn’t matter if the laptop you have chosen has an HDD or not, the important thing is that it has an SSD, which may not be available except in some devices, but it will provide you with a fast and smooth performance.
Most of the laptop copies that are produced at the present time contain a single SSD-type storage unit. As for the copies that are sold to Arab countries, they often contain two units, an SSD model for installing the system and basic programs, and another HDD model for storing files.
6. Motherboard
The features of the laptop motherboard are very limited, and knowing it is almost very difficult, because in general you cannot control it or choose it individually, but there are a few features that companies add that are useful in the event of an update.
In my personal opinion, the most important of these features is that the temporary memory modules are not soldered in their ports. This provides freedom for the user to remove these modules, and install modules with a larger area or better frequencies, as long as the processor and motherboard allow this.
Another important feature is a place for an additional M.2 storage unit. For some reason you may want to increase your storage space, and here instead of removing a unit and installing another in its place (which can be complicated and difficult not to mention the file transfer process), you can add a new volume in the empty space that the manufacturer added in the motherboard.
7. GPU or GPU
The presence of an independent graphics card in the laptop depends on the tasks of the user, the user who plays games will need this unit, as well as the user who does the work of editing videos or photos.
But there are several pieces of information to take into account:
- Most laptop CPUs have an integrated graphics card.
- The integrated graphics card is weaker than the standalone graphics card.
- The standalone fee card increases the price of the laptop.
Accordingly, you as a user will pay a large amount of money if you choose a laptop that has a separate graphic card, so be sure to buy a laptop that contains it only if you are doing tasks that require a strong independent graphic card.
Also, know that the integrated graphics processing unit depends on the laptop’s temporary memory, and regardless of whether the graphics card memory, whether integrated or independent, is not considered the main factor on which the card’s strength is measured, its strength is measured by the number of processing cores in it and the speed of the card itself in Graphics processing, which is measured in gigahertz.
You can find all the information you need about the graphics card through the official website of the laptop or the website of the manufacturer of the graphics unit.
Note, however, that laptop units are not nearly as powerful as desktop units, as the latter are often more powerful, but the performance difference may be in the range of 10 to 15 percent less.
8. Battery and charger
It is important to know the battery capacity of the laptop before buying it, because it is designed to work without electricity for a period of time, and you must make sure that the time that the battery allows you to work is an acceptable period for you and commensurate with your use.
It is also important to know the availability of the battery and the charger in the local markets and the ease of finding them, because you like it or not, you may need to change one of them at some point, and often it will be the battery, it is important to know the availability of the two in the market.
9. Warranty
Any electronic device is prone to malfunctions, that is understandable. There are malfunctions that result from manufacturing defects, which the warranty is supposed to take care of, whether by return or repair, or any procedure that guarantees you your right as a consumer, and does not force you to pay amounts for maintenance resulting from a defect that did not occur because of you.
And frankly, the warranty is one of the reasons that drive many users to buy a new laptop, and to stay away from buying used ones.
10. Operating system
In the past, having the operating system installed on a laptop increased its price. This was due to many factors, including the difficulty of installing the operating system for the average user, the high price of the original operating system disc, the lack of the ability to install the system without an original disc, and finally the lack of free operating systems .
But all this has changed recently, as there have become a large number of free operating systems, the price of activating operating systems has decreased in general, and there are discounts and coupons that reduce the price of its activation, and sometimes activated operating systems are given free of charge to students and workers in certain companies and bodies.
It is worth noting that the famous Windows 10 system can be used for free, without buying a special key for it, while getting the same performance as the activated version, so no additional amount should be added to the laptop because of a pre-existing operating system on it.
In order to save your money, you can buy a laptop that does not contain an operating system, and then download the Windows operating system on it, because it is available free of charge through the Microsoft website, and you can later buy an activation key for an amount that may reach $ 10 during the periods of sale and holidays.
11. Screen
There are three main factors that you should pay attention to regarding the laptop screen:
- the size.
- display resolution.
- screen type.
The size depends on the size of the laptop as a whole. There are types of laptops that have a small size, such as the Notebook category,
These sizes may have a screen size of 11.7 inches.
The normal size is 14.5 inches, which is not a full size. Note here that the laptop screen controls its size, and therefore the size of the laptop whose screen is 14.5 inches, is smaller than the normal size, and because of it the Num buttons are dispensed to reduce its size.
We can say that the normal size of the laptop is 15.7 inches, which contains a full keyboard, there is also a 17.5-inch laptop, but it is intended for professional uses, such as professional gamers and professional content makers.
The size controls the accuracy greatly, a 14-inch laptop often provides a lower display resolution than a 15-inch laptop, while 17 inches provides a higher display resolution, and of course this is due to the technical hardware of the laptop.
Screen type is important. Some users interested in design tasks will need a VA screen, as it provides the most accurate color tone possible.
For playing games, it is preferable to choose a TN screen, because it provides a high response speed, and for performing simple design tasks and playing games, it is preferable to choose an IPS screen, as it provides an appropriate response rate and good colors.
12. Ports
You must specify the number and type of ports you need, of course any laptop will have more than one USB port, but what about the USB Type c port? Also, will you connect the laptop to a projector? You will need a VGA or HDMI port. The Memory Card Reader is also important, especially if you are dealing with cameras and photographic equipment.
To avoid forgetting, it is best to write down everything you will connect to your device, so that you can know how many ports and outlets are necessary for you.
13. Touch
The touch feature is no longer exclusive to phones, there are several types of laptops that also contain the touch feature. It is true that it is found in more small-sized devices, such as devices that have a screen size of 12 inches or less.
But they are found in larger devices as well, but they are expensive and will not be found in an economical laptop. In other words, do not buy a laptop that has a touch feature unless you want it and need it to perform certain tasks, not for entertainment, for example.
Conclusion
The decision to buy an electronic device is not easy, and the laptop is of course no exception, but the answer to the question of how to choose the best laptop is easy, if you follow the tips and instructions that we mentioned in this article, and think of it as an investment, and like any investment you should think about Accurately, to reach the best decision at the lowest costs.
Do you have a laptop? Have you had a buying experience that you think might benefit others? Share with us the tips that you think it is important to follow while answering the question of how to choose the best laptop?
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