I have a confession to make… I hate shopping for laptops. I absolutely hate everything about it. If I could just list my problems with the whole process (don’t worry, I’ll stop being so pessimistic in a minute)…
Finding a great price
You could simply go to the electronics store and buy the most expensive thing they have and you’ll probably get a great computer, but not a great price. You could buy the cheapest thing they have, but it probably won’t even be worth the low price you paid. The trick isn’t simply getting a low price or getting a good computer, but getting both, and that takes a little bit of research.
Trying to know whether or not the thing I’m buying is any good
And this is where the research comes in. We all know that, for gaming, you’re going to need around an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a couple gigs of RAM, and preferably an NVIDIA GeForce graphics card, but what about graphic arts and multimedia? What should you get for sound editing?
Worrying about when my laptop is gonna go obsolete
If I just get the bare minimum of what I need, who’s to say the next game VALVe puts out isn’t going to require a computer twice as powerful as my new laptop? I’m already putting off Left 4 Dead until I can get some more RAM!
And now the less pessimistic part…
As much as I hate shopping for a new laptop, I love getting it out of the box and having a new toy to play with, so I’ve devised a simple set of rules for myself to take some headaches out of the process…
Step one- Know what you want
I always write a brief list of what I need from a laptop, in order of importance. I do a lot of gaming and video editing, so I always put that on top. Once you know what you want the laptop to do, look up what you’ll need to make that happen. For gaming, for example, it’s a good idea to just look at the newest game you’re after, look at the minimum requirements, and keep those in mind. You’ll want to do a little better than minimum requirements, but it’s a good starting point.
Step two- Shop around
Don’t be afraid of refurbished and second hand laptops, just make sure you know what you’re getting. Look for the lowest prices and try to get the best, cheapest laptop you can find.
Step three- Be willing to buy low and then upgrade
A cheap laptop won’t be too powerful to start out with, but you can save some cash by starting with a nine hundred dollar laptop and buying a few parts to pimp it out into your ideal system.
And that’s really all there is to it. Know what you want, shop around, and be willing to upgrade. Good luck!
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