Decoding Specifications Jargon - By: Jim Brown

Choosing a laptop is not the same as choosing a fridge or an oven wherein you’ll only consider your space/area and on whether it is within the budget allotted. Going through tons of brochures and hand outs may lead to confusion and cause you to buy the mediocre one. Some laptops are dressed for form and may fail in performance and some are otherwise. Manufacturers are even cross marketing their gadgets by putting car emblems on their machine so probable consumers can associate it to the car. But is it really necessary? Here are some factors you should consider in choosing a laptop:

WEIGHT

The questions would be... Are you a frequent traveler? Would you always be bringing your laptop with you, either at work, to the office or even on vacation? If you answered yes to all, then you should buy a laptop that is light and compact. But mind you, weight and size is indirectly proportional to its price-the smaller and lighter the machine will be the more expensive it can get. You may also sacrifice the optical drives on the small ones since it is difficult to fit everything on such a tiny object.

THE PROCESSOR

This is the trickiest part since this is the part that has the most numbers in the lot. If your main use of the machine is for graphic intensive work such as playing 3D games, graphics lay-out or video editing, chose the latest and the highest number. Since the processor is the heart and soul of your machine, choose it wisely. Some supplementary parts may depend on the processor itself. But if your only use for your laptop is for desk works such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and some card games plus you are on a tight budget, it would be best to check out the previous models. Computers upgrade its technology every three months and you might get a good deal on a prior model.

MEMORY

Always choose the highest number since a laptop’s RAM is the hardest and one of the most expensive peripherals to upgrade. Though a typical unit may have one more extra slot for an upgrade, typically RAMs should be paired of the same capacity to avoid incompatibilities and system freezing.

STORAGE

Always maximize your storage capacity since hard drives are one of the fastest computer items to be obsolete and some CPU boards can only maximize its performance on certain a capacity level. It can lag on a new hard drive that has a larger capacity. At times it is even more expensive to buy a lower capacity hard drive since it is difficult to find and only a handful of it is available in the market.

OPTICAL DEVICES

Combo drives are common in most laptop bundles. These are DVD/DVD Writer/CD/CD-Writer drives that are designed to read and write the two disc formats. It is a great advantage for laptop owners since with the combo drives available you will need only one optical drive for the two discs.

BATTERY

Check if the battery of the laptop has a specification of a Lithium Ion Battery, since these types of batteries don’t retain memory. This is more of a "charge anytime" type of battery. Go for a larger ampere hour rating to maximize the mobility of the machine-it is the number that precedes the mAh suffix.

About the Author

James Brown writes about Allume Systems discount codes, Family Savings Outlet coupon codes and GoToMyPC online coupons

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