Nowadays, the market is changing day by day, and people are in search of equipment that is cheap, durable, and also having maximum updates. The Indian Laptop market is also booming with numerous brands that have ranged from a few thousand to million rupees. Frankly speaking, there is very little chance to get a full up to date laptop within budget. Yes, you can get a decent laptop on a low budget.
The task to summarize all these laptops was not accessible. We must know about the factors which we kept in mind while distinguishing these 10. You can’t just walk into a store and buy a laptop that the salesman is selling to you without knowing its pros and cons. So, here are twelve things you should keep in mind before buying yourself a laptop.
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1. Budget
Everyone has the purchasing power, but how much can you spend on buying a laptop is what you should ask yourself before purchasing one. For example, if you are a student, your purchasing power will be lower than that of someone who is working and who has a decent salary, right? So after you have decided your budget, you can look out for laptops in that particular price range.
2. Processor
Now, let me explain this to you in layman’s term. The CPU is the central part of a laptop, which defines the speed of processing any task. In short, if you want to multitask on your Laptop you should buy one which has a powerful processor. Otherwise, your Laptop will end up hanging every time you try multitasking on it. Most laptops come with an Intel or AMD CPU brand. Both are decent performers, but Intel is considered more potent than the AMD.
3. Hard Disk Drive
The hard disk drive keeps all your data, including videos, documents, photos, and other system files. Small laptops generally have about 320 GB of space. But, if you have quite a lot of stuff to store, then you should go for a laptop with a hard disk space of at least 500 GB. Yes, depending on your budget, you can also go for laptops with 1 TB storage space. Just make sure you buy a laptop with enough storage space.
4. Screen quality
Since you’ll probably end up staring at your laptop screen hours at a time, you’ll probably want to make sure you get a screen that is comfortable to look at and use.
To start with, you’ll have to consider whether you want your next Laptop to have a touchscreen. These days, touchscreens are ubiquitous, and they can make some tasks more straightforward than others. Unfortunately, they can also add a glossiness to the display, which is sometimes undesirable. Glossy screens lead to reflections, which are a definite negative if you’re gaming, watching content, or editing images and video content.
For these reasons, you might want to consider a laptop that doesn’t have a touchscreen. Next up, be sure to look at the resolution on any laptop you’re thinking of buying. A 1920×1080-pixel resolution (Full HD) should be considered if you want plenty of space to line up windows and keep things in view.
Select modern laptops also now offer 4K resolutions. However, these high-end display panels are generally a costly add-on to an already-expensive product. They’re only really going to be worth it for those who need them, like content creation professionals.
Photographers and videographers will also want to privilege laptops that offer better color accuracy and support full-color gamut and HDR standards over those that don’t. Meanwhile, if you’re a gamer, it’s also worth taking the time to check the refresh rate on the display of any potential laptop. A faster refresh rate can often provide a sometimes provide a competitive advantage in online games, as it enables a smoother and more responsive play experience.
Lastly, viewing angles are extremely important. A laptop screen that touts IPS (in-plane switching) technology offers the widest viewing angles and the best user comfort. Chances are you’re not always going to be using your Laptop in its natural habitat, so a laptop with an IPS display is usually preferred.
If possible, take the time to go into a store and see the screen for yourself. Otherwise, rely on multiple reviews to get a good overview of the product and whether or not its display will be able to suit your needs.
5. Keyboard Quality
For long typing sessions, you’ll need to get a laptop that has a comfortable keyboard. You don’t want to get a keyboard that packs in every key under the sun (think keyboards that have squished in number pads) because that can translate to a reduced overall user experience when hunting for specifics like the arrow or delete keys. You want a keyboard that has a comfortable layout with full-sized keys and some space around the arrow keys. The keys should have adequate travel on the downstroke and snappy responsiveness when you let them go.
Make sure the keyboard is also backlit so that you can type with a more comfortable view on the keys in dimly lit environments.
6. Size
When it comes to laptops, size matters. Depending on what you plan to be doing with your next Laptop, you’ll want to make sure you pick the size that’s the right fit for you. Size isn’t like the RAM or ROM of a laptop, and you can’t upgrade it later. You’re locked into whatever you select up-front, so choose wisely.
Laptops sizes tend to start at 11.6-inches and go all the way up to 17.3 inches. Most brands and OEMs like HP, Dell, ASUS, and Acer tend to offer three display sizes – 13.3-inch, 15.6-inch, and 17.3-inches. However, some vendors do sell laptops that fall outside these sizes, including 11.6-inches, 12.5-inches, and 14-inches.
If portability is your priority, you’ll want to go for a smaller sized Windows laptop. They tend to be thinner and lighter than their larger counterparts. Look for laptops that have a screen that is either 12.5-inches or 13.3-inches in size and weight between 1kg and 1.5kgs.
However, keep in mind that smaller-sized 13.3-inch machines often don’t support the same high-end Intel Core i7 CPUs or discrete graphics cards you’ll be able to find in their 15.6-inch counterparts. Most of the time, they’ll also feature a less-robust selection of ports. If the kind of work you intend to be using your new Laptop requires a larger display or standalone graphics power, you’ll probably need to look at a larger size.
7. CPU
It’s hard to go past any of Intel’s Core-based CPUs when buying a new laptop. You can get Core i3, Corei5, and Core i7. An Intel Core Processor offers the best performance when it comes to multitasking and multimedia tasks. Core i3-based notebooks are generally found in entry-level systems, while Core i5 makes up the majority of mainstream computers.
Core i7-based systems are for those of you who want the best performance from your Laptop. However, note that with a Core i7-based system, heat coming through the base of the Laptop can be cause for concern, especially if you plan to use the laptop on your lap a lot of the time.
8. RAM
In the old days, you rarely needed more than 4GB of RAM or more to get the best out of your system. These days, you’ll probably want to think about 8GB as a minimum. If you’re a power-user, 16GB is the way to go. Meanwhile, gamers should look at dialing things upwards to 32GB if they want the best experience.
More RAM allows for more applications to be run at the same time, and for more data to be quickly accessible by the system at any one time, which comes in handy for tasks such as editing photos or video content.
9. Storage
Hard drives used to be all the rage, but these days they’ve mostly out of favor, especially for thin and light laptops. It is because they can be slow, somewhat bulky, and produce noticeable heat and noise.
A solid-state drive (SSD), on the other hand, offers a lot more speed than a hard drive, runs silently, and can be installed in a form factor that doesn’t add too much to the weight and bulk of a laptop. As a result of these clear benefits, most OEMs have embraced SSD storage as the standard for laptops.
Stick to an SSD for your new Laptop, and you’ll love the speed with which it can load programs, access your data, and also how quickly it can boot up your system.
The only problem is that SSDs don’t offer as much capacity. It means that SSD storage is often more expensive in terms of dollars-to-gigabytes than traditional hard drives. You’ll be stuck with a drive that’s either 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB in size, but costs a lot more than one with a 1TB or 2TB hard drive would.
To compensate, many laptops and PC OEMs now pair a smaller SSD with a larger hard drive. It allows consumers to get the speed benefits of keeping their operating system on SSD storage while also having adequate storage space for the rest of their data.
10. Battery Life
Manufacturer-quoted battery life is rarely indicative of what the real-world experience of using a laptop is like. There are simply too many variables that affect battery life. There is the screen brightness, the screen resolution, the number of applications you have running in the background, plus whether or not you actively remain connected to Wi-Fi networks or Bluetooth devices.
The operating system a laptop runs on can also play a significant role in determining battery life. It’s for this reason that ultrabooks and convertibles running on Chrome OS tend to offer superior battery life than those running on Windows 10.
If you run programs that need lots of processing, stream lots of online videos, play graphics-intensive games, or if you transfer lots of files over a wireless network, then your battery will drain a lot sooner than what the vendor has quoted.
A good practice here is to look at the rating of the battery in Watt-hours (Wh) or milliamp-hours (mAh). The larger these figures are, the longer the battery can last. For a 13.3in Ultrabook, for example, a battery with a rating from 44Wh to 50Wh will give you the best results.
11. USB 3.0
These days, if a laptop has less than one USB 3.0 port on it, you probably ought to look at buying another laptop. Ideally, you should look for a laptop that has at least a couple of these USB 3.0 ports.
In addition to the baseline utility you get from USB ports (which allow you to plug in an external hard or SSD drive and backup your data or use the conventional mouse or a fancy keyboard with your Laptop), USB 3.0 is about ten times faster than USB 2.0. It means that data transfers over USB 3.0 take significantly less time.
Many modern peripherals also tend to deliver the best performance on or require USB 3.0 to function at all. If possible, you should try and take things a step further and go for a laptop with USB 3.1 ports. USB 3.1 allows for a throughput of up to 10 gigabits, double that offered by USB 3.1.
If you’re ready to embrace USB Type-C, Thunderbolt 3 ports offer an even better option. Thunderbolt 3 ports have a peak data transfer speed of 40 gigabits-per-second.
12. Fingerprint Reader
Fingerprint readers are great for logging into mobile devices, and the latest Windows 10 Operating System makes further use of them with its window hello system. People can guess your password, but few can fake a fingerprint. To keep the contents of your Laptop secure, a portable PC with a fingerprint reader is usually the best way forward. People can guess your password, but few can fake a fingerprint. To keep the contents of your Laptop secure, a portable PC with a fingerprint reader is usually the best way forward.
Conclusion
Here was the quick guide for buying the best laptops within budget. I hope you liked it. Please don’t forget to check out our other article “best laptops under 30k in India.” Kindly leave a comment below and also shares it on social media.
If you are interested in even more technology-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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