What to look for in buying a new laptop??

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stu28

273 posts

Ultimate Geek

#237895 22-Jun-2018 16:12

I currently got an Acer Aspire V3-571G laptop that I have been using since August 2012.

As my laptop battery has died and the dvd rom has given up…, it’s time to look for another laptop.

As it has been a while since I looked for a laptop what sort of things should I look for in buying a new laptop? And what should I avoid??

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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#2042516 22-Jun-2018 16:17

Really depends what your requirements are.

Do you need a laptop or will a tablet or all-in-one be a better solution? If you carry something around a lot clearly something lighter is better. If you want to charge things on the go then USB-C PD charging support and a USB-C Powerbank will be handy.

Senecio

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#2042524 22-Jun-2018 16:47

As above. Start by writing down what you want it to do. Then understand the difference between chromebooks, tablets, all in ones, entry laptops to high end laptops. Select which category best meets your needs and then narrow down based on specs, value for money aesthetics or whatever else is important to you

wellygary

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#2042530 22-Jun-2018 16:55

If you are able, make sure its SSD based,

Iit will improve your experience so much you will wonder how you ever lived with spinning disk storage....

gzt

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#2042575 22-Jun-2018 18:34

Definitely get SSD. If Windows then avoid anything with less than 4GB memory. What is your budget for replacement?

stu28

273 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2044868 27-Jun-2018 16:41

gzt: Definitely get SSD. If Windows then avoid anything with less than 4GB memory. What is your budget for replacement?

A few people have said to me about getting a laptop with a SSD, but all the laptops I have seen that have a SSD, the SSD size has been quite small, the biggest SSD I have seen is 250GB.

This laptop I currently have has 750GB, so I cant see in getting a laptop that has a smaller hard drive.

You say "avoid anything with less than 4GB memory", Would a laptop with 4GB be OK?

My budget is about $1,000 or less.

stu28

273 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2044871 27-Jun-2018 16:45

Some of the laptops I have looked at have had shared graphics.

Is it better to get a laptop with shared graphics or its own graphics card?

I will be using the laptop for editing photos, graphics, video editing, watching videos, moves etc...

stu28

273 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2045691 28-Jun-2018 17:22

Some of the laptops I have been looking at have both a SSD drive and a normal HDD.

Would that cause any performance issues?

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yitz

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#2045700 28-Jun-2018 17:53

stu28:
Some of the laptops I have been looking at have both a SSD drive and a normal HDD.

Would that cause any performance issues?

It shouldn't, but you'll want to avoid installing programmes onto the HDD partition.