Are you shopping for a New Laptop?

My old Panasonic Toughbook laptop is starting to show signs of age as it tries to keep chugging along with the latest software and also the fancy web sites.  What did I expect with a 900MHz processor and 512MB of RAM?  So I gave my laptop another chance as it helped me research the Internet for its successor.  What I found were some things to consider whether you just want to surf the Internet, or you need a good laptop for school, or you want to play the latest video games. 

Surf the Internet
You really could use my laptop for this.  Just don’t try to open up more than 3 instances of your favorite browser.  Seriously, you could consider any low-end, new laptop on the market today.  If this is you, I would suggest getting the biggest monitor, RAM, and hard drive combination you can afford.

Back to School
If you’re going back to school or maybe you need a little more horsepower to stream videos or do programming, consider the Intel Core i3 or Core i5 processor as the minimum.  You can save money by going with the 1st generation of these processors.  Depending on what you’re comparing, it’s not a lot of savings.  You can save a few dollars or up to about $100.

Video Games!
You’ll need some good power for this so go with an Intel Core i7 processor with dual graphics capability.  You could get away with an i5 processor but it will need to be the 2nd generation.  Usually games are graphics intensive so don’t skimp on the graphics capabilities.  In addition to the built-in Intel HD Graphics, get a laptop that has a second graphics card by NVIDIA or by ATI.

Now that you’ve done your homework and have narrowed your choices to a few laptops, here are some things to consider to hopefully help in your decision-making.

Windows or Windows?
The title isn’t a mistake.  Look carefully at the operating system loaded on that laptop.  Is it Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional?  The professional version does cost more.  It has advanced networking features, network backup capabilities, and remote desktop capabilities.  These features may or may not matter to you but if they do make sure you get the right one for you.

Hard Drive RPM
It’s safe to say that the faster the hard drive spins the faster it can get the info you’re looking for.  Laptop hard drives are normally 5400 RPMs.  If you find one that is the same size but is 7200 RPMs or higher, give that laptop an edge in your final decision.

Who needs Reliability?
If you’ve purchased what ended up to be an expensive paper weight, you know what I’m talking about.  Currently ASUS and Toshiba have the least issues with their laptops.  This doesn’t mean they don’t have issues.  If they rest on their laurels, they could easily be one of the worst since the competition is right on their heels.  You may have had great luck with your Lenovo, Dell, or Sony laptop.  You also may have received one of the few lemons from ASUS.