by Eflex Computers
Buying a new laptop can be a daunting task, especially for the novice user who is faced with thousands of different models, specifications and manufacturers! If you are unsure about the type of system you need, how powerful it needs to be and what sort of budget you need to be looking at then read on.
The first thing you need to do when choosing your new laptop is decide what you will be using it for. Picking the correct laptop for your needs will help you save a lot of time and money and will also ensure you have a system that can cope with your demands. Today’s average user needs a system that can easily access the internet, hence wifi is generally considered to be a must and is normally fitted to most of the laptops you will come across. Wifi is a way of accessing the internet wirelessly from your laptop, meaning you can easily access the net from anywhere around your home and even out and about by accessing wireless ‘hotspots’.
Will you be using the laptop to store music, video and picture files? If so you need to look at the hard drive size. The hard drive is the area of your computer that stores information. A standard music file will take up about 1Mb of space, today’s modern laptops are sold with large hard drives, anything up to around 500 Gb. But do you really need something this big? Speaking from experience I have a hard drive of around 40 Gb which is more than enough for me to save music, games, photos etc. Only the really serious users running large photo editing software, the latest games and saving lots of video files need to worry about getting a hard drive over about 60 Gb.
RAM (Random Access Memory) is another specification you will see when looking at laptops. A simple way of thinking of ram is that it effects how quick your laptop will run and do things. For the basic user who is using the internet, saving pictures etc then you will find 1 Gb of ram to be plenty. Your machine will run general operations with no problems at all. Serious gamers need to opt for a lot more ram to run the latest games.
Need to play music from cd’s or burn your tunes onto one? If you do then steer clear of the laptops advertised as ultra portable or compact. These type of machines are intended for accessing the net and files when you are on the move. The systems are very small and lightweight but as a result don’t come with a cd or dvd drive. Useful and convenient if you don’t need to access cd’s or write your own but impractical if you do!
Now we have established the specification of laptop you need for basic use we can look at the budget you will need. You have 2 options available here. You can opt for a brand new unit or you can look at the ever more popular refurbished units available. Refurbished units are second user machines that have been fully tested and cleaned to restore them to like new condition. They might have some superficial marks or scuffs but will function like new, and can save you massive amounts on the price of a new machine. A good source for refurbished laptops is an online store such as http://www.eflexcomputers.com they offer a range of new and refurbished models and so you can easily see the difference in prices and make your choice based on this.
For a model like the one we have been discussing, 1.7Ghz Processor, 1 Gb RAM, 40-60 Gb Hard drive, you can expect to pay around £350 for a new model, or choose a refurbished model such as a dell d610 for around £200. Happy shopping!
The first thing you need to do when choosing your new laptop is decide what you will be using it for. Picking the correct laptop for your needs will help you save a lot of time and money and will also ensure you have a system that can cope with your demands. Today’s average user needs a system that can easily access the internet, hence wifi is generally considered to be a must and is normally fitted to most of the laptops you will come across. Wifi is a way of accessing the internet wirelessly from your laptop, meaning you can easily access the net from anywhere around your home and even out and about by accessing wireless ‘hotspots’.
Will you be using the laptop to store music, video and picture files? If so you need to look at the hard drive size. The hard drive is the area of your computer that stores information. A standard music file will take up about 1Mb of space, today’s modern laptops are sold with large hard drives, anything up to around 500 Gb. But do you really need something this big? Speaking from experience I have a hard drive of around 40 Gb which is more than enough for me to save music, games, photos etc. Only the really serious users running large photo editing software, the latest games and saving lots of video files need to worry about getting a hard drive over about 60 Gb.
RAM (Random Access Memory) is another specification you will see when looking at laptops. A simple way of thinking of ram is that it effects how quick your laptop will run and do things. For the basic user who is using the internet, saving pictures etc then you will find 1 Gb of ram to be plenty. Your machine will run general operations with no problems at all. Serious gamers need to opt for a lot more ram to run the latest games.
Need to play music from cd’s or burn your tunes onto one? If you do then steer clear of the laptops advertised as ultra portable or compact. These type of machines are intended for accessing the net and files when you are on the move. The systems are very small and lightweight but as a result don’t come with a cd or dvd drive. Useful and convenient if you don’t need to access cd’s or write your own but impractical if you do!
Now we have established the specification of laptop you need for basic use we can look at the budget you will need. You have 2 options available here. You can opt for a brand new unit or you can look at the ever more popular refurbished units available. Refurbished units are second user machines that have been fully tested and cleaned to restore them to like new condition. They might have some superficial marks or scuffs but will function like new, and can save you massive amounts on the price of a new machine. A good source for refurbished laptops is an online store such as http://www.eflexcomputers.com they offer a range of new and refurbished models and so you can easily see the difference in prices and make your choice based on this.
For a model like the one we have been discussing, 1.7Ghz Processor, 1 Gb RAM, 40-60 Gb Hard drive, you can expect to pay around £350 for a new model, or choose a refurbished model such as a dell d610 for around £200. Happy shopping!
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