1. Budget
Think about how much you’re willing to spend on your laptop and how long you intend to use it for. Laptops can range from as low as RM1,000 to RM7,000, and the laptops with the heftiest price tags are more specialty laptops with durable features, or even gaming laptops for that matter.
2. MAC or Windows
Do you much prefer the sleek and exclusive comfort found in a MAC operating system? Or would you much prefer something simple and functional like Windows? A lot of people prefer using a Windows, but there are a couple of softwares and applications that work better with MAC too. Bear in mind that MAC laptops do tend to cost a lot more than most laptops. Take into consideration about what you’re more comfortable with now, but you can always switch it around if you want. If you’re using a MAC, you can still install the Windows operating system into it.
Once you’ve thought about your budget and your preferred platform, it’s time to think about just what you want to use your laptop for. This is where size, weight and features come to play. Are you planning to get one for work where you’ll need to prepare a lot of presentations? Or are you traveling and will need something lighter with more basic features? Or if you’re getting a laptop as a mobile entertainment centre, you’ll need something with quality sound, graphics and power. If you can’t figure it out, think about what you’ll spend most of your time doing on your laptop in a span of eight hours.
What scope do you look for in a laptop? Do you want a standard and basic notebook, an light ultrabook, or a hybrid like a laptop with a touch screen? Standard notebooks tend to come with most of your basic features built-in like USB ports and DVD drives. However, they can often weight quite a lot and take up a lot of your space. Ultrabooks are full-featured but lighter in comparison. And despite the aesthetics, screen quality and good battery life, they’re unfortunately not suitable for high-performance tasks or gaming.
5. Connectivity
How many USB ports do you need on a computer? We may probably need three on average – thumb drive, dongle, mouse. And what about a DVD drive? Do you often purchase movies or music CDs and hope to listen to them on your computer? Take into consideration just how much connectivity you need on your laptop because it will be of convenience to you. Ultrabooks are much lighter than basic notebooks as they lack a DVD drive, so you may have to purchase an external drive if you will end up using a CDs and DVDs often. As for USB ports, get a laptop with USB 3.0 ports as they’re much faster in comparison to USB 2.0.
