Time to buy a new custom laptop. Here's 6 important things you need to know.
Whether it’s time to buy your first laptop, or to replace an old one, duly diligent research is in order. The laptop has changed radically, in recent years, and it’s now a completely different device. Here is six important items to keep in mind, before hitting that “buy now” button.
1. Operating system
“Mac Vs PC” was a long time ago. With Google Chromebooks being sold in record numbers, Apple and Microsoft have been working on implementing as much cloud-based functionality in their OS’s as possible, as well as mobile integration.
Microsoft is pushing its cloud services with a strong emphasis on productivity. With Microsoft Office largely integrated in Windows Live services, Microsoft looks determined in its pursuit to compete against Google’s office productivity apps, and offer its users a very good reason to stick with Microsoft Windows.
Windows laptop users have two choices: of a fully fledged Windows 8.1 laptop, with support for legacy Windows apps, alongside Metro applications, or a more cloud-based Windows RT laptop, without legacy support. In other words, if you are looking to run traditional Windows applications, such as Photoshop, you need Windows 8.1. On the other hand, if mobile apps, email and web browsing are all you need, Windows RT will suffice.
Apple has been incredibly consistent in innovating and re-thinking its operating system. The emphasis on desktop-to-mobile interoperability, provides Apple users with a consistent, reliable and productive environment across every iDevice, where work and play mesh together perfectly. Mac OSX continues to provide a slick, beautiful visual experience, and the promise of even more features to be added in OSX Yosemite next year.
2. Form factor
Users who focus on web browsing, social media and other web-based or similarly light-weight applications, might not have a need for a larger screen, or a full-size keyboard.
While this might be true for many users, faster Internet speeds are encouraging more users to stream audio and video entertainment in high-definition, which may play a role in whether the size of a laptop screen should in fact be bigger.
As laptops get more powerful, and operating systems more hardware optimized, power users find themselves reliant on portable computers for high-end tasks, such as photo editing and video production. In such case the need for a good size display and a full keyboard, as well as a large and responsive touchpad, is crucial to get the job done.
3. Performance Vs. Battery life
The primary reason to buy a laptop is because it’s meant to be used outside, off the grid, on the go. Battery life is important, but it’s not all about the battery.
For battery power to last, a laptop must be energy efficient, to eliminate any unnecessary drain. This goes often beyond adjusting power settings, and choosing the right hardware makes a difference, and once again, it comes down to the type of user you are.
Users who rely on apps, and focus on lightweight applications, are typically drawn towards devices featuring a smaller form factor, plenty of speed, and excellent connectivity, for which devices such as the Chromebook, or Microsoft Surface were designed.
As the need for performance grows, so does the need for better battery efficiency. Hybrid hard drives make a difference, as they provide performance as close as it gets to SSD drives, while using less power than traditional SATA drives.
Dynamically switching GPUs also allow for longer lasting battery life, as the system is able to select which graphic hardware to use according to the type of application. For instance, when watching a movie in HD, the system will switch to a more powerful, but more battery-draining GPU. When the movie is over and its time to get back to that Excel document, the system will switch automatically to a more energy efficient GPU.
The ability to switch devices and peripherals dynamically, such as Bluetooth, WiFi or external pointing device interfaces, becomes particularly important when travelling frequently.
The presence of more USB ports often leads to connecting more devices, ultimately drawing more power from the laptop. USB 3.0 has a huge advantage over USB 2.0, in that it can detect when a device does not require charging, which makes the 3.0 standard considerably more energy efficient.
4. Connectivity and interoperability
When Wifi is unavailable, and your phone’s 4G is the only way to connect to the Internet, the ability to transfer files between your laptop and your phone is important. Business users especially, will want to be able to appreciate strong Bluetooth and NFC support, to be able to share files quickly, between their devices.
When Wi-Fi is an option, it often happens that the signal is just too far, requiring a stronger Wi-Fi radio component, such as 802.11-N or 802.11-AC. These two new WiFi standards allow for considerably faster data transfer with greater coverage.
5. Hardware
For netbooks and similar lightweight laptops, storage is hardly an issue, as the focus is largely on speed, battery life and performance. Smaller SSD drives are commonplace in many smaller models, usually in the range of 10GB, which is plenty for a cloud-based environment like Chrome OS or Windows RT.
Smaller laptops with limited requirements can offer amazing speed and reliability, featuring ARM chips, designed to deliver high performance, without draining the battery.
The minimum amount of memory recommended by the lightest cloud-based applications is 4GB, which is enough for any respectable netbook.
Resource-heavy applications often require more space to store files. Many new laptops offer high capacity storage and transfer speeds, with fast hybrid drives, and new and improved SATA drives in the range of 500GB and above.
Higher-end and custom laptops require higher-end processors, which makes it crucial to pick a laptop fitted with advanced cooling technology, able to handle the fastest, most advanced Intel and AMD chips.
Laptop memory for power users can be as much as what the system can handle, but it must also be energy efficient. The best laptops use DDR3 RAM modules, which use 1.5V of electricity, a huge improvement to the older DDR2 RAM, requiring 1.8V to function.
6. Price point
Whether it’s for business or leisure, a laptop is an investment that needs to pay for itself. When comparing laptops, looking into the specs will give you an indication of why similar laptops may vary widely in price.
The presence of an SSD hard drive, for instance, is a big influencer in a laptop’s price tag. SSD drives provide outstanding performance, have no moving parts, and last a lot longer than regular SATA drives, but they are considerably more expensive.
Faster processors can also push the price up quite a bit, as well as higher memory.
High definition video and dedicated graphics often come with a price tag of their own, a high, but fair price for outstanding visual quality and smooth, flawless user experience.
Of course there is always room for compromises. Many of the more affordable laptops feature hybrid technology, offering dynamically managed hardware that adapts to different uses, with limited compromise between battery life and performance..