Buying a laptop computer is a major investmentand at the same time it can become a complicated decision, since we will have to take many things into account, and this can end up overwhelming us, especially if we are not well versed in the subject and our budget is somewhat limited.
Power or mobility, and why not both? Dedicated or integrated graphics card, and what screen format and resolution do I need? Is it worth investing more in a premium model? These are just some of the questions that may come to our minds in the moments prior to the purchase of our laptop, and I know that answering them is not at all simple, since in the end everything will depend on the specific needs of each user.
A few months ago we shared with you a guide dedicated to review six mistakes we should not make when buying a gaming laptop. That guide was well received, but I know that some of our readers have a preference for traditional laptops, and so today we are going to leave you with a guide that follows that same approach, but focuses on laptops that are not specialized in gaming.
The five mistakes that we are going to discover in this guide will help you to have clear the basis you need to get it right when buying your new laptop.and will also allow you to give advice and help to others who also have doubts when buying their new laptop. As always, I will try to offer you a simple, close and enjoyable approach so that you can all take advantage of this guide, and I invite you to leave any questions you may have in the comments.
1.-Choosing a laptop looking only at the short term
It is one of the most frequent mistakes, and one of the most serious. I know that the normal thing when we are going to buy a laptop is to think about what we need at that moment, but this. can lead us to make a bad purchase. I know many cases of people who bought a laptop without a dedicated graphics card and with only 4 GB of RAM because they were going to use it only for web browsing and multimedia, and just a year after buying the computer their needs changed and they outgrew it.
I am the first who understands that we can’t see the future, but when choosing a laptop we should think about what we need today and what we will need a couple of years from now.because at the end of the day we are not going to be changing laptops every year, unless you have money to spare and are willing to waste it in this way.
You may not want to game today because you’re focused on your studies or work, but could this change in the short to medium term? Will you be tackling some major project in a year or two that requires more power? These two questions will help you to make a better decision, so don’t hesitate to ask them before buying a new laptop, and take the time you need to answer them in a precise and well-reasoned manner.
Buying a laptop that is below what we are really going to need is a major problem, but So is buying a computer that is way beyond our needs.We will be paying for something that in the end we will never really get value for money, so keep both possibilities in mind when making your decision.
2.-Buying an unbalanced notebook
Marketing operates at a level that many people still can’t even imagine. One of the best examples can be found in those laptops that have a component that stands out a lot for the price of the equipment, but that completely mismatches the rest of its specifications.. Think, for example, of a laptop that comes with an Intel Core i7 processor or a Ryzen 7, which are very powerful solutions, but only has 8 GB of RAM, or comes with an SSD of only 128 GB or 256 GB.
Another of the most common imbalances, and which are more difficult to identify, affects the quality of the display. It is more common than it seems to find laptops that come with a good level of specifications, have a low price and come with an IPS panel. At first it sounds good, but then we may be totally disappointed to see that the color reproduction of the panel is very poor, or that the brightness it offers is very low.
These types of strategies “fill the eyes” of the consumer by showing attractive specifications that make us think it is an excellent purchase, but in reality they are only present because the laptop has been seen noticeably cut back on other features of great importance.
Even if you end up always prioritizing certain components as the ones that will best fit your needs, think that, in the end, a laptop with little storage, with a poor quality keyboard, with little RAM or with a very small SSD will end up negatively affecting your user experience.and that is why you should always look for a minimum balance.
3.-Limiting ourselves to prioritize only power or weight.
Choosing a laptop giving absolute priority to one of these three keys will almost always be a serious mistake. It may make sense in some very specific cases to choose a computer focusing entirely on power, such as if we are just going to move it from one place to another, or on mobility if we are going to carry it with us and we are going to move with it daily for hours, but even in these cases it makes more sense to make certain compromises.
Very powerful and heavy equipment will be very uncomfortable to move, and at the same time it may even be dangerous to expose it to long or complicated trips, because due to its dimensions and weight it could end up being damaged more easily. On the other hand, its autonomy will be very low, and we will have to always be tethered to a plug.
With very light equipment we will be able to move around effortlessly. If it weighs 900 grams or less we will hardly notice that we are carrying it, and if it uses low-power components we will enjoy a high autonomy and we can use it for hours without having to worry about finding a plug. However, if we have made significant sacrifices in terms of power it is likely that its performance will end up being insufficient, and will not allow us to work at the pace we really need, which in the end will weigh down our productivity.
The ideal is to prioritize the value that best suits us, but without completely disregarding the rest. For example, if we need an ultraportable and the most important thing for us is mobility, we should opt for a device that weighs 1.5 kilograms or lessbut depending on the use we are going to give it we will have to balance the power level.
Continuing with that example, if we only want it for web browsing and multimedia it would be enough with a basic configuration and 8 GB of RAM, but if we are going to use more demanding applications it is essential to mount at least 16 GB of RAM and a powerful processor. Nowadays there are very powerful low-power processors that also have very competent integrated graphics, such as the Ryzen 7 6850U, for example, which has a TDP of just 15 watts and features an 8-core, 16-thread Zen 3+ CPU.and a Radeon 680M iGPU, capable of outperforming dedicated graphics cards such as the NVIDIA MX450.
4.-Not giving the display the importance it deserves.
The screen is one of the most important components of any laptop. Our interactions with the equipment will depend on it, and a large part of our user experience. If we make a mistake with the screen size, with the resolution and/or with the quality of the screen, we will have made a terrible purchase, and we will have a laptop in our hands that will give us a lot of displeasure.
I know of cases of people who have been carried away when they saw a small-sized laptop thinking that “it was very cute”, and that moving and working with it was going to be a very comfortable experience. I am talking about models of 10-inch and 11-inchtwo formats that fit in with the concept of the ultralight notebook that prioritizes mobility, and that have value in the hands of very specific user profiles, but are not recommended for the majority of people.
It’s very easy to understand, think how terrible it would be. to work every day with a dwarf 10-inch screen.and keep in mind also that this Will affect the size of the keyboard and touchpad. On the other hand, screen resolution also determines the viewable and working space offered by a computer, so combining a small screen size with a high resolution is not a good idea (neither is doing it the other way around, i.e. joining a large screen and a low resolution).
Working with a laptop smaller than 13 inches will be very uncomfortable, and buying a laptop with a resolution lower than 1080p is not recommended at all. At the other extreme, 17.3-inch screens can be a good option for working with two windows in parallel, and also for enjoying multimedia content and games. In these cases, the ideal is to opt for 1440p resolution.
The quality of the screen is a topic we have already touched on above, and it can make a huge difference. Laptops with TN panels are a poor choicebecause they start to look bad if we do not look at them from a frontal position (their viewing angles are very poor) and because the color reproduction they offer is inferior to that of VA and IPS panels.
5.-Not thinking about the quality of construction.
A notebook is going to be under considerable stress, not only because of the use it is going to receive, but also because of the continual movements it will have to face. With this in mind, it is easy to understand why we should give importance to its build quality, and to the resistance certifications that the equipment has received before going on sale.
It is true that, normally, the build quality is determined by the selling price of the equipment, but. this is not always the case. I have tested equipment with a price of almost three thousand euros that were worse finished than others with a price of just over a thousand euros, so be very careful and do not get carried away by the sale price, as this has long ceased to be synonymous with a premium finish.
The aluminum has become one of the most widely used materials in the notebook sector, and this is understandable because it is light, offers good resistance, has a good feel to the touch and does not shoot up the selling price too much. In premium equipment there is an important leap forward and it is normal to find alloys of aluminum and magnesiumor even with carbon fiber in some cases.
The quality of the materials used in a laptop will affect the sensations that it will transmit to us with use, to. its structural strength and also to its weight, so we must take this into account. On the other hand, military-grade resistance certifications also represent a value to be taken into account, since they indicate that the equipment we are buying has passed tests of drops, jolts, shocks and cycles of intensive use. (opening and closing the lid, for example).
I understand that when we are on a tight budget we should give priority to hardware and display quality, but whenever possible we should also take into account the build quality of the notebook we are going to buy, and we do not have to neglect it to buy a little more powerful equipment if that extra power is going to be small or if it is not going to make an important difference in our experience of use in the medium or long term.
If you have doubts about the quality of the laptop you are going to buy is a good idea to turn to stores that allow you to make returns within two weeks, so you can try it out and make sure that it really fits what you need, and that the equipment meets your expectations. Don’t get blindly carried away by the price, because as I have already said the fact that a laptop is expensive is no guarantee of anything nowadays.
