I’m sure many of you at one point thought about having your own laptops. As you may be well aware, however, they can get expensive fast if you don’t know what to look for or how to understand a good price.
The first, and best, tip I can give you is that if you are going to be doing anything more than web browsing ever, then do not get a Chromebook. Doesn’t matter the brand, doesn’t matter the cost. They are designed to be cheap, and they very much are, with an expected expiration date of less than 4 years. Most peoples phones last longer than that. That is without mentioning they don’t have a track record for being the most well rounded machines. They just use a locked down version of Android after all.
The next thing to look at is PRICE. That may be scary for some of you, but I assure you that if you limit yourself from the get go, you will have a much easier time finding yourself a good fit.
Don’t let yourself think that if its cheap it is ALWAYS garbage and e-waste. While it is often true, it is a gateway into believing quality is only found with a high price tag. That is also often not true either.
Your price limit doesn’t have to be rigid, I.e. “if its above $300 without tax I wont get if.” Its perfectly fine to do that, but a little flexibility can sometimes be the difference between running okay to being a bang for the buck. Try to keep within $100 or 30% of the price you set at if you can, which ever is lower. If you can’t, then that’s even better, because you have narrowed it down pretty well.
Next is a thing called USE-CASE. Basically that just means what you will use it on. Are you coding stuff for a class? Do you intend to play big games (From Minecraft to Redfall)? Will you be doing 3D rendering? All of that should be factored into your choice. The heavier the workload the beefier the laptop needs to be. And that adds up in cost. Bigger workloads may need a faster processor, maybe more cores, faster RAM, maybe it needs more capacity, or even a GPU (and maybe even a high end one). Most people just need a place to keep files, browse the web, and maybe some office work on Excel or Powerpoint. So they won’t need to spend a lot of money on top of the line.
Try to take a look at other things as well. As time goes on, your computer will wear down, it’ll be slower than it was when you bought it, and you may want to buy a new one. This can be attributed to a lot of things, but you need to understand that (unlike smartphones) the computer is not trying to force you to upgrade. Instead, the issue is a lack of RAM or storage and you’re computer is having trouble keeping up. The latest and greatest is DDR5, and that’s expensive. The latest and greatest is NVMe PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD’s, and those linger at around $70 to $120 per terabyte, It is all complicated. Take you’re time, don’t overspend. And if you want something that will last forever, buy a Framework.
It is EXPENSIVE; however, it is also fully upgradable and you can even refuse to buy a SSD or sticks of RAM from them. There are guides and tons of customization. If you want something that “just works,” they have a pre-built version, and any local repair shop will be able to buy a replacement part and fix it for you, rather than something like a MacBook where they will just tell you to buy a new one. The DELL G series is good with that as well, but it isn’t upgradable.
Final Note: RGB should be ignored. If the processor is years old, avoid it.
schsgoldengazette.home.blog 