Laptop (Windows) Buying Guide

Screen Size is the measure of the diagonal length of a laptop's screen.

Laptops are available in many screen sizes and they are shown below-

1. 17" (Gaming and Workstation) – This screen size is suitable for Gaming, and high performance applications like 3D Modelling, CAD Design, Video Editing where you need more screen real estate. They are also an ideal desktop replacement.

2. 15.6" (Multimedia and Productivity) – The most common screen size and provides and ideal mix of power and portability. There is a saying - "Go for a 15.6" laptop if you are confused with what size to go", eventhough we cant prove the existence of this line we can certainly vouch the fact that they are the right choice if versatility is the concern. They will suit Gaming, Watching TV, Productivity Tasks and are convenient to carry as they fit most of the backpacks. With that said, they are targeted to users who watch a lot of movies, play games. They are slowly becoming the standard for gaming laptops too.

3. 14" (Portability and Productivity) – This form is suitable for Professionals who need power and portability. They come with processors equivalent to 15.6" and can provide same performance. They are not meant for heavy tasks for a long period as they do not manage heat as efficient as the 15.6" due to their compact size.

4. 13.3"(Portability) – This size is present in ultraportable laptops which are meant for executives who are mostly travelling. This offers the best portability of all the sizes.

One more aspect to note is that bigger the screen, bigger the laptop which means there is more space available for laying out the components which will result in less heat issues. Hence, smaller laptops tend to be more expensive than bigger laptops for the same specifications as they have to be more efficient in terms of heat management.

Bigger sizes (17", 15.6") are designed for performance. 17" will suit workstation, high end gamers and 15.6" will give a more versatile experience. Same goes for the smaller sizes, which are designed for portability, where 13.3" will provide the best portable experience and 14" with a mix of portability and performance.

Screen Size is the measure of the diagonal length of a laptop's screen.

Laptops are available in many screen sizes and they are shown below-

1. 17" (Gaming and Workstation) – This screen size is suitable for Gaming, and high performance applications like 3D Modelling, CAD Design, Video Editing where you need more screen real estate. They are also an ideal desktop replacement.

2. 15.6" (Multimedia and Productivity) – The most common screen size and provides and ideal mix of power and portability. There is a saying - "Go for a 15.6" laptop if you are confused with what size to go", eventhough we cant prove the existence of this line we can certainly vouch the fact that they are the right choice if versatility is the concern. They will suit Gaming, Watching TV, Productivity Tasks and are convenient to carry as they fit most of the backpacks. With that said, they are targeted to users who watch a lot of movies, play games. They are slowly becoming the standard for gaming laptops too.

3. 14" (Portability and Productivity) – This form is suitable for Professionals who need power and portability. They come with processors equivalent to 15.6" and can provide same performance. They are not meant for heavy tasks for a long period as they do not manage heat as efficient as the 15.6" due to their compact size.

4. 13.3"(Portability) – This size is present in ultraportable laptops which are meant for executives who are mostly travelling. This offers the best portability of all the sizes.

One more aspect to note is that bigger the screen, bigger the laptop which means there is more space available for laying out the components which will result in less heat issues. Hence, smaller laptops tend to be more expensive than bigger laptops for the same specifications as they have to be more efficient in terms of heat management.

Bigger sizes (17", 15.6") are designed for performance. 17" will suit workstation, high end gamers and 15.6" will give a more versatile experience. Same goes for the smaller sizes, which are designed for portability, where 13.3" will provide the best portable experience and 14" with a mix of portability and performance.

Processor, being the brain of the computer handles a lot of activities in a laptop and majorly influences the performance. Hence, you will have to take extra care and effort while selecting the best processor for you.

So how do we choose a processor? The answer is to identify our requirements. Processors are manufactured by two companies viz. Intel and AMD. Yearly, they release a line of processor in around 4-5 segments based on their price and performance they offer. Processors come under brand lines like Intel Pentium, Intel Core or AMD Athlon, AMD Ryzen. Below table gives you the various processors and their target market. Whenever you see the specs of a laptop, under the processor you will either see a specification beginning with Intel or AMD. Well, these are the processor manufacturing companies who have the major market share and are the famous two or to keep it simple they are the only ones you will find. Next to look at is the processor model number. This is based on a naming system which basically gives you a general benchmark to compare the processors. An explanation or demystification of the processor nomenclature is as shown below:

Processor specification gives you the year of release, performace offered and extra features that it can offer.

Always go for the latest generation processors as they will be more energy efficient and will be compatible with future and present software. Go for the basic model (i.e i3) if your requirements are basic like browsing internet, watching movies, editing word documents, sending emails, listening to songs. Go for the mid model (i.e. i5) if you want to do sound editing, photo editing, play medium intensive games. Go for the high model (i.e. i7 or i9) if you want to do video editing, 3D rendering, play high graphics games.

Moral of the Story: Select the processor based on the tasks you will perform.

RAM or Random Access Memory is a very vital part of your computer. RAM ensures your computer does not slow down when simultaneous tasks are executed or in simple terms higher the ram better will be the speed of your computer in terms of switching between tasks.

RAM is specified in its capacity, technology, and speed. They are available in 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB sticks. A simple RAM spec would read DDR4 2400MHZ. Here DDR4 is the technology and 2400 MHZ is the speed. Higher the speed of the RAM, better will be the performance. Also a point to note is the number of free slots offered by your Laptop in case of a RAM Upgrade. Laptops may either come with none or 1 to 2 vacant slots. Hence, you will have to check this incase you have plans of adding RAM in the future.

When deciding the capacity of the RAM, you have to see what suits you best. In general, higher the RAM, better will be the performance. But the performance will be limited based on the applications that you use. If you are using your computer for high intensive tasks like 3D Modelling, Video editing, gaming then you will be better off with at least 24 GB of RAM. Go for at least 16 GB RAM if you are using your laptop for medium intensive tasks like image editing, and occasional high intensive tasks. Go for 8GB RAM, if you are using your laptop for basic tasks like watching movie, listening to music, browsing.

Moral of the Story: Higher the RAM, better is the performance

Storage, as the name suggests is the part of the laptop where your files will be stored. The files are taken from the storage to the RAM and then goes to the processor for executing. If you ask us, back in the days (1990's and early 2000's) we would select the storage based on only one parameter which was its size (Ex. 100 GB, 500 GB). But now with the advent of SSD or Solid State Drives which offer very good speeds and has now resulted in one more parameter to choose which is speed. Solid State Drives offer very good speeds compared to normal Hard Disk Drives. It really makes sense to go for a high capacity solid state drive if you are a performance is your choice. You can also opt for a hybrid, where you can have a low capacity SSD (to store the software) and a High Capacity HDD (for standalone files like 3D Drawings, Images, Videos etc) within a laptop. Hence, a medium user can go for a low capacity SSD along with an HDD. A low user can go for an HDD as the demands will be less.

Moral of the Story: SSD Drives give performance and is highly recommended if affordable.

Battery Life is a very important feature if portability is your prime requirement. Higher the battery life will mean that you can work without the need of a charger when you are on the move.

Moral of the Story: Go for battery life of 3 hrs and higher as that will ensure you can have enough time before you find a charging source.

Laptops when are spoilt are very expensive to repair. Also failure of laptop is very uncertain, there is high possibility of laptops failing within 2 or 3 years. This answers our question that there is nothing as an average life for a laptop which makes this very tricky. All laptops come with 1 year warranty. Many laptops provide an option of extending the warranty by 1 or 2 years. It really makes sense to purchase the additional warranty if the laptop you are purchasing is an expensive one. If you fall in the medium or high category, purchase 1 year or if possible 2 years of extended warranty as this will save you a lot of headache later on in case of unrepairable failures.

Moral of the Story: Go for extended warranty of 2 or 3 years if possible, it can save lot of costs incase of failures.

Laptop is made for portability. Heavier the laptop means difficult to move. If we were in the last generation, this feature would be within the top three important feature. Even though the average weight of laptops is less, a difference in half a kg can make a big difference in ease of carrying the laptop. Hence, aim for a laptop whose weight is within the 2.5 kg mark.

Moral of the Story: Go for light laptop if you are always on the move

A laptop with a good build quality will ensure it is safe from vibration, shocks or impacts. This will increase its longevity. Laptop being taken here and there are prone to such issues and a good build quality will ensure the internals of the laptop are safe.

Build Quality is decided by the laptop build material, laptops made of aluminium material are the most sturdy and rank high in terms of build quality. Aluminium-Plastic Mix or Full Plastic is what you will get for mid range and low range laptops. A poor built laptop will make squeaky sounds when pressed at the keyboard or will be easy to twist when done at the screen frame.

Moral of the Story: Aim to get a laptop with the best build quality that your money can buy.

Graphics Card basically handles the graphic computing load of your laptop for example that will be the graphics in the games that you play or the graphics rendering in 3D Rendering Software (AutoCAD, 3DS Max etc). All the laptops come with graphics card, but there is a distinction i.e. you can either have a dedicated graphics card or an inbuilt graphics card.The difference being, the inbuilt graphics card is the card which comes with the motherboard whereas dedicated graphics card is a card sourced from third parties like Nvidia or AMD/Radeon and does not utilize the graphics card that comes with the motherboard. Although in some cases you can have a dedicated and onboard graphics card working together to save power (hybrid mode).

The dedicated graphics card will offer superior performance than the inbuilt one, but due care has to be taken in spotting marketing gimmicks. There are low end types which do not offer much of a performance increase than the onboard one. Hence if you want to have an advantage opt for a medium or high end dedicated graphics card.

Moral of the Story: Opt for medium or high end dedicated graphics card if your requirement is gaming or working with 3D software. Else you can settle for onboard graphics which is more than sufficient.