Friday, January 2, 1970
Students' Guide to buying a Laptop
As a student a laptop is almost a necessity, but on a budget, choosing the right one for you can be tricky.
If a student only wants a computer for some basic computing, and web browsing, a netbook will probably suffice, and can cost as little as just over $200. Netbooks, are not poweful enough to do advanced computing.
A student who will be doing programming, or design on their computer will need a more powerful computer, with about 4 GB of RAM, or more, and a good processor. If you play PC games, a dedicated graphics card is a must, which will increase the prie of the Laptop.
Something else that a student should keep in mind when buying a computer is the size of the hard drive. If the student likes to download and watch lots of music and videos on their computer, a large hard drive is neccessary for storing it all. If you choose to buy a laptop with a small hard drive, buying a portable external hard drive may be a good idea, to store your media.
Some laptops will come with microsoft office on it, however, most do not. This software costs quite a bit, but if you are willing to spend the money, Word and Excel can be very useful in your studies. A free alternative that is worth considering is Open Office, which is an open source office product. You can download it for free at http://www.openoffice.org/.
Mac computers are becoming very popular now, and for good reason. However, for a student on a budget, buying a Mac is probably not the right decision, because for a much smaller price a student can find a pc that meets all of their needs. Also, buying a Mac does not make sense for a gamer because more games are released for PCs. The cheapest new Mac laptop will cost about $1000, and that includes only 2 GB of RAM, and a 250 GB hard drive.
A typical student will probably need their laptop mainly for word processing (i.e. typing up coursework and documents), watching video, listening to music and surfing the internet. These requirements are fairly standard and don't require an expensive system - you could get a laptop for these purposes for around $300-$500.From http://www.computerlover.com/laptop-computers/best-buy/what-are-the-best-laptops-for-college-students.php
If a student only wants a computer for some basic computing, and web browsing, a netbook will probably suffice, and can cost as little as just over $200. Netbooks, are not poweful enough to do advanced computing.
A student who will be doing programming, or design on their computer will need a more powerful computer, with about 4 GB of RAM, or more, and a good processor. If you play PC games, a dedicated graphics card is a must, which will increase the prie of the Laptop.
Something else that a student should keep in mind when buying a computer is the size of the hard drive. If the student likes to download and watch lots of music and videos on their computer, a large hard drive is neccessary for storing it all. If you choose to buy a laptop with a small hard drive, buying a portable external hard drive may be a good idea, to store your media.
Some laptops will come with microsoft office on it, however, most do not. This software costs quite a bit, but if you are willing to spend the money, Word and Excel can be very useful in your studies. A free alternative that is worth considering is Open Office, which is an open source office product. You can download it for free at http://www.openoffice.org/.
Mac computers are becoming very popular now, and for good reason. However, for a student on a budget, buying a Mac is probably not the right decision, because for a much smaller price a student can find a pc that meets all of their needs. Also, buying a Mac does not make sense for a gamer because more games are released for PCs. The cheapest new Mac laptop will cost about $1000, and that includes only 2 GB of RAM, and a 250 GB hard drive.
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