BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO LAPTOP SHOPPING

Gavin Dudley is the editor of Tech Magazine, which focuses on helping non-geeks get more out of their personal electronic gadgets

No matter the size of your budget, here are the key features to look out for in every new laptop.

WEIGHT

The most useful laptop is the one you have with you. Bulky laptops travel a lot less. If you’re expecting to carry your laptop all day, then make sure it weighs less than 2kg. Laptop portability is a central issue, and a few hundred grams either way does make a big difference.

SCREEN

Big screens use much more battery. Small screens of about 12 inches are hard to work on for more than an hour or two, while 17-inch screens make for very bulky laptops. Most people need screens around 15 inches. Many quality laptops now offer OLED

Docking

screens, which have richer colours and use less power.

PORTS

Some peripherals still need to be plugged in. Whether it’s a flash drive, a printer or a mouse and keyboard, you need a decent set of ports. At a minimum you will need one traditional USB-A port, and one smaller USB-C port. Shoot for the high-speed USB 3.2 standard on the former, and make sure that the latter doesn’t double as the power plug.

MEMORY

The bare minimum is 4GB of RAM. Apps will run, web pages will load, and videos will play, but slowdowns and delays are inevitable. More realistic is 8GB if you want to work efficiently, jumping between several apps and opening dozens of browser windows.

Storage

A solid state drive (SSD) is now a must-have on any new PC. Unlike traditional laptop hard drives the SSD has no mechanical parts to wear out and malfunction. It’s a bunch of memory chips that work much faster than any hard drive. Laptops with SSD boot up in seconds, run quieter and feel faster.

Keyboard

Keyboard feel is a bigger deal than you might imagine. Your typing style will eventually adapt to whatever you’re using, but if you can find your preferred laptop model on display in a shop, then give the keyboard and trackpad a go. Backlit keys are useful for typing in darkened auditoriums.

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Working hunched over your tiny screen and keyboard for hours on end will make you less productive and will seriously impact your physical health. Work smart and budget for a full-sized screen, keyboard and mouse. Plug all these into a USB-C hub for one-plug docking convenience.

CAN I GET A CHROMEBOOK?

Chromebooks are laptops using ChromeOS, a lightweight operating system from Google. The biggest limitation is that they require you to be connected to the Internet most of the time. Otherwise, they are considered more affordable and also more secure than Windows and are used in many schools.