Performance
Lag is the laptop owner’s worst nightmare and it’s wise to go for the most powerful model that fits within budget. This means going for a high quality fast processor. Because laptops are smaller than their desktop cousins, they don’t have the room for such hefty processors, nor the fans to keep things cool. There is also a bit of a trade-off between processor power and battery power. Look for computers with Intel Core Duo processors and avoid anything with a speed under 2.0 GHz. Look out for affordable Samsung laptops which will meet most performance requirements.
Multitasking
Anyone who needs to be able to run several programmes at once will need to think about how much RAM to buy because this determines how many applications can work smoothly at the same time. It is vital to get this right first time. While desktops can often be upgraded quickly and cheaply, because they have the luxury of space, laptops are a different matter. It is hard, and not always possible, to upgrade laptop RAM so buy the most RAM possible at the outset as this will enable seamless multitasking. Many laptops come with 4GB of RAM, but try to go for 6GB or more if it is affordable.
Battery power
Storage
Of course, when these four factors have been ticked off, there are a couple of other areas to bear in mind, like portability and good looks, but these should be secondary considerations when choosing a student laptop.
Rashed Khan has an MSc in Software Engineering and is a regular contributor on technology related topics. Rashed is currently guest posting on behalf of IT Solutions expertEquanet.