Buying Guide For Laptops

We are living in an era where we cannot imagine life without computers. Our present lifestyle requires us to stay connected with work, family, friends, in a nutshell- with the whole world. Laptops address the need for portable computers without sacrificing efficiency and conventional features of a desktop. They also offer power backup that gives them an edge over desktops.

This buying guide will familiarize you with the general features of a laptop, categorize them as per industry norms as well as targeted end-users, thus helping you to choose the right laptop to meet your requirements. You will also get to know about a few indispensable accessories that you should buy along with a laptop.

Who is this buying guide written for?

• Anyone requiring to carry a computer for business or personal use
• First time laptop buyers
• Gamers or entertainment seekers

Why do you need a laptop?
The foremost advantage of a laptop against a desktop is its portability. Be it features or efficiency, laptops these days can match a typical desktop to address almost all of your computing needs. Tablets, on the other hand, may offer higher portability than a laptop but lacks in efficiency and simultaneous multitasking. Thus, laptops offer a very balanced solution for portable computing.

Following is a tabular comparison among laptop, desktop and tablets.

Comparative features	Laptop	Desktop	Tablet
Configuration	Low to high-end configuration available	Low to high-end configuration available	Only low-end configuration in comparison
Multitasking	Highly efficient	Highly efficient	Less efficient
Portability	Highly portable	Not portable	Highly portable
Power backup	Built-in battery for 2-8 hours	No built-in power backup	Built-in battery for 6-10 hours
Input comfort (keyboard, touchpad & mouse)	Fairly comfortable	Highly comfortable	Only mildly comfortable due to single hand operation
Space needs	Needs less space to work on and can free up space when not in use	Needs dedicated work space for various components	Hand-held operation doesn’t ask for specific work space
Data storage options	Hard disk, optical disc (not in ultra-portables), USB drives, memory card	Hard disk, optical disc, USB drives, memory card	Hard disk, USB drives, memory card

See Types Of Operating Systems