Laptop Buying Guide: Important things to consider when buying a laptop

Compact enough to carry around, yet versatile enough to be able to carry out various tasks, a laptop is the best device to carry out official work, play games or even watch movies. While standalone tablets and smartphones are pretty popular, a lot of people realize that everything from typing a document to watching a video to playing a game works better on a laptop.So what type of laptop should you get?
Laptops are available in an array of sizes, prices, types and so on, which makes choosing the right laptop a difficult task. Thus, there’s a need to figure out what your needs are.
Here are some of the parameters that should be considered while buying a laptop:
Price
Currently, an average usable laptop is available for under Rs 15,000, but if you broaden your price bracket, you can get a system with a lot better build quality, performance and a display. Here is a break up of what you can get for each price range.
Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000: The least-expensive laptops are either Chromebooks, running on Google's browser-centric OS or low-end Windows systems with minimal storage and slower processors. These are ideal to be used as secondary device or for kids.
Rs 20,000 to Rs 42,000: For well under Rs 42,000, you can get a laptop with an Intel Core i5 or AMD A8 CPU, 4 to 8GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive, all respectable specs. However, at this price, most laptops don't have an SSD, a full-HD display or long battery life.
Rs 42,000 to Rs 60,000: As you go above Rs 42,000, you'll start to see more premium designs, such as metal finishes. A lot of brands have also started to add features as you go up the price ladder, including higher-resolution displays and SSDs.
Above Rs 60,000: At this price range, expect laptops that are more portable, more powerful or both. Expect higher-resolution screens, faster processors and possibly discrete graphics. The longest-lasting and light ultraportables, like the Apple MacBook and the Dell XPS 13.
Size
Like in a lot of cases, size matters a lot in terms of laptops.
Depending on what you have to do with the device, you should pick the size that’s the right fit for you. Size is not like the RAM or ROM of a laptop, which you can upgrade later on.
In general, a laptops size normally starts from 11.6 inches and go up to 17.3 inches. Most brands like Dell, HP, Acer and others tend to offer three display sizes - 13.3-inch, 15.6-inch and 17.3-inches. However, if portability is your priority, you’ll want to go for a smaller sized Windows laptop. They tend to be thinner and lighter than their larger counterparts.
However, do keep in mind the fact that smaller-sized (13.3-inch) laptops often do not support the same high-end Intel Core i7 CPUs or discrete graphics cards you’ll be able to find in their 15.6-inch counterparts.
Screen quality
The chances of you staring into the screen of your laptop are way higher than anything, thus you’d probably want to make sure you invest in a screen that is comfortable to look at.
To start with, you’ll have to consider whether you want your next laptop to have a touch screen or not. Nowadays, touchscreen laptops are pretty common and also they can make some selected tasks easier. Moreover, they can add a tinge of glossiness to the display, which is sometimes undesirable. Glossy screens lead to reflections, which are a complete no-no if you’re gaming, watching movies or editing images and video. In such scenarios, you might want to consider a laptop that is not a touchscreen.
After which, be sure to look at the resolution of the laptop you’re planning to buy. A 1920x1080-pixel resolution (Full HD) should be considered if you want plenty of space to line up windows and keep things in view. The modern laptops now offer 4K resolutions and these high-end display panels are a little costly add-on to an already-expensive product.
Mostly, photographers and videographers will also want to possess laptops that offer better color accuracy and support wider color gamut and HDR standards over those that don't. Also, if you’re a gamer, it’s also worth taking the time to invest time and money on the display of any potential laptop. A faster refresh rate can often provide a competitive advantage while playing online games, as it enables a smoother and more responsive play experience.
Lastly, viewing angles are super important. A laptop screen that features IPS (in-plane switching) technology offers the widest viewing angles and the best user comfort. There are possibilities that you will not be using your laptop in its natural habitat, so a device with IPS display is preferred over the opposite.
Keyboard quality
For those long tiring typing sessions, you need a laptop that has a comfortable keyboard. You certainly do not want to have a keyboard that packs keys with squished number pads. Pick a keyboard that has a comfortable layout with full-sized keys and enough space around the keys. The keys should have adequate travel on the downstroke and snappy responsiveness when you let them go.
Do make sure the keyboard also has a back light, so that you can type with an easier view on the keys in dimly lit surroundings.
CPU
It’s hard to go past any of Intel’s Core-based CPUs while picking the right laptop. An Intel Core Processor offers unbeatable performance when it comes to multitasking and other multimedia tasks. Core i3-based laptops are normally found in entry-level systems, while Core i5 makes up the majority of mainstream computers.
Core i7-based systems are best-suited for those who want ace performances from your laptop. However, it needs to be noted that with a Core i7-based system, heat coming through the base of the laptop can be a cause for concern, especially if you like to keep the laptop on your lap for longer hours.
Some big laptops also have Intel's i9 Core processors. Laptops running on i9 Core processors are a lot more powerful than laptops having i7 Core processors. They're able to rival desktops for performance but they do come with a significantly-higher cost than a laptop with an i7, i5 or i3 Core Processor.
RAM
Some years back, there was hardly any need for RAM more than 4GB to get the best out of the system. But these days, you probably consider 8GB as the minimum requirement. If you’re a power-user, 16GB is the way to go. Meanwhile, gamers should look at dialing things upwards all the way to 32GB if they want the best experience.
More RAM allows for more applications to be run at the same time, and for more data to be quickly accessible by the system at any one time, which comes in handy for tasks such as editing photos or video content.