Mistakes to Avoid when Buying a new Laptop

A laptop is a big investment. They are a fusion of fashion meeting functionality; form meeting efficacy. To buy a laptop requires care and research, like buying a car or a new TV. No matter your lifestyle or your job there is a laptop for you. Here is our useful list of common mistakes people make when buying a laptop and our tips on how to avoid said mistakes and a lot of wistful regrets.

Mistake 1 to Avoid: Buying a laptop with 4K resolution

Ultra HD, 4K as it is more commonly known, is great and it is the future. However, you experience diminishing returns on small screens. Yes, over 200 pixels per inch is great on a large 70" TV but scaled down to a laptop in the 13-15.6" range is not worth it. Many laptops have not properly mastered scaling anything over this size and legacy Windows apps are displayed according to dimensions based upon pixel size, so everything will appear tiny out of the box with a 4K screen.

The human eye can only detect so much resolution and on laptop sized screens 4K content is almost indistinguishable from 1080p, the usual HD resolution. To truly appreciate 4K content you need a screen at least 30", so 4K makes sense on a computer monitor or a TV, but less so for a laptop.

Battery life is also a concern with higher resolution. Higher resolution means a brighter backlight is needed to display the content, which means much higher power consumption. A model like the MacBook Pro with Retina, which is designed around the screen, is an exception to this - boosting decent battery life. For most other models across all brands with 4K you should see a dramatic improvement in battery life by reducing the resolution to 1080p - averaging over an hour, maybe even two of extra battery life when unplugged!

Mistake 2 to Avoid: Buying according to one spec or component

We are all guilty of paying attention to one specification above all others. Most often it is RAM or hard drive or SDD size. A machine that has 16GB of RAM tells you nothing about its other components, and more is not always better. RAM is cheap and often unused unless you work with some major software. 8GB is plenty good for most people, and if you know you need more you can often upgrade the RAM yourself.

When purchasing a new laptop you need to consider the battery life, resolution, processor speed, the CPU architecture, drive size, RAM and more. A machine that does everything good is much better than a machine that does one specific task great. What is better than reading the specs of a laptop is reading actual performance reviews. The same hardware running different operating systems or different software can have impressively different performances - running on the exact same hardware! Consider the laptop as a whole when buying one as opposed to focusing on one specific component.

Mistake 3 to Avoid: Ignoring I/O

This is very easy to overlook but is beyond important. The input and outputs (I/O) of a computer are crucially important when it comes to performance. Pay attention to the ports you know you need when buying a new laptop.

A newer USB 3.0 Type-C port might not recognize your USB 2.0 devices, namely the external hard drive you have. What about HDMI? Consider what you want to be able to do from your machine and then verify that you have those ports. The trend with current laptops, namely Apple, is to remove as many ports as possible, forcing you to use a Thunderbolt 3 port.

Save yourself a lot of headaches by paying attention to the I/O ports on any laptop. Look at the very least for multiple USB ports and HDMI.

Mistake 4 to Avoid: Buying the cheapest model

When it comes to buying on a budget, look at the top end model and work down till you are within your price range. The performance change when going from quad-core processors to dual-core is significant and noticeable with even the most basic of computer usage.

Also, consider a laptop to be an investment for your future self, future-proofing is the term. The tech world changes rapidly and certain technologies and ports are only mainstream for so long before, inevitably, a newer faster, better version comes along. Give thought to where you will be in a couple years and buy for then. If that means waiting another year for a machine that is twice as expensive as your current budget, well it is worth the wait. Consider that the more expensive, future-proofed laptop could easily last you four to five years while the cheaper one could die or become unusable within two years.

Make a list of the components and specifications you want to have and then look for a machine that matches your list. If it is too expensive then consider waiting a little longer, your future self will thank you for the dramatic performance increases you have.

Mistake 5 to Avoid: Buying the most expensive model

A fool and their money are soon parted and while the most expensive models of laptops undeniably have the best and most modern hardware, you will not always notice the performance. Assuming all the hardware works and the software is well-supported, only a small minority of people will truly need the crazy amounts of performance in a top of the line machine. For the average user, the true power of your laptop will forever be idle.

Also, consider the Touch Bar on the 2016 MacBooks. Much hype surrounding a feature that ended up being controversial and difficult to master, if it was used at all. Sure, it is shiny and new, but that alone does not make something good, or even desirable. Technology that is truly great will trickle down into lower priced models soon and then you know you will be paying your hard-earned money for functions you want and use.

We at PC TEC RESCUERS want to keep our readers and customers informed of all the trends and news in the rapidly changing tech world. Our friendly techs are available for you 24/7 to help you with any computer or printer or smartphone issue that may be vexing you!