HOW TO CHECK LAPTOP CONFIGURATIONS BEFORE

PURCHASING

ARTICLE BY: SAFEBYTES SOFTWARE

HOW TO CHECK LAPTOP CONFIGURATIONS BEFORE PURCHASING

IN THE PAST OWNING A COMPUTER MOST LIKELY MEANT A DESKTOP PC FOR THE AVERAGE USER. LAPTOPS OR OTHER PORTABLE-STYLE PCS (SUCH AS THE COMPAQ PORTABLE) WHERE NOT ONLY VERY EXPENSIVE BUT ALSO PORTABLE ONLY IN THE SENSE THAT THEY COULD BE MOVED FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER WITHOUT MANY ISSUES, BUT THIS DIDN’T MEAN THAT IT WAS EASY TO CARRY AROUND BY A SINGLE PERSON.

IN THIS ASPECT WE ARE SPOILED. NOWADAYS WE ARE PROVIDED WITH MANY OPTIONS WHEN CHOOSING A LAPTOP; THEY ARE UNDOUBTEDLY LIGHTER, EASIER TO HANDLE AND OPERATE GENERALLY BETTER THAN THEIR ANCESTORS. THIS OF COURSE BRINGS US BACK TO THE OLD QUESTION: “WITH SO MANY OPTIONS WHICH ONE DO I CHOOSE?”

WELL HERE ARE A FEW ITEMS TO LOOK OUT FOR:

BRANDS: BRANDS FOR LAPTOPS ARE LIKE BRANDS FOR CARS WITH ONE VERY IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE: “THE COMPONENTS OF A LAPTOP COULD BE THE SAME ACROSS SEVERAL BRANDS.” SOME OF THE BEST KNOWN BRANDS RIGHT NOW (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER) ARE:• DELL• HP• APPLE• LENOVO• ALIENWARE (A SUBDIVISION OF DELL)• COMPAQ (A SUBDIVISION OF HP)• ACERFOR EXAMPLE, AN HP PAVILION AND A DELL INSPIRON MAY BOTH HAVE INTEL I5 PROCESSORS, OR SHARE THE SAME BRAND OF RAM. YOU WILL FIND THAT SOMETIMES THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAPTOP X AND LAPTOP Y ARE IN THE DETAILS RATHER THAN THE INSIDES.

To give you an example; HP laptops are known to have very good battery life compared to a Dell laptops, but the latter has better heatsink and airflow design, which keeps the laptop itself cooler when in use.

Of course, one big difference between manufacturers is the price, which differs greatly depending on many factors but in the end it comes down to this:

Which brand you buy depends mostly on preference, familiarity or positive word of mouth, but it’s always good practice to hit your favourite search engine and make some quick comparisons not only of the hardware but also of the options and extras that each manufacturer is throwing in to sweeten the deal.

With that being said, let’s go over some of those components so you have a good idea of what they do and what they might cost, starting with Operating systems.

 

For the purposes of this article we will cover the 3 most used Operating Systems (referred to as OS):

Microsoft Windows

Apple OS X

Linux based Ubuntu

1-MICROSOFT WINDOWS: (THE MOST USED OS IN THE WORLD). WINDOWS BENEFITS FROM THE MOST WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FOR ANY AND ALL APPLICATIONS: AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING AND MANIPULATION, VIDEO GAMES, PRODUCTIVITY AND PROGRAMMING SUITES AND ENTERTAINMENT. ITS EASE OF USE AND SIMPLICITY IS WHAT MAKES IT THE TOP OS IN THE WORLD. IT IS CLOSED SOURCE SOFTWARE.

ON THE DOWNSIDE, NEW RELEASES TEND TO BE BUGGY AND REQUIRE MULTIPLE FIXES AND PATCHES AT FIRST UNTIL THE OS IS STABILIZED AND SOMETIMES THIS CAN TAKE MONTHS. TAKE FOR EXAMPLE THEIR MOST RECENT VERSION WINDOWS 10.

2-APPLE OS X: (SECOND MOST USED OS IN THE WORLD). IT IS THE OPERATING SYSTEM THAT COMES WITH EVERY APPLE DESKTOP OR LAPTOP. IT IS SLEEK, FAST AND VERY EASY TO USE, WHICH MAKES IT ATTRACTIVE TO QUITE A LOT OF PEOPLE. WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO DESIGN, RECORDING OR MANIPULATION OF MEDIA (AUDIO/VIDEO), OS X COMES VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED SINCE IT HANDLES THESE TASKS WITH EASE. IT IS ALSO A CLOSED SOURCE PIECE OF SOFTWARE.

OS X SUFFERS FROM THE SAME PROBLEMS THAT WINDOWS DOES WHEN IT COMES TO NEW RELEASES, AND THE LATEST VERSION HAS BEEN WIDELY REPORTED TO CONTAIN SEVERAL SERIOUS BUGS. THIS IS THEIR MOST RECENT VERSION 10.11 “EL CAPITAN”.

3-UBUNTU: THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT LINUX-BASED OPERATING SYSTEMS, BUT THE MOST USED DISTRIBUTION AMONG END-USERS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT UBUNTU. FLEXIBLE, FAST AND EASY TO USE. UBUNTU IS EVERY BIT AS CAPABLE AS OS X AND WINDOWS WITH THE ADDED BENEFIT THAT IT IS BETTER AT UTILIZING THE HARDWARE THAN EITHER OF THEM.

UBUNTU, AS ARE OTHER LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS IS OPEN SOURCE, WHICH MEANS THAT ANYONE IS FREE TO EDIT, ADD OR DELETE PARTS OF THE CODE THAT MAKES UP THE OS, WHICH LEAD TO IMPROVEMENTS, REFINEMENTS AND UPDATES FOR FREE.

ON THE DOWNSIDE, UBUNTU IS NOT USED AS MUCH AS WINDOWS AND OSX WHICH MEANS THAT IT DOES NOT HAVE A LOT OF THIRD PARTY SUPPORT FOR SOFTWARE, SUCH AS ADOBE’S CREATIVE SUITES. THIS MEANS THAT USERS ARE FORCED TO EITHER USE EMULATORS FOR SAID PROGRAMS OR USE THE OTHER OPERATING SYSTEMS. THEIR MOST RECENT VERSION IS 15.10 WILY WEREWOLF.

 NOW, ON TO PROCESSORS:

RIGHT NOW YOUR BEST BET FOR A TOP OF THE LINE PROCESSOR ARE EITHER AMD OR INTEL.

AMD PROCESSORS ARE KNOWN PRIMARILY FOR THEIR CHEAPER PRICES (THE LEAST EXPENSIVE AMD PROCESSOR SELLS FOR AROUND $35-40, WHILE INTEL’S EQUIVALENT SELLS FOR $45).

AMD IS ALSO KNOWN FOR BETTER INTEGRATED GRAPHICS (INTEGRATED GRAPHICS RELY ON A COMPUTER’S RAM INSTEAD OF A DEDICATED VIDEO CARD).

HOWEVER, THIS IS WHERE THE DIFFERENCES END, AND IN ALL HONESTY INTEL HAS THE CLEAR ADVANTAGE ACROSS THE BOARD OVER AMD, SUCH AS:

• HIGH END GAMING.• POWER EFFICIENCY (TRANSLATES TO BETTER BATTERY LIFE).• OVERALL PERFORMANCE.• HANDLING OF VIDEO AND AUDIO EDITING.• BETTER AT HANDLING INTENSE WORKLOADS.

IN SHORT, FOR A BUDGET, AMD IS NOT A BAD CHOICE, BUT INTEL IS DEFINITELY THE WAY TO GO IF MONEY IS NOT A PROBLEM.

STORAGE: WITH TRADITIONAL HARD DRIVES THE THINKING GOES ALONG THE LINES OF “THE MORE SPACE, THE BETTER”, BUT THERE ARE, HOWEVER, SOME CONSIDERATIONS TO THINK ABOUT WHEN DECIDING IF BIGGER IS REALLY BETTER:

• THE DENSITY OF BITS STORAGE ON THE CIRCULAR PLATTERS—CALLED AREAL DENSITY.• THE SPEED AT WHICH THE PLATTERS ROTATE—CALLED RPM.

IN TERMS OF THE FIRST ASPECT IT COMES DOWN TO ONE THING: MORE DENSITY EQUALS BETTER PERFORMANCE. THIS IS BECAUSE DATA THAT IS CLOSE TOGETHER PASSES THE READ/WRITE HEAD OF THE DISK FASTER, WHICH LEADS TO FASTER DATA RATES.

FOR THE SECOND ASPECT, IT COMES DOWN TO WHAT THE RPM (REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE) OF THE DISK DRIVE IS. THE HIGHER THE NUMBER OF RPMS, THE FASTER THE DISK CAN RECOVER THE DATA THAT IS STORED IN THE DRIVE.

There is however, a new type of hard disk available on the market, though it is still in its infancy: The Solid State Drive, or SSD. Solid state drives do not have moving parts like conventional drives, which makes them faster and less prone to errors or malfunctions due to movement or accidents.

SSDs are generally faster and more reliable than HDDs, but are considerably more expensive (a 1 Terabyte SSD costs $350, while a 1 Terabyte HDD can cost as little as $50). It is highly recommended to go with a hybrid of both in order to obtain the best value for money at the moment. We will continue with laptop buying tips in part II!