Tips for Buying a Laptop Online

Written by:  • Edited by: Laurie Patsalides
Published May 27, 2009
• Related Guides: Dell | RAM

There are a number of tips for buying a computer online that can help you out, no matter your budget. This article will help you discern what important features you need and what's unnecessary for you. It'll also give you a great idea about how to find the best computer deal online.

You Laptop Use

The best tip for buying a laptop online is to consider how you'll use the computer. Each use will be best served by a slightly different laptop. For example, a gaming laptop will be much more expensive and require a much higher amount of RAM and processing speed than a laptop used by a student for work. Look at these different types of uses and think about how you plan to use your laptop. This will help you get the best laptop deals to suit your needs.

Home Laptop

If you're just using your laptop for home use you'll probably want a computer that is either midsized or acts as a desktop replacement. Home laptops are usually used for email, watching videos, burning CDs and hooking it up to your television to watch movies. When shopping for a laptop for home use, you'll get the best laptop prices by sticking to what's important to you. You'll only need a fair amount of RAM, although you should spend a bit more to get a large hard drive and a faster processor. Graphics don't need to be the best because the computer won't be used to run new video games. Look for features that you care about: webcams, a CD burner, and connections that you can use to connect your laptop to your television (such as an HDMI connection).

Here are some of the best laptops for home use:

  • The Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 Laptop is a good home use computer that has a great battery life, a good warranty, back-lit keyboard and is well-built. The computer is also a good value at only $799.99 at Best Buy.
  • The Sony Vaio AW125J/H is the most affordable 18-inch Blu-ray laptop on the market. It's great for watching high def videos and looks great. This laptop has 4 GB of DDR2 memory and weights 8.2 pounds. This Sony Vaio is a great computer for home use or as a desktop replacement in the home.

Student Laptop

A student laptop should have many features in common with a business laptop. It should be completely portable to allow you to take it with you to classes. It should also have an easy to view screen and a long battery life.

This laptop is great for students:

  • The Dell Studio S1535-125B laptop has an HDMI output, 4 GB of RAM, a huge 320GB hard drive and a much better performance for similarly priced laptops. Unfortunately, the Dell Studio is a bit bulky and doesn't have the best battery life. Still, at well under $1,000, this laptop is great for students on a budget.
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