Laptop Buying: Short, Sweet, and Simple.
Basics of laptop buying. The bigger the number, the better it is.
It would appear that size does matter, after all.
Things you need to know before continuing.
- Ram: How fast your laptop will do things, more or less.
- You need at least 2 GB, and probably not more than 8 GB, gamers aside.
- Processing Power: Mostly how strong your laptop is. Also, it effects how fast tasks will be done.
- 2 GHz should be the minimum for you. Anything less will feel sluggish unless it has a Solid State Drive. Over 3 GHz is probably overkill.
- Battery Life: Technically, it’s a factor. But really, who even cares? With power outlets so prevalent, it’s really pointless to worry about battery life in most situations.
- If you travel a lot, long battery life may be nice. Otherwise, don’t worry too much.
- Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: How much it’ll hold. Pictures, movies, music, games, etc.
- 2 GB is equal to about 400 songs, or 500 pictures, or 1 movie. Aim for 500 GB if the laptop will be your only computer, or go ahead and invest in 1 Terabyte Hard Drive.
- 2 GB is equal to about 400 songs, or 500 pictures, or 1 movie. Aim for 500 GB if the laptop will be your only computer, or go ahead and invest in 1 Terabyte Hard Drive.
- Screen Size: How much viewing real estate you have, and how big it generally is for bag purposes.
- Most people enjoy the 14″-15.5″ range. Larger can get clunky, much smaller and it may be too little.
- Wow Factor: The bonuses and/or special-ness of said laptop.
1. Acer Chromebook 11
($154)
Ram: 2 GB (weak)
Processing Power: 2.16 GHz (decent)
Battery Life: 8.5 hrs (good)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 16 GB (real weak)
Screen Size: 11.6″ (small)
Wow Factor: Super cheap.
Who it’s good for: Frugal people who just need something to watch Netflix, check Facebook, and generally play around on the web. It’s essentially a powerful tablet with keyboard attachment.
Who it’s not good for: Anyone who wants to game, multitask, download large files, and the like. Not a great option unless you have a desktop to do work on.
2. ASUS 15.6-Inch Intel Dual-Core ($240)
Ram: 4 GB (kinda weak)
Processing Power: 2.16 GHz (decent)
Battery Life: 6 hrs (decent)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 500 GB (good)
Screen Size: 15.6″ (a bit large, but nice when Netflixing)
Wow Factor: Pretty cheap, and a fair bit more functional than your average Chromebook.
Who it’s good for: Frugal people who need to be able to work with Microsoft Office and iTunes along with their Netflix and Facebook.
Who it’s not good for: Students who need reliability and anyone else who solely relies on their laptop. It’s cheap, but not very capable beyond the basics.
3. Toshiba Satellite 
($256)
Ram: 4 GB (kinda weak)
Processing Power: 2.16 GHz (decent)
Battery Life: 5 hrs (weak)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 500 GB (good)
Screen Size: 15.6″ (a bit large, but nice when Netflixing)
Wow Factor: Still pretty cheap. Not much difference between it and the ASUS beyond brand.
Who it’s good for: Frugal people who need to be able to work with Microsoft Office and iTunes along with their Netflix and Facebook.
Who it’s not good for: Students who need reliability and anyone else who solely relies on their laptop. It’s cheap, but not very capable beyond the basics.
4. Toshiba Chromebook 2
($309)
Ram: 4 GB (kinda weak)
Processing Power: 2.16 GHz (decent)
Battery Life: 9 hrs (good)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 16 GB (real weak)
Screen Size: 13.3″ (average)
Wow Factor: It’s a fancy Chromebook, with decent RAM and a long battery life. Looks sharp too.
Who it’s good for: Those who want a more reliable Netflix and Facebook toy without having to spring for a tablet.
Who it’s not good for: Anyone who wants to game, multitask, download large files, and the like. Not a great option unless you have a desktop to do work on.
5. Lenovo G50 ($350)
Ram: 6 GB (good)
Processing Power: 1.9 GHz (a little below average)
Battery Life: 5 hrs (weak)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 500 GB (good)
Screen Size: 15.6″ (a bit large, but nice when Netflixing)
Wow Factor: Relatively inexpensive, has a decent amount of speed though it won’t power through much.
Who it’s good for: Student’s who need to do some work, and don’t mind sacrificing a bit of glam and processing power. You won’t be able to watch Netflix and work on Excel and send emails all at once, but you can do each individually pretty well.
Who it’s not good for: Anyone who needs a multitasking powerhouse, or a sleek profile.
6. Toshiba Satellite Laptop 
(Powerhouse Edition. $570)
Ram: 8 GB (pretty good)
Processing Power: 2.2 GHz (good)
Battery Life: 7 hrs (decent)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 1 TB (great)
Screen Size: 15.6″ (a bit large, but nice when Netflixing)
Wow Factor: For the storage and ram, it’s a pretty good deal. Most people will have more than enough juice running through this to be quite happy.
Who it’s good for: Students, casual users, casual gamers, and everyday use laptoppers.
Who it’s not good for: People who need to do any kind of video or photo editing, game enthusiasts, and anyone who needs their laptop to pack some punch.
7. ASUS Zenbook 
($709)
Ram: 8 GB (great)
Processing Power: 2 GHz (decent)
Battery Life: 8 hrs (good)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 256 GB (Solid State Drive. AKA: Awesome)
Screen Size: 13.3″ (average)
Wow Factor: It’s sleek and lightweight. Though the processing power is low, the ram and storage make this crazy fast.
Who it’s good for: Those who don’t want to notice they are carrying a laptop with them, want lightning quick speeds, and don’t need a desktop PC packed into a laptop.
Who it’s not good for: People on a budget, those who need a powerhouse laptop, or the few who are too clumsy to care for something this thin.
8. Lenovo Y70 ($750)
Ram: 8 GB (great)
Processing Power: 1.9 GHz (would be weak, but SSD makes up for it)
Battery Life: 4 hrs (weak)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 1 TB hard drive & 8 GB Solid-State Drive (beyond great)
Screen Size: 17.3″ (monstrously large- good if you don’t plan on lugging it around much)
Wow Factor: Stupid fast, flashy and it has a huge screen.
Who it’s good for: Beginning gamers, those with flashy personalities and moderately practical mindsets, recent graduates, people who want to watch netflix, hulu, and surf the web all at the same time without interruption.
Who it’s not good for: Anyone who doesn’t need a gaming laptop. People who don’t have a full time job, or do serious work with their computer.
9. MSI GP Series GP60 Leopard
($800)
Ram: 8 GB (very good)
Processing Power: 3.5 GHz (beyond great)
Battery Life: 6 hrs (decent)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 1 TB (great)
Screen Size: 15.6″ (a bit large, but nice when Netflixing)
Wow Factor: A truly impressive laptop at a budget price. Gaming, editing, and anything else you may need in moderately hefty laptop.
Who it’s good for: Those who want the powerhouse but don’t want to spend over $1000. You can pretty much do anything with it.
Who it’s not good for: Frugal people. Students. People who use their laptop as their full time income gaining occupancy.
10. Apple MacBook Pro ($936)
Ram: 4GB (kinda weak)
Processing Power: 2.5 GHz (good)
Battery Life: 7 hrs (good)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 500 GB (good)
Screen Size: 13.3″ (average)
Wow Factor: Powerful and pretty. If you like apple products, design, and not getting viruses, here you are.
Who it’s good for: Apple lovers, virus haters, designers, and people who like silvery things.
Who it’s not good for: Anyone who wants to play video games (big or small) with their friends. Tinkerers. Those on a budget.
11. Apple MacBook Air 
($950)
Ram: 4 GB (kinda weak)
Processing Power: 1.6 GHz (weak)
Battery Life: 12 hrs (really great)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 128 GB (weak)
Screen Size: 13.3″ (average)
Wow Factor: The thinnest of thins. Could probably be used as a frisbee. Plus, it has all the wow from the Macbook Pro.
Who it’s good for: Those who like the Macbook Pro but think it’s too heavy.
Who it’s not good for: Anyone who wants to play video games (big or small) with their friends. Tinkerers. Those on a budget. It’s also a bit on the weaker side compared to a lot of laptops.
12. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 
($1,500)
Ram: 8 GB (great)
Processing Power: 2.3 GHz (combined with SSD, crazy good)
Battery Life: 11 hrs (phenomenal)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 256 GB (Solid State Drive. AKA: Awesome)
Screen Size: 14″ (perfect for most)
Wow Factor: More powerful than almost all the laptops on this list. Gives the Macbook Air a run for its money on thinness.
Who it’s good for: Lovers of the thin and powerful. If you had the money to spend, this should be the #1 pick out of the list.
Who it’s not good for: Those who are budgeting, lacking any of life’s necessities, casual users, and anyone who doesn’t need the best of the best.
13. ASUS ROG 
($2,225)
Ram: 24 GB (beyond great)
Processing Power: 3.5 GHz (beyond great)
Battery Life: 4 hrs (weak)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 1024 GB (beyond great)
Screen Size: 17.3″ (monstrously large- good if you don’t plan on lugging it around much)
Wow Factor: It’s a huge monster of a gaming laptop. The price tag is kind of mind boggling, too. You probably can’t use this as fast or as hard as it can be used.
Who it’s good for: Professional gamers, those who have more money than sense, rogues.
Who it’s not good for: Pretty much everyone. You’ll be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t get by with something else.
14. Razer Blade
($2,672)
Ram: 16 GB (beyond great)
Processing Power: 3.66 GHz (beyond great)
Battery Life: 4 hrs (weak)
Storage/Hard-drive Capacity: 512 GB (Solid State Drive. AKA: Awesome)
Screen Size: 14″ (perfect for most)
Wow Factor: Stupid thin and stupid fast. It’s a testament to excessive decadence.
Who it’s good for: Professional gamers, people who like Razer products, those with a need to impress.
Who it’s not good for: Everyone else, including the above. Just quit it.
Pro Tip: Wireless Mouse with Nano Receiver
($12)
Why you need it: Laptops are awesome, apart from one annoying thing… track pads suck. This is an easy fix, and amazon has a cheap, effective and unobtrusive mouse perfect for this.
Harketh 
Come on! I like my Razer!
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Anyone who has one probably likes it, lol. People also like eating an entire tub of ice cream as well. Still excessive.
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