How to pick right laptop for you

I need a new laptop, but which is the right one?

Most of us need to buy a laptop at some point, specially if you're a student or a working professional. And choosing the right one for yourself can be a confusing task if you're not a tech savvy person. Someone like me can simply see the benchmarks and decide if it's worth my money or not. But for some of you, Geekbench, Cinebench, 3Dmark, etc, don't mean a thing. This blog is specially for such people, so you don't have to trust a random person's word. After following these steps, you'll be able to choose yourself.

Step 1: Identifying your needs(Workload)

You can put this in 3 categories

1. Light - Most basic works like surfing the internet, watching videos, working with documents and spreadsheets. 

2. Medium - Usually multitasking and slightly complex softwares. For example: programming, photo editing(not just applying filters, proper editing) and lightweight casual gaming(those infamous Candy Crush breeds).

3. Heavy - The most taxing workloads on the system. Gaming, video editing, 3D modeling and animation, machine learning.

Honestly assess what you'll be doing on that laptop. If you're rich then you can simply buy one of the most expensive one and you'll be fine with that. But if you're still reading then it means you are on limited budget and want to spend your money sensibly.

Step 2: Identifying the hardware

This is the most confusing step. Different people will tell you different things. Someone might tell you i3 is enough for you and at the same time someone else will tell you you need atleast i7. Then there are 'brand people', they're like "only buy Dell(or whatever brand they're fan of)". That's a bad way of laptop shopping. Now here's what you should do.

If you honestly assessed your Workload then you know what category you fall into. So, here's hardware according to your workloads.

1. Light - Pretty much any laptop is enough. But you'd like to keep using it for few years, right? So here's what you should look for

• Atleast dual core processor : example Intel Pentium, Core i3, AMD E-series processors, AMD A-series processors and AMD Ryzen 3 processors. And personally I'd recommend getting i3 or Ryzen 3.
• Atleast 4GB RAM
• SSD preferred but HDD is also okay. 
• Integrated graphics is enough. 

Examples:

2. Medium - Now here's the category where the highest recommendation of previous Workload becomes the minimum.

• Atleast Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen. Quad Core processors are recommended(i5 or Ryzen 5).
• 8GB RAM(more is better).
• SSD is recommended
• Dedicated Graphics is a bonus. 

Examples:

3. Heavy - Now we're entering no compromise territory. Once again, the highest recommendation of previous category becomes the lowest here.

• Atleast a Quad core processor. 6 or more core processors are recommended. 
• 8GB RAM is the absolute minimum. 16GB or more is recommended. 
• SSD is a must 
• Dedicated GPU with atleast 4GB GDDR5 memory is recommended(example GTX 1650, RX 5500M).

Examples:

Now you might be asking, how do I confirm above features? Flipkart is the best shopping site for that purpose. Flipkart has very organised specifications page for each laptop. There are some scenarios where rest of the hardware requirements are met at cheap price but RAM or storage is different. You can buy that and upgrade RAM and/or storage. But remember, processor and graphics card cannot be changed, so choose carefully.

Step 3: Nitpicking

If you followed last two steps and you still have over a dozen of options, then it is time to start nitpicking. 

1. Brand and servicing - if you prefer a certain brand or if a brand has better servicing in your area then give it higher preference. But don't finalize it yet, there are more factors to consider.
2. Portability - if your budget is high enough then there's a chance that some of the options are below 2kg weight. This means easy to carry around.
3. Screen - Some people prefer 13 inch, some 14 and some 15. Some even prefer 17inch. So pick one and make sure the display is atleast 1080p(full HD). IPS panel is preferred and if you'll be gaming, 120Hz or higher refresh rate is recommended.
4. Looks - some laptops are designed so beautiful that you want them without even knowing the specifications.
5. Price - suppose two reputable brands are offering the same specs at different prices then you should get the cheaper one.

That's it, just 3 simple steps to picking the right laptop for yourself. If you're still torn between two options, check reviews. Many youtubers review laptops these days. Also there are many websites that write in depth reviews. 

Additional note: always buy the latest model. Don't buy older model because it is cheaper. For example, 6th or 7th gen i3 laptops are available under ₹25000. Even Ryzen 3 2200U processor laptop is more powerful than them. 

If this blog helped you then share with other people and check out my other blogs too.

Leave any topic in the comments that you'd like me to cover in my future blogs.