With the rise of remote work, and with what we are normalizing digital classrooms, buying a laptop becomes an important decision. In 2023 we already have personal computers as part of the user, and as such, they must be chosen according to the needs of whoever is going to use it. And above all, knowing what is special about each component.
Buying a laptop, you will find predefined models or with certain possibilities of combining them to adapt to the needs of the users. Now, we are going to do a quick review of the components that make up a laptop, and what it influences, and how much you should have of each one of them.
Table of Contents
Processor
the brain of a laptop, possibly the most important part. The performance, codecs with which it is compatible, processes and much more depend on it. It depends a lot on the generation in which they came out, as they tend to have architectural advances with more efficient cores that do more with the same amount of energy, or have a system that allows them to dedicate small processes to smaller cores and save energy.
The Intel i3 and the AMD Ryzen 3 are intended for the low ranges, the low, for office users. The i5 and Ryzen 5 to the mid-range, more focused on education and its applications and the mid-range of gaming. Already entering the high ranges, the Ryzen 7, i7 and i9 are focused on high-end gaming, and for professionals who require performance in a suite of advanced programs such as Photoshop or AutoCAD.
Amount of RAM
The number of processes a laptop can host. If you have a lot of RAM and a lot of bandwidth, larger and faster processes can develop. Currently, the recommended minimum for any situation is 8 GB, since the Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems are efficient from that amount of RAM. For gaming and use of professional programs, one that reaches 16 GB of RAM is recommended.
SDD amount
We say SSD because hard drives, at least in the field of laptops, are almost gone. SSDs have shorter load times, less weight and lower consumption, although for now the price per GB is marginally higher. But it is that current laptops are already designed to be ultra-thin and obviate the weight of the hard drive, so now rare is the one that weighs more than 2 kg.
In terms of capacity, today the minimum required is no longer 250 GB, because between the operating system, as soon as you install professional programs, and save various files, and install a game, you will already be having memory problems. 500 GB is an acceptable amount if you are not going to install games. If you are a gamer, start looking at 1TB options and see if the model accepts more drives, since many laptop models allow you to expand it with a second SSD, which is ideal in the case of a gaming laptop so that the games of more and more size enter without problems.
Operating System
Here the answer is easy, and it is that Windows wins from the street as soon as you use software that requires compatibility with others. Linux is technically free and allows the use of sysadmin programs and code, but it is not something that cannot be done with Windows, unless we enter much more advanced development and programming fields.
Then there is macOS, but this is exclusive to MacBooks and there is no decision-making power there.
Screen
One aspect that many overlook, is that you require a screen of considerable size and quality in terms of balance and color gamut. Especially if you are a professional working with Photoshop, GIMP, video editing, or 3D modeling, you need a large screen that offers a wide range of colors.
It also needs to have very little lag if you're a gamer, but except for laptops designed for professionals with high-quality OLED screens, almost all laptop screens will have a refresh rate that allows gaming at 60+ fps and with little to no lag for the screens. competitive matches.
Video Card
A laptop can have two options for a video card: either not having it and relying on the integrated graphics of the CPU, or having it. In the first case, it is common in low-end or entry-level gaming laptops, which today allow you to play Fortnite in 1080p at a respectable 30 fps, although it depends a lot on the game and the optimization that has been done.
Now, if you have a dedicated GPU, as in the case of gaming or professional laptops, it will be more graphically powerful, but it will consume more battery and be more expensive. We only recommend this option if you need a laptop to play video games, or for programs for professional use, although these will have much higher prices.
choose a good brand
This is also important, since having a good brand It implies having a better after-sales service, which is what can make the most difference between two laptops with the same characteristics. Let's say you buy a laptop from a little-renowned brand that is a brand from a Chinese assembler, and the keyboard breaks, and when you have to send it to be repaired, you send it to China and it takes months to return. Then, a more renowned brand with subsidiaries in your country will be able to offer a much closer service, and perhaps instead of waiting two or three months for your laptop to be repaired, you wait two weeks in case there is a hard to find piece.
There are always independent workshops, but they will not be covered by the guarantee in any case. After the mandatory warranty period, three years in the case of Spain, in the end the unofficial workshop becomes an option to consider, since in the end the laptops are assembled using common parts.
Advantages and disadvantages of buying a Windows laptop and Apple laptops
Now, a Windows laptop or an Apple one? It's easy to pick on Apple for its high prices and the fact that it doesn't do anything that Windows can't, but many experts still use it for its professional software suite, optimized for the operating system. If you are a professional, you may be more interested in one from Apple.
If you opt for a Windows one, you will have greater certainty that a professional program or game will work for you no matter how unknown it is, since almost all software is developed mainly for Windows. If you're a gamer, you won't have any problems with Windows, although Apple has made giant strides thanks to Valve's Proton emulator, despite the fact that several games that require kernel-level anticheats don't work directly.
