Find and Purchase a Very Inexpensive Laptop

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Thinking about buying a new Decide Between a Laptop or a Desktop? Here are some tips for you!

Steps

  1. Figure out how much your budget really is. What can you afford? From one side, a computer is a long-term investment and not a quick fix. But, from another side, it is likely not a very long time investment - laptops are rather difficult to upgrade and last shorter than desktop machines.
  2. Specify your needs. What are you going to use the computer for? Homework, games, internet, email etc.
  3. Look for manufacturers. Which company do you want to buy from? The biggest are Samsung, Dell, HP, Lenovo (formerly IBM), Toshiba, Apple and Acer. Sony and Fujitsu are popular too.
  4. Seek out discounts and deals. If you or your parents have a job in a company that deals with computers find out if their company gets discounts through manufacturers. Many companies get discounts through DELL, HP, Compaq, Gateway, Apple because they buy a lot of computers and software through these companies. If you are a college student or high school student, find out if there is any financial aid or programs that offer computers to students. (The laptop you get may not be new but you might get it for free.)
  5. If you are going to go out and buy one from a store make sure you have your specifications written down, as it keeps the pushy sales people off of you. The sales people have got to make a living too, but if you don't need it, you don't need it. Know the must-haves versus the maybes when considering a new laptop.
  6. When evaluating a new laptop, check how intensively the fan is working. If the fan is running at full speed near all the time, after a couple of years you will need to clean the heat sink.
  7. Check out CNET and other tech websites for reviews on laptop manufacturers and their hardware.
  8. Purchase the laptop online, as usually it's cheaper to buy and again there are no pushy sales people.
  9. If battery life isn't important to you (maybe you want to run it off the mains) consider buying one second hand.

Tips

  • If you plan to use this for gaming make sure the laptop has a high quality video card, otherwise your games will be very slow. Low-end laptops generally are not good gaming machines for that reason, and they can't be upgraded for better video as desktops usually can.
  • Use Linux and free/open-source software. There are very user-friendly distributions. The software is free, and it requires fewer hardware resources; in most cases older hardware is cheaper. If you have older hardware, compatibility is less of a problem.

Warnings

  • Don't overdo searching the best possible laptop for the cheapest possible price. After investing a lot of time you may end up buying a model with some hidden factory design problems and not as good as it looks like. For instance, there were models in the past where a "fast" processor was causing frequent cut-offs due to overheating.
  • Make sure you look at the store's warranty and return policies.
  • Only purchase software you will need.

Things You'll Need

  • A firm budget; stick to it.
  • Your budgeted money.
  • The desire to buy a laptop.

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Sources and Citations

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