Laptop purchase help

Laptops and regular computers work much the same. The big difference between the two is mainly in the appearance; the laptop is small and portable and the desktop computer is not. Desktop computers have a separate screen, keyboard and a separate mouse and have a system cabinet that contains a hard disk, video card, processor, and so on. With a laptop, all these things are incorporated in one shell.

Still not interested in a laptop? Read more about desktop computers in our Computer Buying Help.

All types of laptops have:

• a collapsible display with a webcam;
• a built-in keyboard;
• a touchpad (touch pad) that functions as a mouse;
• a built-in adapter for connecting to a wireless network;
• a battery that can power the device for a few hours;
• power supply that allows you to connect the laptop to the mains and which charges the battery.

Furthermore, in every laptop you will find things that you also encounter in a PC, such as a processor, a hard disk or SSD, working memory, a video and sound card, USB connections and usually also a wired network connection. Some laptops also have a DVD burner. This function is no longer standard in a laptop these days. If you want a DVD burner, find out which laptop has this function.

In short, take a laptop because of the portability of the device. You can work with it everywhere: at the table, on the couch, on the train or on vacation. And are you done with the device? Close it and store it in the closet. After all, it takes up little space. Laptops have a battery, so you don’t always have to connect it to the mains. Just keep in mind that with most laptops you can work for no more than three hours on one battery charge.

Powerful laptops can do almost as much as desktop computers. In addition, you pay considerably more for a laptop than for a desktop PC with comparable computing power.

Which laptop is right for you depends on your usage. Do you mainly use it at home or do you also want to be able to work with it on the road or on vacation? And what do you want to use the laptop for? Only for email, internet and word processing? Or do you also want to be able to edit videos on it? Of course, the more you demand from the device, the more expensive it will be. In Enter 77 (September 2017), you can read a test with eight affordable Windows laptops starting on page 42. In the meantime, new models have of course been released, but you can read through the article.

A good basic laptop has an Intel or AMD brand processor. A good processor for simple home use is, for example, the Intel Core i3. For demanding things, such as video editing, you need the Intel Core i5, but preferably the Intel Core i7.

You also definitely want 3 GB of RAM. If you are going to edit video, consider 4 GB or more.

If you want to watch movies on the laptop or burn music, make sure that the laptop has a built-in DVD player or burner. This is not the case with more and more laptops. You can also buy an external DVD burner, which are very affordable.

If you want to be able to use the laptop a lot, without it being connected to the mains, then the performance of the battery is of course important. For many laptops, the capacity is expressed in hours. Unfortunately, this often differs in practice.

It is also important to think about dimensions and weight. For home use, a larger screen (15.6 and 17.3 inches are common sizes) is nice. If you often take the laptop with you, a smaller screen (11.6 or 13.3 inches) is more convenient. Most laptops these days weigh between 2 and 2.5 kilos. Only the largest models weigh 3 kilograms or more. Many of the smaller models weigh 1.5 pounds or less. Always keep in mind the weight of the power adapter, that’s on top of that.

The most important part of the laptop is the display. Cheap models often have a mediocre screen. If you do not look at it exactly straight, the brightness will decrease sharply. The colors are also faded or not very realistic. The slightly more luxurious laptops often already have a much better screen, with more contrast, nicer color reproduction and more work space. Laptops can have glossy or matte displays. Photos and movies look nicer on the first category of screens, but a glossy screen quickly reflects. You can suffer from this with bright lights or in the sun.

In addition to the screen, the keyboard and the touchpad (mouse cursor control) are very important: after all, you use them to operate the laptop. Try it out in the store to see if you like it working. Optionally, you can connect an external mouse and keyboard.

To connect an external hard drive or a USB stick to the laptop, a laptop has a number of USB ports. Very cheap models sometimes only have two USB ports. That is actually too little, three is better. A USB 3.0 or 3.1 is ten times faster than the USB 2.0 ports. The USB C is currently on the rise. The advantage of this USB is that you can never plug the USB cable in the wrong way.

Most laptops have the latest operating system from Microsoft, currently Windows 10, installed. There are also laptops with Mac OS X from Apple and models with Chrome OS from Google.

In any case, you also need an antivirus program. Often a new PC has a trial version of a common antivirus package installed. After the trial period (usually 30 days), you can then purchase the package. But you can also buy a free or paid package yourself. Read more about computer security in the article ‘Getting started with security’.

Netbooks are laptops with very basic performance, really only sufficient for easy access and use of the internet. They are usually small, handy and light. But larger laptops with a price below 300 euros usually fall into this class: in terms of performance, they are at the bottom of the ladder. They are an option if you are tired of e-mailing, surfing the Internet and the occasional word processing, but the extra cost for a significantly faster basic laptop is actually quite limited.

Chromebooks have been on the market since 2011. These are usually small laptops equipped with Google’s operating system: Chrome OS. You can currently buy Chromebooks from brands such as Acer, Asus, Samsung and Toshia in the Netherlands. In terms of specifications, these laptops can be compared to netbooks. They are a bit faster because of the different operating system. What is special about the Chromebooks is that you do not have to install any software on them: the laptops use so-called web apps, which are started from the internet. Because of this, you need an internet connection to work effectively with the device. It is possible to perform tasks without that connection, but the functionality is then very limited.

Benefits of Chromebooks: They are fast, economical, secure and easy to operate. You don’t have to install any software yourself: not even an antivirus program, because Google takes care of security via the Internet connection. Also important: you can’t lose data due to a defect in your laptop, because everything is stored online in Google’s services.

Disadvantages: They are only suitable for simple applications such as e-mailing, surfing the Internet and word processing.

Read more about Chromebooks here: ‘Chromebooks‘.

MacBooks are Apple’s laptops. They are therefore equipped with Apple’s own operating system, Mac OS X. They currently come in three types: MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and MacBook. The Air is a lightweight model that is well suited for most common applications. The Pro is a very powerful variant for demanding applications such as intensive image and video editing. Remarkably, the ‘regular’ MacBook is lighter than the Air, with a better display, but very few connections. It sits between a tablet and a laptop: it can be taken anywhere, yet versatile.

Macbooks don’t come cheap: Prices start a lot higher than Windows laptops. But compared to Windows laptops with similar specifications, the prices are not too bad.

Tablet PCs, such as the iPad, are an alternative to simple laptops such as netbooks. A tablet is small, light and has a touch screen. However, they are not a substitute for a ‘real’ PC. Again, if you don’t want much more than email, surf the web, and word processing, you might want to consider a tablet. Would you like to know more about purchasing a tablet? Then read the Tablet purchase help.

An intermediate form between tablets and laptops are so-called 2-in-1 or hybrid laptops. These devices can change shape between a tablet and a laptop. Sometimes with a detachable keyboard, sometimes with a screen that can be rotated or flipped 360 degrees. They almost always work with Windows as the operating system and are equipped with a touch screen. Prices start slightly above those of entry-level laptops, but they can already be found from around 350 euros. The advantage: the intuitive operation and way of working of a tablet, but also the productivity possibilities – with a real keyboard – of a laptop. The downside: They’re heavier than tablets and weigh more than the lightest notebooks.

To email and surf the Internet, you need a connection: something that connects your computer to the Internet. You can subscribe to an internet connection with an internet provider. This gives you access to the Internet. Your provider will also provide you with an e-mail address that you can use to e-mail.

You can read all about it in the article ‘Internet connection’.

Obviously there is a lot to think about before buying a laptop. But how do you come to an actual choice? Fortunately, there are handy sites with which you can compare all models. You can compare laptops at The Consumers’ Association and Tweakers.

Enter a number of requirements there (usually on the left of the screen) to arrive at a selection of laptops. For example, start with the size of the laptop, a maximum price and the amount of storage space you want. The more requirements you fill in, the fewer laptops are left. Are there no results? You will have to adjust the requirements for that. If there are a number of laptops that meet your requirements, look for the differences and consider which features you value most. The sites indicate where you can then buy the laptop of your choice.