Back To School – Choosing the Right Laptop

1
Back To School Choosing the Right Laptop

• If youre heading to college for the first time,
  the most important thing you will need is a
  laptop. Youll use your laptops for more than
  just class work for streaming movies, shows or
  music, staying in touch with friends and family,
  gaming, storing photos and much more. Youll want
  to find one thats right for you and your needs,
  as well as last through your college life.

2
Before you begin your search for the
perfectlaptop, the first thing you should do is
check with your school or major for specific
system requirements. Some colleges and
universities want their students equipped with a
Windows-based laptop to cut down on software
incompatibility issues. Others will let you use
almost any operating system, but to be on the
safe side you should always check first. Once
you have checked with your school here are some
tips on what to keep in mind when shopping for
your laptop
3

• What Screen Size Should I get?
• Keep it light. A big screen may seem awesome, but
  hauling it back and forth to and from class
  canbe a real pain in the booty.  The most
  portable screen size for laptops are 11-14 inches
  and those models usually dont weigh more than 5
  pounds, making them much easier to transport.
  However, keep in mind the viewing and typing
  experience on smaller screens will be different
  to what you might be used to. The best way to
  find out which screen size you will be more
  comfortable viewing and typing on is to stop into
  a store and try out a few choices.
• How Much Storage Do I Need? 
• Depending on what classes you will be taking will
  depend on how much storage you will want or need.
  4GB is ample for the average college student, but
  if you can find a notebook for the same price
  with 6 or 8GB of RAM, get it. The more RAM you
  have, the more your computer will be able to
  handle all at once (running multiple programs,
  rendering games, etc.). If not most laptops have
  ample USB ports, so you can expand storage
  capacity as you need it. Upgrading to a 500GB or
  1TB hard drive wont cost a lot either if you
  wanted to go that route, but if youre not a
  video junkie or an aspiring filmmaker you
  shouldnt need that much storage.

4
What are the Benefits of Chromebooks? The key
advantage of having a Chromebook is that nothing
is saved locally. Instead, all your apps,
preferences, documents, and data are saved on
Googles servers in the cloud. This means if you
lose your machine, have it stolen, or spill a cup
of coffee over it, there is absolutely no risk of
your information being lost. The Chromebook also
offers superior security. Say you visit a
suspicious website by clicking on a bad link,
open a spammy email attachment accidentally, or
download a program that has a fishy origin a
Chromebook has you covered. Due to the devices
stateless operating system which has built-in
multi-layered protection, viruses will be one
less thing to worry about. One of the best
benefits is the price the HP 14? Chromebook
NVidia Tegra is rated one of the best notebooks
for college students and is just under
300! What about Hybrids?
5

• There are plenty of reasons to scoop up a 2-in-1
  hybrid, starting with the fact that youll have
  one device that can double as a laptop and
  tablet. When you need to get work done, you can
  use a keyboard and run desktop programs. When you
  want to kick back on the couch and check Facebook
  or watch videos you can go with the touchpad
  instead! Its a great option for college students
  and hybrids come in either a detachable design or
  a convertible approach in which the notebooks
  hinge rotates 360 degrees for a similar effect.
   Thinking about a hybrid? Check out the list CNET
  put together of the best touch screen and hybrid
  laptops of 2015.
• How Much Power Do I Need?
• Laptops offer a wide selection of processors, but
  its rarely worth paying extra for a faster CPU.
  Most laptops sold these days are more than fast
  enough for the average college students tasks.
  Web browsing, spreadsheets, simple programming,
  web development, word processing, and the
  all-important social media browsing dont require
  a supreme processor. A powerful processor will
  just drain your battery faster anyway.Anything
  labeled Intel Core i3 or i5 should meet the
  average students needs.
• What about Battery Life?
• With a day filled with classes and
  extracurricular activities, battery life is
  important. Many laptops today have multiple
  battery options. Figure out where battery life
  ranks in your list of importance when purchasing
  a laptop for school.

6
You may decide purchasing an additional battery
is a good idea, if an extended one isnt
available. Unfortunately, a big battery adds more
weight, but the extra weight might be well worth
it if it means not having to plug in the entire
day.  If you want to squeeze the most juice of
your laptops battery try following these 9 tips
for longer laptop battery life. Looking for some
more helpful tips as you head back to school this
year, check out our Get U Ready page for tips to
help you survive the school year including, study
tips tricks, college organization, college life
hacks and more! Stay informed on the
latest P.C. Richard Son sales product news,
tips and tricks, contests, P.C. Richard Son
Theater shows and more! Subscribe today. Feel
free to visit - https//www.facebook.com/Pcrichar
dandson/