Laptop Buying Guide

To buy a new laptop these days is not a easy task because most of us would want something what would be powerful enough and as future proof as possible! Realistically you want something what would be still usable and in one piece even after 5 years, i have seen lot of new laptops made so cheap that even after 1 year of using pieces of plastic will start falling off but you know what.. you get what you are paying for! Definitely biggest factor is money and to have right balance with what you spend and what you actually need.

Before buying new laptop consider:

• First and most important do you actually need new one because with some simple upgrades you can easily add extra speed and some additional years of usage to the mashine.


• How much money are you willing to invest and what will be your main usage for the laptop because there's a big difference using laptop for video editing or watching few random videos on Youtube etc.


• Size and design of the laptop would be probably important for some since it will give you flexibility to bring laptop with you without thinking how much space it will take and how and where you going to store it.


• Make shore that laptop you are about to buy is actually new and has all latest technology available. See article here what might happen if you dont do your homework: Read this!

Things to avoid when looking to buy new laptop:

• Might sound funny but i have seen this many times before when laptops color is the main selling point, yes red color might look very good for some but it does not make your laptop run any better then black or blue.


• Buying new laptop for 300 Euros will not give value for money and will not be future proof. Sometimes it's better to wait and save unless you are willing to pay these 300 every second year.


• Dont let seller to fool you, for most people laptop specification is like foreign language but try to do as much homework as possible before purchase. See recommended laptop specification for 2020 below.

Recommended laptop specification for year 2020:

• Screen resolution: Full HD 1920 x 1080 or 4K 3840 x 2160.
• CPU/Processor: Intel® Core™ i5(8-10th generation) or AMD equivalent.
• RAM: Minimum 8GB DDR4 - Depending on needs.
• Graphics: Intel HD or AMD equivalent
• Hard Drive: Solid State Drive(SSD) 256GB and up.
• Wireless Connectivity: Dual Band Wireless(2.4GHz-5GHz) with Bluetooth.
• Ports: USB 3.0 / C-Type / HDMI or Display Port / Card Reader

We left out screen size because it has more to do with user needs and should not affect actual performance, also dedicated graphics because it will boost up the price. 4K screen resolution is more suitable for bigger screens so if you are buying laptop with screen size between 13"-15.6" then FULL HD resolution should be more than enough. These specs above are optimal for avarage user who is looking to run Windows 10 without lag.

Avoid buying laptop in 2020 with specs:

• Screen resolution: 1366 x 768
• CPU/Processor: Anything below Intel® Core™ i3(7th generation)
• RAM: 4GB - Windows 10 is pretty heavy on ram.
• Hard Drive: Spinning hard drive(HDD), they are slow and outdated.
• Wireless Connectivity: Single Band Wireless(2.4GHz).
• Ports: USB 2.0 / VGA

To clarify there's no harm to have USB 2.0 ports on laptop as long there's USB 3.0 ports because transfer speed of USB 3.0 is at least 5 times faster. Screen resolution of 1366 x 768 would be ok if screen size is below 11.6" but most will be looking for laptop with screen size above 13"

To be honest if your laptop is about 5 years old then you probably don't really need to buy new one just upgrade hard drive to SSD and install some additional RAM, if you are not able to perform these tasks yourself then get someone to do it for you and you might save anything between 200-300 Euros. These upgrades performed by trained specialist should not cost you more then 100-150 Euros. Do not let fool yourself...