HP, Dell, ASUS, or Lenovo? Seven tips to select the right laptop for you

The laptop market in India is vast, with a volley of brands—ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, Apple, HP—to choose from.

Sometimes, this can be overwhelming, especially considering a customer's needs and budget.

Here are a few tips to find the right laptop that best suits your needs

1. Know your needs

What will you be using the laptop for? For basic works like documenting, watching videos and learning, or some heavy-duty work, like coding, video editing or gaming? Which laptop you want to buy will depend on how you are going to use it.

For simple work, something like an Intel Core i5 or an AMD Ryzen 5 or less, with 8GB RAM, would suffice. However, if you look to have multiple applications going on at once, you will need a processor like Intel Core i7 /i9, or AMD Ryzen 7/9, with 16GB RAM or more. It might even need a dedicated graphics card.

So choose your laptop based on the workload. For OS, if you need something compatible and versatile, Windows will work well for most cases, while ChromeOS is perfect for light users like students.

For creative work, macOS is the best, especially if you already use other Apple products. They allow easy integration with other Apple products.

2. Battery life 

Will you be on-the-go while using the laptop, or will you be comfortably seated somewhere you can charge your laptop at ease? This is another determining factor when choosing your laptop.

Based on your travel situation and workload, you can choose a laptop with a suitable battery capacity.

Laptops like MacBook Air and Dell XPS can have up to 18 hours of battery life.

For everyday use, a battery life of around 6 to 10 hours will be enough. However, gaming and creator laptops may not have much battery life, as they can be quite powerful (hence, the faster battery drain). They are meant to be plugged in while working.

3. Display quality

Depending on your budget and your work, you need to pick a suitable display quality. The resolution, colour accuracy, brightness, and panel are some of the main factors of display quality.

Resolution: From a basic HD to 4K, there are many options for resolution. Full HD is the most preferred choice, which is pretty clear. But if you want something with even more definition, you can pick a 2K or 4K (though it can be quite battery-draining)

Colour accuracy: Colour accuracy is necessary for photo/video editing and graphic design work. sRGB or AdobeRGB indicate colour accuracy. A 100 per cent sRGB indicates great colour accuracy

Brightness: Choose a laptop with a brightness of at least 300 nits. For outdoor purposes, a laptop of 500 nits and above would be required to read the screen under sunlight.

Panel: For the panel, IPS is a good option, giving good colours and angles. But if you want something premium, OLED is a great choice, giving great contrast and deep blacks. It is a good option for gamers because of the pixel-response time, making sure there is no lag.

However, OLED displays are prone to image burn-in. So if your work makes you leave images with bright static elements on the laptop for a long time, this is not a good option. The TN display is another option for gamers as it is quite fast in terms of response time and refresh rates. But its viewing angles and colour ranges are poor.

4. Storage

There are mainly two types of storage—HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and SSD (Solid State Drive). 

HDD is the older version, with mechanical, moving parts. They are cheaper and can have a higher storage capacity. However, they are comparatively slower than SSDs, taking a longer time for file loading and boot-up. They are also heavy compared to SSDs.

SSDs, on the other hand, are very fast. They do not have any moving parts, making them quite compact. This also means that they make less noise and are less prone to physical damage. A 256GB SSD can be used for everyday work.

SSD is the preferred storage device nowadays. However, many of the newer laptops have both SSD and HDD, with SSD for the system and apps, and HDD for the photos and movies.

5. Portability

If you plan to travel with a laptop, its portability and build are important factors. Choose a laptop with a metal or tough plastic build. The thin plastic can crack or scratch easily. Also, check the hinge strength and keyboard quality before selecting the laptop. Buying backlit keyboards might be more beneficial.

Portability depends on the weight, thickness and size. Find a sweet spot between them, as you do not want an extremely small screen or a heavy laptop. A 14-inch laptop can be a good option.

Gaming laptops, however, can be bulky. Weights up to 1.6 kg can be considered light, while 2.3 kg and above are bulky. Slim laptops provide easier portability, but can overheat easily, and may have fewer ports.

6. Necessary ports

If you are buying a slim laptop, make sure it has all the required ports. The common ports include:

USB-A: For pen drives, keyboards, etc. (preferably 3.0 or above)

USB-C: For charging, high data transfer, and display output. 

HDMI: For TVs and projectors

Audio jack: For headphones and mics

SD card reader: To transfer files and photos (if you use SD cards)

Make sure your laptop has at least 2 USB-A ports, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack. According to your needs, you might also need an Ethernet or a Thunderbolt port as well.

7. Review and warranty

Reviews help you know all about the laptop from a user's perspective. The actual battery life, heating problems, performance, and many other factors can be known from the reviews. By watching or reading multiple reviews, you can understand the pros and cons of each laptop better and decide if you want to invest in it.

Warranties are the lifelines for your laptop. Basic warranties are usually for a year, covering hardware problems and giving free repairs for breakages due to the manufacturer’s fault. They do not cover issues related to the software, like loss of data.

Based on the price of your laptop, you can purchase an extended warranty or accidental damage protection. The latter covers problems like spills, drops and cracked screens, making it useful for travellers and students.

Try to get on-site service if possible, as they come to your home for the service. Before buying a laptop, make sure you read the warranty details thoroughly.

Research and understand what you need from the device before picking a laptop. Choose one that fits your needs and budget. You can try waiting for a discount or seasonal sales to make sure you get the best deals for your device.

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