Buying a laptop is supposed to be an informed decision since it may alter the course of your work or formal life drastically. Imagine you want to be a serious gamer and you end up buying a core i3!! So apart from processors, what other specs must a laptop buyer or an aspiring laptop buyer consider?

RAM

What animal is this, apart from processors, RAM is a multitasker’s best friend forever. According To Digital trends, RAM:

In a nutshell, RAM is memory that your computer uses to run application or prgrams, it temporarily stores all the information your PC needs right now and in the near future. It’s where your computer loads up all the things it thinks it will need to find out soon, so that when it does need something, it can read it super fast. It’s quite different from your system’s storage, like its hard drive, where information is stored long term

RAM is measured in Gigabytes and the more RAM you have, the more data you can keep close by, at hand. With more RAM you can open as many tabs on your computer as your RAM allows you to. You will do this without affecting the processing and without slowing down your computer performance. These days, Laptop RAM ranges from 2GB to 32GB depending on what you want. In case you are wondering how much RAM is enough for you, the answer is simple, it depends on what you do with your laptop. if you are a multitasker, the more the better.

Therefore if you want to do gaming or multimedia tasks like live streaming etc, you would obviously need more RAM as this enables those magnificent speeds that will make gaming or multimedia tasks quicker to complete. However, a computer with more RAM is usually expensive, but there are some computers you can buy additional RAM for. Be sure to ask the sales representative if you can boost the RAM of the computer you are about to buy.

Hard Drive

Just like the human brain computers need storage devices too so that a user can store files and things they may need to look at later. Measured mostly in Gigabytes and Terabytes, when it comes to hard drives, it all depends on what you will use the computer for. Most people who are in the multimedia business, photographers, live streamers, producers, etc often opt for bigger hard drives as they may want to store their content. In general, it’s always good to buy a computer with a bigger hard drive as it allows you to store as many files as possible. Hard drives range between 128 Gigabytes and 4 Terabytes depending on what you want. Sometimes, more storage comes at a higher cost, so always consider that fact when you think of buying a computer with a bigger drive. However, storage can be supplemented ( if I can call it that) with external hard drives and flash drives, in case the cost of buying a computer with a big hard drive is too much.

Other Stuff?

What other stuff you may be asking, these are additional outer things like, USD Ports, Wi-FI, Bluetooth, HDMI slots commonly referred to in tech jargon as peripherals. This may seem trivial when we look at a computer but depending on what you do or what you want to use the computer for, it is as important a choosing a processor.

USB, HDMI

There are newer versions of USB,  USB 3.0 and Type C which is faster in transmitting data than any versions before that. There are some computers that may not have HDMI slots. This is not OK if you plan on using your computer to connect to projectors, TVs or any other devices that require that slot. So if you want to use your computer for multimedia purposes like live streaming etc, you will need a computer with an HDMI slot as this will help you connect other tools you will need in your line of work.

Bluetooth, SD Card Slot

If you are a savvy user like me, Bluetooth is a necessity and you need to ensure that the laptop you’re buying has it. (Yes! Some don’t). With Bluetooth, you can connect things wirelessly to your laptop such as headphones, speakers, and, yes, your phone. Bottomline, Bluetooth connectivity will make you a true wireless warrior. In case you work in photography, you may also want an SD slot as this will help you transfer photos from the camera to the computer faster.

Bottom line, it’s always good to check for all these specs against your wishlist bearing in mind what you want to use the laptop for.