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| Buy a laptop carefully |
The new year is knocking on the door. Many people are thinking about buying a new laptop. Before buying, you need to think carefully about what you need your laptop for. Buyers in our country mainly use laptops for three types of work.
Study and office work
Most users buy laptops for daily office work, browsing, using social media, editing images a little, writing documents, keeping accounts in Excel sheets, or creating presentations in PowerPoint. In addition to these tasks, students also use laptops for research and programming.
For such work, users need a laptop with a processor and RAM capable of running fast browsing, office software, programming software, and multitasking, and a battery that provides long-term backup. The battery capacity of most laptops in the market is similar, and battery life depends on the processor.
Playing games
In addition to office and study work, many people also choose laptops to play games. In that case, battery life will have to be sacrificed a lot.
Laptops should be selected with a strong GPU and cooling system in mind. High refresh rate displays are essential for gamers.
Multimedia content creation
Graphic designers, video editors, animators, or architects have very different needs for their laptops. Those who do such work should pay attention to both the CPU and GPU when buying a laptop.
The main difference between a gaming laptop and a multimedia laptop is that the CPU and GPU work equally in multimedia work, while the GPU is used more in gaming laptops. Those who work with multimedia content should also pay attention to battery life.
Budget
If you want to buy a laptop for study, business, or office work, you should keep a budget of at least 30 to 50 thousand taka. If you want to buy a gaming laptop, you must keep a budget of 75 thousand to 150 thousand taka. If you want to buy a laptop for multimedia work, the budget must be more than 80 thousand.
It can be up to several lakhs depending on the work requirements.
Laptop Processor
In the current laptop market, apart from the Apple Mac or Microsoft Surface, laptops generally use processors from two manufacturers—Intel Core series and AMD's Ryzen.
This year, Intel has launched new processors, the Core Ultra series—Ultra 5, Ultra 7, and Ultra 9. The previous Core i3, 5, 7, and 9 series are also on the market. The Ultra series processors are the most powerful processors Intel has currently made. AMD also released the Ryzen AI series this year. AMD processors also have Ryzen 3, 5, 7, and 9 models. In both cases, the 3 series is the least powerful, and the 9 series is the most powerful. Most users do not need a processor more powerful than the Core i3 or 5, Core Ultra 5, or Ryzen 3 or 5. For gaming and working with multimedia content, you should choose at least the Core i5 or 7, Core Ultra 7, or Ryzen 7 series.
If you pay attention to the naming of the processor, you will see some numbers and letters in addition to the words Core, Core Ultra, or Ryzen. The processor is for high-power work or long battery life, this number and letter can be understood. Intel processor names consist of 5 numbers and a letter. The first two numbers are the processor generation, the next three numbers are the model series, and the letter indicates the processor type. In the case of AMD Ryzen, the model name will have four numbers, the first of which indicates the generation and the next three indicate the processor model. The letters include U, H, and HX. U indicates battery-efficient, H indicates high performance, and the HX model is more powerful than that. Whether Intel or AMD, U series processors are sufficient in most cases for office, study, or daily work. At least an H series processor is required for gaming or multimedia work. You should try to buy a laptop with at least Intel's 12th and AMD's fifth generation processors.
GPU is required for gaming and multimedia
A low-power GPU or graphics processing unit is provided within the laptop processor. The GPU in the new Intel and AMD processors is sufficient for playing a few games today. For example, the Arc series GPU in the latest Intel Core Ultra series or the Radeon GPU in the AMD Ryzen 7 series can run high-quality graphics games without any problems. Those who are buying a gaming laptop must keep in mind whether it has at least an Nvidia RTX 3050 or above GPU. Nvidia's laptop GPUs are currently ahead of Radeon GPU-rich laptops in terms of performance.
For multimedia work, you should buy an Intel or Nvidia GPU. Because Radeon GPUs still do not do multimedia rendering well. Especially in video rendering, Intel's built-in GPU beats Radeon's powerful gaming GPU.
Sufficient RAM
Currently, you should not buy a laptop with less than 16 GB of RAM. Another thing to keep in mind is that the RAM of the laptop you choose should be a slot system. Since some laptops do not have RAM slots, there is no way to add or change additional RAM. It is better to buy 24 or 32 GB of RAM with the future in mind when buying.
Enough space
In the current era, you should never buy a laptop without an SSD. Even if you only put files like movies or songs on the hard disk, the speed of the entire laptop will decrease. There are three generations of NVME technology used in current laptops. When buying a laptop, you should make sure that it has an empty NVME slot and that it supports Gen-4 technology. Try not to buy a laptop with storage below 512 GB. For gaming and multimedia work, you should have one to two terabytes of SSD.
Display
The shape and weight of the laptop can be largely understood by looking at the shape of the display. Those who have to travel should buy a laptop with a 12 to 14-inch display. In the case of gaming laptops, you must check the refresh rate. The display of a gaming laptop should have a refresh rate of at least 144 Hz. For multimedia work, you must pay attention to color accuracy. Most of the laptop displays in the market have 1080p Full HD resolution, it would not be right to buy a laptop with a display of a resolution below this.
Another thing is, you must buy a legally imported laptop. Otherwise, you will not be able to get after-sales service.
FAQs
What is the best laptop for students?
The best laptops for students are lightweight, affordable, and have good battery life. Popular choices include the Lenovo IdeaPad and MacBook Air.
Are gaming laptops good for regular use?
Yes, but they are heavier and less battery-efficient compared to standard laptops.
How much RAM do I need?
For basic use, 8GB is enough. For gaming or multitasking, go for 16GB or more.
Is it better to buy online or offline?
Online offers better deals, but offline lets you test the product before purchase.
What should I do if my laptop overheats?
Clean the vents, ensure proper ventilation, and consider using a cooling pad.