Student Friendly Aspects of Buying a Laptop

 

When buying a laptop I think it is important to consider size, battery, the operating system and it’s convince for you and what available technical aspects the laptop may hold. As a student I need the most for my money and to be weary of how compatible my laptop is to my course.

Applied psychology requires a lot of reading and internet based searches as well as plenty of write ups. For this reason in relation to the size of the laptop, I would be more inclined towards an ultra-portable or a “thin-and-light” laptop.

Ultra-portables are usually less than four pounds and have screen sizes of twelve inches or less. This makes them perfect for the likes of moving to and from college and setting yourself anywhere to do coursework. However, the ultra-portables often lack the extra features such as DVD drives and recreational technologies.

“Thin-and-light” laptops are possibly more attractive to me the student as they are often set-up with the extra inputs and a DVD drive as well as having the technology to upload and edit picture and music. The screens are usually thirteen to fourteen inches and they have larger keyboards making them slightly easier to type. Thought they are a step up in weight and size they are still very portable and are therefore ideal for college life and more suited to my course.

Battery life is a big factor in buy a laptop for anyone, not just me the student. The idea of a laptop is that it is portable and you can use is in almost any space at any time. Places such as buses and trains are often not equipped with sockets for one to charge their laptop.

Though the ultra-portables are best for battery life due to their smaller screens which means there is less demand on the processor. However, as the “thin-and-light” laptop is more ideal for my course, I would be look for a laptop that contains an Energy Star certification or has an ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processor that will stretch out the battery life as far as possible. I can identify this by reading the laptop name as it should begin with “U” at the start of the code (i.e. U7600).

The main operating system I use to using would be windows. This fits in nicely with my course as most of the college computers operate on this system. I therefore do not have to worry about document formats when sending these from my laptop to computer. Though MAC is very popular for its advance and cheats, I feel this type of laptop would be more compliant with a course in multimedia or graphic design. As my course is more document and research based I do not need these extra features that go along with a MAC based laptop.

However, Windows is known for being susceptible to virus’ and spyware making it compulsory to constantly update your virus software through time consuming scans and screenings. Also for speed and quick and easy usability Windows Vista ( as opposed to the like of Windows XP) is possibly the best route to go, but it will also eat into your battery time.

Other technology aspects to look for in a laptop would be the RAM (Random Access Memory). This determines the speed. For the likes of Windows Vista which would use up a lot of resources. It is recommended you spring out for 2-gigabytes to prevent your laptop from over-loading and crashing. As a student in Applied Psychology, it is important to save everything you research and write, as more often than not, you will have to use the information you obtained again for different modules in your course as they are all so closely linked. This can be expensive but in the long run worth it as it is more costly to upgrade your computer.