How to buy your first PC when you don’t know your stuff It might sound complicated indeed, but knowing the right tips will make it easy. Discover in this article our 5 tips for choosing your first laptop. We will drop the technical terms in computers and talk between novices, we promise!
Identify your needs
Before choosing your laptop computer, you must ask yourself about your needs, your goals. How will your laptop PC help you? To play, to work or to surf the Internet? These are all questions whose answers will help you choose a good computer.
For your purchase, you will have the choice between these four variants of laptops:
- Classic Laptop PC: It’s a go-anywhere choice, but it can’t handle big games. It is ideal for internet and work;
- Touchscreen laptop PC: not the best choice;
- 2-in-1 hybrid laptop PC (computer + tablet): you have a choice for the future;
- PC Gamer: This computer is basically designed for gaming. It has the capacity to run the most demanding games.
You can find more information on this latest laptop variant on
Choose a suitable processor
To choose your processor, take into account the four characteristics provided in the technical data sheets of manufacturers and distributors. These are the model (intel core, AMD, Céléron,…), the number of cores (1, 2, 3…), the frequency (speed) and the cache memory of the processor. Indeed, the best processor models are the Intel models which are divided into 3 (i3, i5 and i7).
As for the heart, it is the possibility for your processor to perform several tasks simultaneously. A quad-core processor is enough to meet your expectations. The frequency is based on how quickly you expect. If you don’t have to do a lot of tasks at the same time, go for a 2 × 1.3 GHz duo than a 650 MHz quatro. Finally, cache memory allows you to keep data in memory. The speed of your computer depends on its volume.
Choose your graphics card and hard drive carefully
The graphics card is designed to produce the image that will be sent to your screen. At the moment, the best quality is made by Nvidia (the GE Force model), but there are several types. For the hard disk, it is recommended to choose SATA if you want to have a lot of memory for storage. With SATA, you will easily find computers with a hard drive that varies between 500 GB and 1 TB.
Opt for adequate RAM
Also called Ram memory, RAM is a very important element for the speed of your computer. It is characterized by its capacity (4 GB, 6 GB, 8 GB) and the type of Ram (DDR2 / DDR3). The higher the capacity, the faster your computer will go. So far we are at DDR3 for the Ram type. You can upgrade when DDR4 takes over.
Define your screen and its size
The screen size varies for laptops and hybrids, and is 11.6 inches [ultra-laptops] for the majority and 17 inches for the standard full size. It can go up to 18 and 19 inches. But 15 inches is the most common format. For definition, a Full HD resolution of 1920 – 1080 p is more than sufficient.
You can now operate your first choice. However, don’t forget to educate yourself about the brands