Tips on Buying a New Laptop with Limited Budget

Laptop is a crucial part of life whether you are a worker or a student. Getting a new laptop could be tricky when you are on a budget. You could buy a used laptop but that is even riskier and you might not want to do that and prefer a new laptop instead. Here are some useful tips on buying a new laptop with a limited budget you can use.

Know What You Need from the Laptop

You must already know each laptop comes with a different specification. So, the first thing you need to do is know what you need from the laptop you are about to purchase. Do you need an advanced laptop with the ability to run heavy software? Do you need a laptop only to write or study? Do you need a laptop that can play games? Or do you need a simple laptop that could play movies and videos?

Identifying what you would want and need from the laptop is crucial especially when you are on a budget since a laptop with higher specifications would also have a higher price. You need to also know what features that you desperately need such as long battery life if you travel a lot or enhanced graphics if you are a graphic designer or an artist.

The Essentials Specifications

If you're still not sure what kind of laptop you would get, then you should know the minimum specifications of a good laptop before you buy one. This is important since it could determine whether you could rely on this laptop for a long time or not.

First, you need to pick a laptop with at least Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 as its processor. Choosing the right and capable processor would ensure the capabilities of multitasking which is extremely important. You don't want your laptop starting to slow down or even freeze once you open a software to work while also playing a song and opening your browser to do some research.

A good processor is nothing without reliable RAM. As a bare minimum, you should choose a laptop with 8GB of RAM. If you have extra budget, you should choose a laptop with 16GB of RAM since it would ensure the capabilities of doing and performing tasks that are more intensive and with heavier software.

Storage is also something you shouldn't miss. Older laptops would have HDD while newer ones would have SSD. It's better to choose a laptop with an SSD as its storage unit since it has better and faster performance than an HDD. Make sure the laptop you're about to buy has at least 256GB of storage, but if you could afford a larger storage, the better.

You should also choose a laptop with a good display with sharp and clear visuals. This would really help you both in doing work, study or just watching a video or a movie to entertain yourself. Make sure it has a full HD display at 1920x1080.

The last specification when buying a new laptop with a limited budget is the battery. Make sure the laptop you chose has a great battery life which there's a blackout or when you couldn't find any socket nearby.

Set Your Budget, Realistically

Now you know what you need from a laptop, the next thing you should do is setting your budget but you have to do it realistically. Remember laptop prices vary depending on their capabilities and specifications so you wouldn't get a high end laptop with a low budget. So make sure that both your budget and your needs match so you can focus on getting a model within your limit.

Do Your Research and Compare

Now you have your laptop specifications and a realistic budget, it's time to do some research and compare. Try to put together several laptops from different brands that are within both your budget and specifications and then compare them. Make sure you use various reliable sources to know their strengths and weaknesses, and don't forget to also check the reviews and feedback from their users.

Make Rooms for Upgrades

You might wonder whether you would need to buy another new laptop a couple months or years after you buy your laptop. If you're on budget of course you don't want that and instead, prepare for the future by making sure that your new laptop has rooms for future upgrades such as upgradeable storage and RAM that would enhance its performance and value.

Choose Your Time Wisely

If you're on a budget and looking for a brand new laptop, then the next important thing you would need is good timing. When you have a limited budget, you should take advantage of specific times where the stores would have some kind of promos or discount that would really benefit you.

You could try some holiday promotions like Christmas or Black Friday. Then back-to-school season is also a great time to purchase a new laptop since the demands of laptops would be higher especially for college students so some stores would have some special discounts you could take advantage of.

But while you're choosing your time for getting special promos or discounts, you still need to be aware of the laptops themselves. Make sure that the laptop you are about to get is indeed brand new and has all the specifications that you already listed before. Don't get swayed by the big discounts and then forget to actually check whether the laptop fits your specifications or not.

Those are several tips you could use in buying a new laptop with a limited budget. Please be careful in choosing the right laptop for you since there are so many cheap laptops out there that could be within your financial range but with very poor quality and you would end up buying another new one anyway.