Laptops are handy computers that you can carry anywhere yet they are powerful devices that can run almost any application.
With the use of desktop computers declining, more and more people are looking for devices that they can station at home but still move around the house easily if need be.
This post will educate you on what you can use a home laptop for, and the yardsticks to follow when you are considering a new laptop for home use. Let’s dive right in.
Why Do You Need A Laptop At Home
There are many reasons that you might need a laptop at home. Here are some of the top reasons why people need a laptop computer in their houses.
For gaming
Yes, people actually buy laptops at home to play games and why shouldn’t they? With the strides made in computer technology, computers are fast becoming the best consoles for gamers to play on.
Only make sure that the laptop you are buying is very gaming-friendly as using other options might not be the be the best for you.
For kids to do their homework
You might want to buy a laptop at home for your children to do their homework. Gone are the days when children had to wait until they get to secondary schools before they really needed a laptop.
These days, schools that know their onions have now included computer work in their pupils curriculum and even go out of their way to make sure that children do their assignments and turn in coursework on the internet.
This means that for the modern parent, getting a home computer should no longer be on your opportunity-cost calculations, it is a must-have.
For research purposes
If you are someone who works in the field of academic or any research-based field, then getting a laptop for home use should not be out of place.
If you talk to any writer, they will tell you that they normally get their best ideas when they are working in a non-conventional environment and there is no place that is non-conventional like the space that you live in.
So, you might want to get a laptop for your house in order to put those light bulbs to action.
To complete office assignments
A lot of us that work in the 9 to 5 routine truly know that work never stops. This means that you will always have to take work back home whether you like it or not.
If not anything, you will have the need of planning your week in advance during the weekends and you will need a computer to create plans on. A laptop will come in handy.
What To Consider When Buying a Laptop for Your Home Use
Computers have gone from luxuries to becoming a basic part of our lives right now. When laptops were introduced to the market, people wanted it because it offered what the desktop computer has not offered for years-convenience.
Today, having a personal laptop at home for home use is now more common than ever. In fact, it is very common. As we have already established, people need laptops in their houses for many reasons.
If you are looking to get a a laptop for home use and a laptop that can be used for different purposes, these are some factors that you will want to take into consideration.
RAM
Chances are that if you are looking for a laptop to buy, you probably know what a RAM is. But if you don’t know what a RAM is, let’s explain it in a concise way.
RAM is an acronym that for random access memory. According to Wikipedia; Random Access Memory (or simply RAM) is the memory or information storage in a computer that is used to store running programs and data for the programs.
Data (information) in the RAM can be read and written quickly in any order. Normally, the random access memory is in the form of computer chips.
Basically, the RAM of your laptop is what will dictate how much multitasking you can do and the speed of your laptop while multitasking.
If you are looking for a laptop with which you are going to be doing many things with at the same time, you want to start with a computer that has at least 4GB RAM. That way, you can be sure that your laptop will not slow down unnecessarily. If you are buying a laptop for gaming at home, you want to start with at least 8GB.
CPU
When it comes to central processing units or CPUs as they are more commonly known, Intel’s range of core-based CUs are the best options to go for.
Think of a CPU as the brain behind the functioning of your laptop so you do not want to choose just any brain right? The laptops with core i3, core i5 and core i7 are what you should be looking at when considering CPUs.
A core processor from intel generally offers the finest performance when it comes to multimedia tasks and multitasking activities.
Core i5 is the most popular processor inside mainstream computers, so we will advise that you stay within that range.
Core i7 systems are for people that want a system that is going to be handling a lot at the same time. But please note that due to the heavy load on core i7 most of the times, the heat that your laptop might emit from its base might be a cause for concern. This is especially true if you are going to be using your system on the lap a lot. If you have kids, the core i7 is probably not for you.
Keyboard quality
Keyboards should be an integral part of your decision making process for buying a laptop. This is even more true if you are going to be typing a lot in your house.
You don’t want keyboards that make you struggle to get some punctuation marks and at the same time you don’t want an overcrowded keyboard.
Any of these extremes can make you have a bad user experience so make sure that you test properly before buying. Also make sure that your keyboard has backlight as without it, you will struggle to type in a dimly lit area.
Size
Generally, when it comes to laptops, what you want to use the laptop for dictates the size of the laptop you should be going for.
Obviously, your personal taste is very important as well but on matters where your taste and the usability of the laptop clashes, the purpose of you buying the laptop should win.
Unlike the ROM and the RAM of a laptop, size is something that you cannot upgrade later, so make sure that you are making an educated decision when considering the size of the laptop that you are buying.
Laptops sizes normally begin from about 11.5 inches and variedly goes up to around 17.3 inches. Most original equipment makers (OEMs like Acer, H, ASUS and Dell generally like to offer three major display sizes starting from 17.3 inches, 15.6 inches and 13.3 inches.
But not that other OEMs may sell laptops that are different from the three major sizes mentioned above. They may sell laptop with display sizes 14 inches, 12.5 inches and 11.6 inches.
If you are concerned about how portable your laptop is, obviously you will have to go for a small sized windows laptop. They are generally lighter and thinner than the larger laptops.
If you are trying to get a laptop in this category, we will advise that you look for a laptop with either a screen size of 13.3 inches or 12.5 inches and measure between 1 kilogram and 1.5 kilograms.
The biggest thing to learn here is that when you are looking for a laptop, the best practice is to think about what you will be using the laptop for mainly.
With laptops, it is scarcely ever the case of one advising you to get a laptop when they don’t know what you are using the laptop for.
For the purpose of this post, if you are buying a laptop for home use, you probably want to buy a laptop with larger screens as the display will be better.
Screen quality
We can’t stress this enough; most of the time you will be spending on your laptop, you will spend staring at your screen. As a matter of fact, sometimes you may stare at your screen for hours at a stretch.
And since your screen is going to be an integral part of your laptop experience, you have to make sure that your screen is both comfortable to use and look at.
To kick things off, you will have to decide on a regular screen or a touchscreen. Touchscreens are getting more and more popular by the day, but remember, it might not be what you need right now.
Battery life
Many OEMs tend to wax poetic about battery life of laptops.
They claim that the specifications of batteries are rarely the true indicators of a laptop’s battery life and this is true as other factors like the number of applications that you have running in the background, your screen resolution, the screen brightness and your connectivity (wifi and bluetooth) dictate how long you are going to be using your battery for.
However, you can predict how long a laptop battery will last by looking at the operating system it runs on. As the OS that your chosen laptop operates on dictates its battery life to an extent.
The ultrabooks and convertibles for instance, generally have better battery life than systems running on windows 10 as ultrabooks normally run on Chrome OS.
A good practice while looking for a laptop system with a good battery life is to check the rating of the laptop’s battery in milliamp-hours usually marked as mAh. The higher the figure written, the longer the battery lasts.
Storage
The storage capacity of the laptop you are buying should be as important as the reason that you are buying the laptop.
If your household is going to be downloading and saving a lot of documents and videos on your laptop then you should be getting a laptop that has a lot of space.
Generally, in this clime, laptops internal storages start from 150Gb and go all the way to one terabyte.
Please note that if you really like a laptop and its storage unit seems to be too small, you can still go ahead and buy it as many laptops allow you to connect external storage units to which you can still save your files.
Connectivity
If you are making an upgrade from a desktop to a laptop, chances are that it is because you are tired of dragging wires and cables around.
And if this is your first time getting a computer, you still don’t many cables around your house right? Then you want to look for a laptop computer that has connectivity like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Having these connectivity properties make it a lot less stressful and easier when you have to connect to other devices and equipment around the house. You want a laptop that can connect your smartphones, your television and probably your music player.
These are some of the most important yardsticks that you look at when you are looking to buy a new laptop for your home use.
Please be informed that there are many brands in the laptop market that promise a lot of things that they don’t eventually don’t live up to. So you want to properly make your research before finally deciding on a brand.
Reading reviews on websites like our is a fantastic. Check through all the promised specifications and make sure that it is highly recommended by people that have already used the product you are considering.
Also make sure that the product is available in you local market. At the end of the day, you can’t like laptop that you can’t buy right?
