Choosing a laptop for your online education!

Alright! Finally, here with another post of the "Choosing a gadget" series. In this post, let's choose a laptop for your online education. 

Why laptops?

Sometimes it's not possible to get have all the things with just one device (maybe a tablet or iPad). For instance, with a touchscreen, it may get clicked on some other answers in your online exam, or maybe you aren't able to do video editing on the best software. Well, all of these are because of compatibility issues. Tablets or smartphones use their own Android, iOS, or iPadOS, but our world is not optimized in that way. So, there might be some software incompatibility issues as many of the online/ offline software are optimized for laptops. And this is where the problem arises. In many cases, the tablet or smartphone may not be able to handle the performance-intensive tasks properly (except the PRO versions). And also it is a bit hard to find video editing software for tabs. Now in those cases, the laptop comes to the rescue.

"We say, what you buy should be based on what stuff you'll do with that, either buy it nice or buy it twice." 

Based on information from Tech Gear Talk

Firstly, keep in mind that even if you're looking for a laptop for your study, you have to pick a good laptop with good features. Otherwise, you'll not be able to do a single task seamlessly with it. So, if you're thinking to get a laptop by applying a low-to-high sort filter, change your mind. We'll look into each and every feature & specification that you'll need in your study. 

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by any brand.

Budget

Let's talk about budget first as it's one of the most important things to consider while buying a laptop. As per your budget, the specifications can also vary. We'll divide the specifications into different budgets.

1. Storage (ROM)

One of the most important things to check while buying a new laptop is storage. Storage is mainly of two types, HDD & SSD. You can know more about them from the 1-min video embedded below:

HDD & SSD are internal storage disks. SSD stands for Solid State Drive & HDD is Hard Disk Drive. 

The HDD has movable parts & it has a lower processing speed. On the other hand, SSDs are faster solid disks. Ok, now you know all the basics about HDD & SSD. As a student, you may need a lot of storage for storing your files. There are three best options available for you.

• You may buy a laptop with a lot of HDD space & a little SSD space. (lower price) This is a.k.a. a Hybrid laptop.

• You may buy a laptop with only an SSD (laptop works better) & an external HDD.

• You may buy a laptop with a lot of SSD space. (higher price)

Alright! You may already know these HDD & SSD spaces are calculated in GBs & TBs. There are some best storage options for you!

• Hybrid laptops: 1TB (1024 GB) good laptop will cost around 42K. It kind of works nicely.
• SSD only (lower): 256 GB good laptop will cost around 40K. It works better.
• SSD only (lower): 512 GB good laptop will cost around 45K. It also works amazingly.
• SSD only (higher): 1TB (1024 GB) good laptop will cost around 65K. 
• SSD only (higher): 2TB (2048 GB) good laptop will cost around 160K.

After buying an SSD-only laptop, if you still need more space, buy an external disk that you can connect to your laptop.

• External HDD: Good external 256GB HDDs will cost around 2-5K
• External SSD: Good 256GB external SSDs will cost around 5-10K

If you're thinking about which one will work better, Assortopic recommends the SSD-only laptop. HDD laptops will also work about the same. But, you know what, it may struggle in performance-intensive tasks and it is less durable too. However, it's totally as per your choice what do you think.

2. Storage (RAM/ Unified memory)

Another type of computer memory is RAM which determines the performance of your computer. So, don't skip this! RAM stands for Random Access Memory which can be around 10GB. The performance of your device depends on the processor & RAM. We'll talk about the processor after some time. Now, let's talk about RAM. The more your device's RAM will be (not only for laptops), the better the performance will be. 

Buy a laptop with more or equal to 8 gigabytes of RAM.  The 8GB laptops are the most affordable. All the laptops mentioned in the previous point (ROM) have 8GB RAM. So, the lowest prices are the same. If you want to do more powerful tasks with your laptop, go for a higher RAM. But don't buy a laptop with less than 8GB RAM.

3. Processor (CPU)

Processor is the most important thing to consider when buying a new laptop. The computer processor is basically the CPU with some other components like GPU. The most popular laptop processor makers are Intel, AMD & Apple. Let's see which gives us the highest and lowest performance. We'll sort the performance in ascending order.

• Intel i3 (Lowest Performance)
• AMD Ryzen 3 (Better)
• Intel i5
• AMD Ryzen 5
• Apple M1 Chip 
• Intel i7
• AMD Ryzen 7
• Intel i9 
• M1 Pro  
• AMD Ryzen 9
• M1 Max (Best Performance) 

Now, let's see the price.

• Intel i3 good laptops will cost around 40K
• Ryzen 3 good laptops will cost around 43K
• Intel i5 good laptops will cost around 52K
• Ryzen 5 good laptops will cost around 50K 
• Intel i7 good laptops will cost around 70K
• Ryzen 7 good laptops will cost around 90K
• Apple M1 Chip laptops start from 92K
• Intel i9 good laptops will cost around 180K
• Ryzen 9 good laptops will cost around 120K
• Apple M1 Pro & Max laptops have prices starting from ~250K & ~350K respectively, this is for the pros.

Before selecting the processor, you should also check your budget. A the same time, you shouldn't go for the lowest performance processor. So, which one should you buy? It's based on what work you're gonna do with your laptop.

• Intel i3: Light works like attending meetings, viewing files. 
• Ryzen 3: Same as i3.
• Intel i5: Productivity items like creating documents & presentations, light video editing. (Best for students)
• Ryzen 5: Same as i5.
• Intel i7: Good editing, gaming, working with graphics.
• Ryzen 7: Good video editing, gaming, working with graphics.
• Apple M1 chip: All-rounder!
• Intel i9: All-rounder!
• Ryzen 9: All-rounder!
• Apple M1 Pro & M1 Max chip: Professional device! Amazing video editing, smoothest performance with advanced graphics.

So, the processor you need is totally based on the work you're gonna do with your device. 

4. Display

It's a very important thing even if you're gonna skip it! Think of a computer without a display. Impossible, right? So, this display works with your eye, it must be good. I ain't gonna describe it in detail. Displays are of many types, sizes & aspect ratios. Make sure that you pick your laptop with the correct display!

Let's talk about the size. You may want a larger screen to watch videos, movies & get your work done nicely. But, think about it. For this, you have to learn a little about resolutions. When you will look very close to a display, you will find some dots from which the light is coming. They determine the image quality or resolution of the display itself. If you zoom close enough, you will only be able to see three colors, red, green, and blue (though it is not visible directly by the naked eye). These three colors make up your entire display!

The more pixels will be there on the display, the more the display quality will be. A display is considered as FHD when it has a resolution of 1920 by 1080. This is okay. 

Some special laptops come with Super AMOLED displays too. Now, that is a different thing where you will not have any RGB throughout the true black region of the display.

Apple offers you True Tone where it adjusts the color and brightness of light based on the environment. It has ambient light sensors throughout giving it the adaptive brightness just like your mobile phone.

Another factor is the refresh rate of the display. The refresh rate of the screen doesn't matter when you do not do a lot of scrolling or just do regular tasks. There are three popular types of refresh rates out there.

• 60Hz: This is the most common display refresh rate but not the most advanced. This is the slowest refresh rate in the current electronic gadgets. The pixels in these devices will update a bit slower and that will create a bit of blurry effect while scrolling.

• 90 Hz: This is popular in mid-range devices but not that much in laptops. It is faster than 60Hz but not that much smooth.

• 120Hz: This is a bit difficult to find laptops of this smoothness as it is a new technology slowly spreading in the tech industry. So, there is no need of spending a lot of extra money to get a higher refresh rate though I agree that it is the best. It does not matter. :)

Now you know about the resolution and aspect ratios. Let's learn about display sizes. How do we calculate it? The display size is normally calculated diagonally.

Laptop display sizes are mostly 13 inches- 16 inches. Now, instead of buying a 14 inch 4K display, why will you buy the 15.6-inch FHD (Full High Definition) display laptop? 14 inches is enough for a laptop. But, if you use your laptop mostly to watch videos like a TV, will you go for the 15.6 version? According to me, you shouldn't. A good quality display allows you to experience the true color of a video. Only bigger screens aren't always best.

Some laptops have a touchscreen that helps you to use your laptop like a big smartphone. These laptops are known as 2-in-1 laptops. These laptops are normally more expensive than regular laptops. But when you pick a 2 in 1 laptop, don't go with the cheaper version. As the performance may decrease, there will be no fun with the touchscreen at all. Huh?

5. Battery

The battery is also one of the important things to keep in mind while buying a laptop. But unlike storage & processor, it is not so much important. A laptop should theoretically have at least 10 hours of battery backup. Based on your practical usage this may go up to 5 to 12 hours. But it varies according to the manufacturers. MacBooks by Apple have the best battery backup no matter what you're doing. Instead of battery backup time, you may also see a battery cell number. The more cell your laptop battery will have, the more battery backup it will provide.

So, you can understand that you have to specify your requirements and pick one laptop out of these hundreds. Here are some laptops: 

Best Budget i5 Laptops (50K-60K):

ASUS X515JA-EJ562TS (512GB+8GB): https://cutt.ly/fE875Dq
RealmeBook Slim (512GB+8GB): https://cutt.ly/VE85ku0
HP 15s-FQ2071TU (512GB+8GB): https://cutt.ly/aE85QfE

Professional Laptops (60K-100K):

ASUS Ryzen 7 Octa Core (512GB+8GB): https://cutt.ly/ME85532
MacBook Air M1 chip (256GB+8GB): https://cutt.ly/3E86lBi
Dell Inspiron Core i7 (512GB+8GB): https://cutt.ly/qE86RXQ

Why Macs?

Macs are designed for productivity. When you compare a Mac with a Windows, a Mac will always win. As it is having all of its components from Apple, including the software MacOS, its chip with great performance & so on.

In case you want to go with Mac, you'll get a 10% discount when you buy from Apple's official website.

Visit https://apple.co/3nwoId2 to select your Mac according to your budget and needs.

Go to https://apple.co/33neNiU and select the chat option and ask a specialist for product purchase. Type that you want to avail the student offer. Tell your preferred customizations and model name. Tell your email ID. They will send you a link with a 10% lowered price, you can buy the product from there.

The links mentioned above are just for giving you an idea. They ain't affiliate links and Assortopic will not get any commission from them.

Wish you get the best laptop for you! Hope it was helpful.