Factors to consider when buying a laptop.

I think that there are 8 very important factors to consider when buying a laptop.

• First, you must consider the Cost. When you are buying a laptop you must always be aware of the cost. A good laptop can cost you anything from 300 euro to over a grand! Obviously as students our price ranges are at the lower end of that scale.

• Second, the weight of the laptop must be factored in. A laptop that is really heavy is not going to be useful to you if you're bringing it outside with you. You want a laptop that is light and easy to transport.

• Thrid, the size of the laptop must be considered. Laptops with a large screen are clearer and more defined compared to a small screen. However if you are only buying a laptop for irregular use, a large screen laptop is probably a waste of money. For us student's however, who are never off our computers, a large screen is a must.

• Fourth, the brand of the laptop is important. There are certain companies which are far superior to others in laptop development. I personally have an Acer laptop and I think it's the biggest mistake I ever made.
  

• Fifth, the speed of a laptop is very important. The average laptop now has 2gb RAM. Always a must for fast connections.

• Sixth, the memory of a laptop is important. Now however with external hard drives becoming cheaper and cheaper the actualy memory in a laptop is not as important. I will say however that it's imortant to save up for these external hardrives. A 16gb memory stick can cost you 45 euro in PC World. A terabyte hard drive can be bought for 80 euro in the Carphone Warehouse. Do the math, what's better value?

• Seventh, the compatibility of your software if very important. If you're lucky enough to be able to afford the newist technology you'll get a laptop with Windows 7. However, how many programs have been made that are compatable with the new software? Or, if I was to go to the other extream; what if you didn't have XP or Vista, what softwear is compatablt with programms older than them? As a student we don't have the money for the newest technology out there, however, will it cost us more to have tech that's not even up-to-date?
  

• Finally, the software that is on the laptop must be suitable to our studies. We must have word, powerpoint etc. These are software that are invaluable to us. We must have them on the laptop. How much will we spend getting these programes installed on our laptops or how much extra for that laptop to have them pre-installed?
  

These are all very important points to consider when buying a laptop I think.