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The Home User
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WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- Intel Celeron , Pentium or Core2Duo / i3 Processor
- At
least 1GB RAM
- Windows
XP / VISTA / 7
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160GB or larger HDD
- 14”-16"
Screen – Keeping it portable, while large enough to
read
- Antivirus
– Security & Management
- Microsoft
Office Professional – Word, Excel, Powerpoint |
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You're the typical home
user, keeping your laptop at home to surf the internet, make a few
word documents or assignments, listen to music and watch some
videos. Occasionally you will take the laptop out of the house when
you go to a friend's house, or maybe to lend to the kids. You're
after a mainstream laptop which will be fast yet affordable,
and long-lasting.
Home users typically look
for a Pentium or budget Core2Duo dual-core processor because it's
fast and inexpensive. You're not asking complex things from your
laptop, so you're fine with at least 1GB RAM and 160GB Hard Drive (HDD)
which still offers you lots of space. And, you want a laptop which
is future proof - so you look for a laptop which is
compatible with Windows 7. Your laptop will be around 15" which is
fast becoming the mainstream laptop size.
All in all, these specs
are the most cost-effective pairing of components while still
offering you good speed, which means the best bang for your
buck.
The Business User
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WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- Pentium or Core 2 Duo Processor / i3 Processor
- 2GB-4GB
RAM
- Windows
7 or Windows Vista – Reliability & Security
-
160GB or larger HDD
- 12”
to 15” Screen – Keeping it portable, while large
enough to read
- Antivirus
– Security & Management
- Microsoft
Office – Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Publisher,
Outlook |
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In this arena, you are motivated by the saying Time is Money.
And so, business users generally require a sturdy and stable
system to try and eliminate downtime due to repairs.
Business customers look for sturdy, reliable
laptops which safeguard data. You, like most business users, will be
taking your laptop to and from work, and that means you will look
for laptops between the 12” to 15” mark, purely because they are
portable.
Pentium and Core 2 Duo processors are fast brains
designed to speed through internet and document usage. Pair this
with a Windows 7 or Vista based operating system, with adequate RAM
and a decent Hard Drive (HDD) and you will have a laptop which is
secure and fast.
The Student
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- WHAT
TO LOOK FOR
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Any processor – determined by your budget. Look for
the Intel Atom or the Intel Celeron Processor if
you're on a tight budget.
- At
least 1GB RAM
- Windows
XP, Vista or 7
- 14” or less screen - portability
- 160GB
or larger HDD
- Microsoft
Office & Antivirus – Security and Education
- MSN,
Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Mobile Broadband, Facebook,
Emailing |
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You have a limited budget and you need a laptop which
will do work and surf a little internet. And so, Student users look
for budget laptops which tick the most boxes possible.
A 10” laptop, with a single-core Intel Atom
Processor, 1GB RAM and 160GB HDD gives you a laptop with lots of
space, and fast enough to take you onto the web, MSN and typing
assignments. Laptops in this size are small and therefore you can
expect this kind of laptop to be very easy to carry between
classes, to and from school.
Meanwhile, a 13”-14” laptop is a little chunkier,
but offers you more processing power in the Celeron or Pentium
dual-core processors. These laptops often have more RAM and HDD,
which means you’ll have more space to store your files, and more
speed to do all you want at the same time. On a laptop like this,
you will surf Facebook, chat on MSN and write Word documents at the
same time with ease.
Photo / Video Editing
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- WHAT
TO LOOK FOR
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Core 2 Duo Dual-core processor T6600 2.2GHz / i3
2.13GHz Processor or more.
- At
least 4GB RAM
- Windows
XP or 7
- 15” or more screen
- 320GB
or larger HDD
- Antivirus
– Security
- MSN,
Facebook, Emailing, Photoshop, Premiere |
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You like to take lots of photos, cropping them and adding fun
effects to them so you can send them to friends or add to your
collection. Or maybe you like to take lots of videos, cutting them
with old footage and adding your own voice-overs and graphics
effects. You are the photo / video editor and you need a powerful
system.
We recommend a laptop at
least 15" in size because it is large enough to see all of your
work. These laptops are designed with you in mind - powerful,
fast and robust. You will need at least 4GB RAM so you have
the capacity to do lots of things at once. You will need a processor
which can handle billions of calculations at once, and so you will
want at least a Core 2 Duo dual-core processor to drive that. And
finally you want at least a 320GB Hard Drive (HDD) so you have lots
of space to store all your photos and videos.
This kind of a laptop will
suit programs such as Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere, Pinnacle
Studio, Vegas Movie Studio.
If you are editing on a tight budget, then we
seriously recommend looking at a Desktop computer with an added
graphics card. For the same money, you will often buy a faster
computer, which does wonders for your editing. Or for the same spec,
you will spend less money than on a laptop. But, of course, the
trade-off of course is that you lose portability.
Gaming
/ AutoCAD
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- WHAT
TO LOOK FOR
-
Core 2 Duo Dual-core processor P8700 2.5GHz / i5
Processor or more.
- At
least 4GB RAM
- Windows
XP or 7
- 15” or more screen
- 320GB
or larger HDD
- NVIDIA / ATI graphics card at least 512MB
- MSN,
Facebook, Emailing, Games, AutoCAD, Photoshop,
Premiere |
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You're really into
shooting games like Call of Duty or Counterstrike. Or maybe you're
designing 3D buildings for your university course or workplace.
You're going to need a laptop which is fast, powerful and
capable of handling 3D graphics.
We recommend a laptop with
a powerful processor and graphics card combo. You will need at least
a Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz P8700 processor with 4GB RAM to handle all of
the 3D you'll dish out to the laptop. But also, the laptop will need
a graphics card at least 512MB in size by NVIDIA or ATI (we find
there isn't a great difference between manufacturers, as long as the
card has enough MB). Finally, get a laptop at least 15" in size
because it's large enough to see all of your work.
This gets you a laptop
which will suit gaming, AutoCAD as well as virtually
any other program you can get your hands on.
If you are gaming or designing on a tight budget,
then we seriously recommend looking at a Desktop computer with an
added graphics card. For the same money, you will often buy a faster
computer, which does wonders for your designing.
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