It is now time to consider buying a Mac or a Windows laptop for a student friend who is about to enter a college campus. While tablets are handy for taking notes or looking at data, it's more helpful if you need to do a lot of paperwork like a paper, a full-sized keyboard, a large screen, and a desktop-level operating system, which laptops can provide. So, here are 8 tips for buying a student notebook that will help you choose the product that best suits you.
1. Choose an easy to carry size
Although 15-inch notebooks are often the cheapest, they are more suitable for use in stationary locations, so a 11-inch to 14-inch model is more portable. Among them, the 11-inch model is basically the most convenient to carry use, but for some friends will be somewhat small, so still need to choose according to their actual situation. Typically, 14-inch models are the cheapest and most diverse.
2. Fuselage design and material
Also important is the design and texture of the notebook, which you may need to carry on campus often, bulky design or too low-grade material, probably not the best choice. For example, a metal or carbon fiber top cover helps to better resist wear and protects the screen, and the top cover screen does not show water ripples. At present, the metal material is no longer the high-end commercial proprietary, such as Lenovo U310 touch version such as low-cost students have good workmanship and solid aluminum alloy fuselage, so we still have quite a lot of choice.
3. Try to choose better hardware configuration
This is not to say that you have to spend a lot of money on the top of the hardware configuration, but according to the budget, try to choose a better configuration, so that the notebook can get longer use time. For example, the current Intel fourth Daicouri processor Haswell new machine price may be more expensive, so you may choose the third Daicouri products, but try not to principle Pentium or Celeron processing, although they are cheap, but multitasking performance is often poor. As for AMD products, the A series can provide the mainstream performance, while the E series is low-end products, also need attention.
As for memory, 4GB is enough to use, but if you can find a notebook with 6GB or 8GB at the same price, it will be a better choice. The hard drive of a notebook computer is also very important and has a big impact on overall performance, so SSD will be the best option if the budget allows. If the traditional mechanical hard drive, 7200 rpm is necessary, in addition, if you have 16GB or 24GB cache, it will also help improve the speed of the system.
4. Consider the model with touch screen
The current mainstream notebook computers are equipped with Windows 8 system, so a touch-screen notebook will have a better use effect. At present, touch-screen notebook has been gradually popularized, including Asus Vivobook X202E, Lenovo U310 and other models such as the price is less than 4000 yuan.
However, if you want to get a better touch experience, consider a hybrid design laptop, such as Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S, Dell XPS 12, which can be used as a tablet when needed.
5. Guarantee at least 5.5 hours of endurance
When using a laptop, you are not always able to find a power outlet, so good endurance is also necessary. We believe that in the case of WiFi access, at least 5.5 hours of continuous use, such products are more suitable for students friends. It is worth mentioning that, although the price is more expensive, but the new 13-inch MacBook Air to achieve a 11-hour endurance, the current most long-lasting notebook computer.
6. Choose a good keyboard and touch pad
Basically, students need to use the notebook writing industry to write papers, so the need for a large number of typing input, notebook keyboard feel become very important. A keyboard with reasonable spacing, moderate keypad and good feedback can play a better role in daily typing and improve efficiency. In addition, also do not ignore the importance of the touchpad, to ensure that the handle smooth and not jerky, multi-touch operation, the left and right key is not too stiff, is the ideal choice.
7. Choose the right operating system
The operating system is naturally very important for computers, so consider this part when buying a notebook. The two most mainstream desktop systems are MAC OS x and Windows, if you want to buy an Apple-series notebook, consider first whether you'll get used to Mac OS X, because even if you can install a dual system on a MacBook, it's actually hardware designed for Mac OS X. In general, Apple is more secure and has better hardware design, while Windows is rich in variety and has more applications (especially games).
8. Do not exclude the choice of business notebook
Although many student friends may not consider business notebooks, in fact there are many good models in the product type, with a better keyboard, more durable design and a rich customizable choice, and the price is not particularly expensive. For example, Dell Latitude 3330 and Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E431 This two business, the price is less than 4000 yuan, you can also choose a higher resolution online screen, hard disk and long-lasting batteries, more autonomous.