Finding Cheap Laptops
Are you laptop shopping for a soon to be college student, or perhaps looking for a laptop to take on business trips? If so, you might surprised at how much prices have fallen recently on laptop computers. Cheap laptops used to be an oxymoron, but prices are becoming more affordable every year. While laptop systems are still typically more expensive than comparable desktop counterparts, the prices have really improved. Laptops can be found to fit almost any budget these days, whereas a few years ago a laptop was a real luxury.
The first question to ask yourself is what you intend to use this laptop for. Are you looking for a mobile way to keep notes, send email, write papers, etc? Basic needs such as this can be suited quite easily by cheap laptops. The processing and memory requirements of basic activities such as writing papers or web browsing are very minimal. In fact, operating systems are a far more demanding factor than such basic activities. Buying cheap laptops for simple school or communication needs is more about satisfying the requirements of Windows Vista than anything else.
Because of this, you may want to look elsewhere than the local electronics store for cheap laptops. Very cheap laptops with older operating systems can be found online that will still satisfy school and business related needs. Check online bidding or used electronics websites for listings of cheap laptops. If you decide to buy used, go through a trusted intermediary that can offer a limited warranty. Buying used involves some risk, but you can save a significant amount of money this way.
If you are buying a laptop with an intention to do any graphic design, video processing, audio recording, or gaming, you will want to spend a little more money. Cheap laptops are generally cheap because they are lacking a dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), or have a very limited onboard unit built into the motherboard. A GPU allows heavy mathematical operations to be done quickly. All of the above mentioned activities are very intensive mathematically. Cheap laptops may also have limited processing power and memory, although these components have generally fallen in price considerably in the past few years.
Any cheap laptop running Windows Vista should meet some minimum specifications. Although cheap laptops may run decently at first, Vista tends to bog down as more applications are added. To ensure an experience without frustration, it is best to work with machines that have at least one 1.6 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM, and 64 MB of video memory.
Anything less might work, but will lead to irritating slow downs and unreliable performance. If you intend to do gaming or other video processing, you should purchase a laptop with at least 128 MB video memory, preferably 256 MB if you can afford it. This will satisfy Vista and some light to medium intensity computing.
If you happen to be computer savvy, installing an alternate operating system such as Linux can allow for much cheaper laptops to be used. Lightweight Linux distributions can work with far fewer resources than their Windows and Apple counterparts. There are some drawbacks to this approach, in that many applications that you are used to using will not be compatible. If you want to go for the absolute cheapest solution, however, using a lightweight operating system like Linux is the best way to go. Installed on very cheap laptops, Linux can keep things running fast and smooth.
