The ultimate guide to buying an affordable laptop
South Africans who are shopping for an affordable laptop have many options available to them.
So much so that many buyers end up making the wrong choice because they don’t know how to select a model that best suits their needs.
No-one wants to be that person with the slowest laptop – so you need to make sure you buy a laptop that offers the best performance in its class.
To help you find the perfect fit, we have produced a guide detailing key considerations.
Choosing the right processor
The processor is the most important consideration when it comes to an affordable laptop – so you need to make sure you make the right choice.
Almost all budget laptops use an Intel Celeron processor – but not all Celeron processors are built equal.
The N3000 series Celeron processors are the most common on the market, but though they are still widely available, the truth is they’re outdated.
Instead you’ll get far more value for your money by opting for the Celeron N4000 range, which is currently king of the budget laptop market. Here’s why:
The N4020 offers a massive 128% increase in effective overall performance in comparison to the N3050. This means it completes tasks for more quickly.
It also offers lots of other epic technical features, including:
- Improved integrated graphics. (Intel UHD Graphics 600 as apposed to Intel HD graphics)
- Support for DDR4 RAM, which has higher overall speeds (the N3000 series only supports DDR3).
- Twice the cache memory.
- Support for Windows 11 (the N3000 series only supports Windows 10).
All of this means that while your peers are waiting for ages for their laptops to turn on and for programmes to load, you’ll be speedily surfing the net or writing up documents with no hassles.
Additional considerations
There are several other things you should also keep in mind when buying a laptop.
First is the storage – and while 500GB HDD storage may look bigger and better, it is actually smarter to opt for a smaller SSD storage like a 128GB or 256GB SSD drive. This is because SSD storage is much faster, meaning your PC will boot quicker, and your applications will open faster.
You can access more storage space through the cloud and with external storage drives anyway – so rather choose a smaller but faster SSD than a bigger HDD with more storage space.
Next, you’ll want to consider the RAM your laptop needs. This is important because RAM stores the short-term information your computer is using, allowing you to access it quickly.
For an entry-level Celeron laptop 4GBs of RAM is the perfect balance between cost and performance. Adding an additional 8GBs of RAM doesn’t increase performance in any significant way, but dramatically affects the price point.
Finally, you should choose a brand that offers local service and support so that if your laptop has any problems, you can get it fixed quickly and effectively.
This will make sure you’re back up and running as soon as possible so you can keep enjoying your epic laptop that puts your friends’ devices to shame.
If you want to compare the performance of different laptops, you can also use userbenchmark.com to find which one is best.
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