Tips in Buying Laptop for Students (TIPS BELI LAPTOP UNTUK STUDENT)

    It's back to school season again and that probably means you need a new laptop. Whether you're a high school or college student, you need a laptop these days, especially if you're doing online learning. With this, comes the following question: how do I find the best laptop for me? Don't worry, kids. We're here to help.

1. Consider your courses

Different courses require different needs. Depending on your course, you might be able to get by with just using an inexpensive laptop, that only has the basic softwares such as Microsoft Office, Media Player and such.

However, if you are studying something that requires you to use softwares that are more graphic-intensive, you might need a laptop that has a better processor (like Intel Core i7), contains a lot of RAM (preferably 8GB or even 16GB), a much bigger storage (like 500GB solid-state drive or 1TB hard disk drive) and the latest graphics card. Of course, you can expect the price of such a laptop to be much more higher than an average one.

2. Consider the Screen-size

Screen size is important because it represents the overall size and weight of the laptop.

A laptop with 15.6 inches would not fit easily into a backpack. But if the laptop is smaller than 13 inches, it might be too cramped to put into a backpack.

Whatever size you pick, make sure you consider the weight as if it might get uncomfortable for you to bring it with you all day.

3. Is having a tablet and keyboard good enough for me?

First, ask yourself: Is it beneficial for me? Most students need a keyboard for taking notes and doing writing assignments, but do you need one that is removable? Not to mention, it would be a hassle if you lose or leave it behind at home accidentally.

At the same time, will you be fine with just a tablet in hand when you're in classes? Sure, it is portable, but how about the size of it? If it is too big, it would be a hassle to bring it with all day while if it is too small, the surface might be too cramped for comfort. Not to mention, a bigger tablet would be more expensive than a smaller one.

Consider all these questions and decide what would be best for you.

4. Don't worry about the storage

You've probably heard people telling you to buy a laptop/computer with the biggest storage you can afford. This may be right - once upon a time ago. These days, speed is better than size. This means it would be better for you to buy a laptop with a solid-state drive (SSD) rather than one with 1TB hard drive.

But now, you have to consider do you need a solid state drive with 256GB or can you get by with just 128GB? Remember, we live in a world with online clouds and drives such as Google Drive. You may not need to download media such as music or videos as you can just stream media from Spotify and Youtube. Documents also consume very little space and will probably be only in Google Drive.

5. Free Microsoft Office

If you are a student, you definitely need the basic softwares such as a word processor, a spreadsheet manager and a presentation builder for school work.

These days, you can get Microsoft Office for free if you have a valid school email address. Microsoft and iOS also offers free versions of these applications such as WPS Office. Lastly, you can just use Google Docs, which is definitely free.

6. When should I buy a laptop?

Sales season. That's when. You can go purchase a laptop when laptop manufacturers start offering back-to-school discounts and end-of-year sales on laptops and accessories.

To be extra safe, make sure there is a cash-back option when you shop for laptops. This can save you a bit of money, which is always good.

I hope you can use these tips when you are thinking of shopping for a laptop. Comment down below if you have any more tips or if these helped you in your shopping endeavours!