Important Features To Look Out For When You Buy A Cheap Laptop

If you are in the market for a cheap laptop, I am sure you will be asking yourself that question. As prices for laptops continue to fall every month, Laptops become cheaper yet more powerful and this is really good news for cheap laptop buyers. However if you have not been following computer technology, you can easily be swarmed by too much information. This guide aims to give you an idea what features you should look out for when you buy a cheap laptop that cost less than US$1000. Processor Most laptops have the capability to go wireless these days. Wireless allows you to sit far away from a network point and yet be able to surf the internet. With wireless capability, you can be surfing your favorite sites in the living room without all the ugly looking wires. At this price range, you can expect a laptop with mobile Pentium processor with speed from 1.4 GHz to 1.8 GHz. So aim for at least a 1.4GHz when you shop for a cheap laptop. Graphics Display Graphics display is important because it directly determines how fast a laptop displays information on the screen. Most laptops at this price range come with integrated graphics with memory size ranging from 64Mb to 128 Mb. You should always look for higher memory size so try to buy a cheap laptop with integrated graphics with at least a 128mb ram Hard Disk Most cheap laptops at this price range come with 60GB hard disk. A bigger hard disk means you can store more files in your laptop. Memory This is an important feature to look out for. Modern applications require a lot of memory resources to run. Look for at least 512 MB ram. Fortunately most cheap laptop these days come with at least 512MB. Optical Drive Expect your cheap laptop to have at least a CD-RW drive. CD-RW drive allows you to backup your files by writing onto a CD. As prices fall further, expect cheap laptops to include DVD / CD-RW drive in the near future. With DVD/ CD-RW drive, not only can you backup your files easily, you can even play DVD movies. With this information to prepare you, I hope you are clearer now when you shop for a cheap laptop.

How To Find Cheap Laptops For Cash-Strapped College Students

Copyright 2006 Titus Hoskins Finding a cheap laptop for college is an easy task. Laptop prices have fallen steadily over the last couple of years as marketplace competition heats up and production costs come down. You can now get a laptop for under $400. But you must proceed with caution - as that old expression on ancient maps stated: Here There Be Monsters! For you just don't want any old cheap laptop; you want a high quality machine that will offer good performance and won't go kapoots half way through the semester. You want a laptop that can accomplish all those student assignments and easily handle all those MP3 and movie downloads. In other words, the laptop you buy must be able to get the job done. You want a quality laptop that's relatively small and lightweight; yet sturdy and shock proof. You will need a laptop with a good comfortable keyboard for typing up all those assignments. You may have to purchase a tablet notebook if you need a laptop for a lot of note-taking in class. If you're buying a used or refurbished laptop you should have it checked out by a Laptop Technician or if this is not practical, bring along a friend who knows computers or laptops - there's a computer geek in every crowd. Finding a top quality laptop at a bargain price may take some work on your part so here are some suggestions to make your job easier: * Try Your Friends and Neighbors First, check around with your friends, neighbors and colleagues - many may have good quality laptops to sell or even give you! Why? Many people constantly upgrade to the latest laptop technology - Intel and AMD have just introduced laptops with Duo or Dual Core processors and many laptop enthusiasts are dishing their old perfectly good laptops for the newer faster sexier models. (Why does that sound so familiar!) So check around, you may be able to purchase a good second hand laptop for next to nothing. Or in exchange for work (lawn mowing, yard work...) or services (baby sitting, shopping...) offered over the summer. * Try Ebay Perhaps, the cheapest high quality laptops can be found on eBay. But again, you must check out carefully both the product and the seller. Make sure you do your homework and thoroughly check out the laptops before you buy. Make sure you don't end up with a useless monster! * Try A Refurbished Laptop You can save a bundle by buying a refurbished laptop directly from the major Laptop Manufacturers. These laptops offer very good quality at much cheaper prices. So check around for a refurbished laptop. * Try Online Bargain Stores Such as Buy.com You may want to check out the many bargain online stores or super sites such as BestBuy.com, TigerDirect.com, Buy.com and the countless others. These stores may also offer refurbished laptops, but keep your eyes open for those monsters. * Try Amazon Don't forget Amazon, they now sell new and used laptops at some very competitive prices. If you have any rich uncles or aunts (relatives) tell them you have an Amazon Wishlist - place a wish for a good laptop at the top. Hey, don't laugh - it happens! * Try Coupons And Rebates Recently, Dell, HP and a few other laptop makers have come out with $400 laptops after rebates or coupons. These are usually level entry laptops but may be perfectly fine for students. * Don't Forget To Haggle If you're buying a laptop from a favorite vendor or store - always ask for a discount or bargain. Many times haggling will get you a better price or some nice upgrades with a few extras thrown in. No harm in trying. * And Keep Those Eyes Open Purchasing a good quality cheap student laptop can be done if you try some of the places listed above. If you're on a very strict budget, most college students are, you can save a lot money by shopping around and using the advice given here. Just keep in mind, as you open your purse or wallet to buy that bargain student laptop, keep your eyes peeled for any monsters that may be lurking around.

How to find cheap laptop computers.

Ah yes, I want a laptop but I am not going to spend a couple of thousand dollars for one. Well guess what you don't have to. Laptop prices have come down dramatically over the past year alone and they will continue to do so as technology advances. But the trick here is to find good quality laptops that fit your needs at the cheapest prices available today.

I would say that there probably is a store near you right now that has cheap laptop computers. In fact, many stores already have them. The reason being, like any other new product, laptops were once considered the cream of the crop in the computer world which made them very expensive. However, all that has changed now. Laptops are a dime a dozen! The hand held digital assistants, Bluetooth cell phones and tablet pads are the new rage making laptop computers cheap.

Now, don't get me wrong, this does not mean that they are cheaply made. Thanks to the wonders of the technological cycle, laptop computers are decreasing in price as their capabilities rise. Of course, there are the latest and greatest monsters out there that are made for gaming or high powered multimedia applications and these babies still cost a pretty penny.

But for the average user, you can find cheap laptop computers that provide all the power you need and then some. Every major manufacturer out there, like Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, and IBM have their lower end and intermediate models that come with more than enough speed and usability.

Now here is the key to finding the right cheap computer laptop for you, and that is to figure out exactly what you need it for.

Are you going to use it mainly for surfing the web or word processing? Do you need it to work from home or mainly to save your MP3s and digital pictures?

Ok, so now you have an idea of what you want to use your laptop for. Now lets go out shopping and compare. You can visit any of the top manufacturers websites or visit your local store and find their low end or intermediate models that may suit your needs. The three top components of a computer you want to look for is the hard drive size, memory, and processor speeds and take notes of each model you find on each component and model.

The hard drive, you can consider this the brain of your computer, this is where all your files, applications and folders are stored. If you plan on using your computer for MP3s and digital pictures your hard drive should be large since these files are usually very large. I personally would look at 80gb as minimum.

Next would be the memory, memory can be considered the thought processes of your computer. As a minimum I would look at 512mb but if you plan on using your laptop for gaming of course this should be much larger, in the area of 1 to 2gb. Now memory is used whenever a program or application is running. So the more memory you have the faster your computer can process the program.

And finally your processor, now your processor is just that it processes all the inner workings of how each program runs. The faster the processor is, the faster the program instructions are processed. Again if your looking for a laptop for gaming uses you want your processor with high speeds 2ghz or more. For other uses you can go less.

Other parts of the computer to also consider are the ports involved that can connect your computer to your digital camera or your mp3 player for example. You also want to check that your laptop has wireless and broadband connectivity. Many cheap computer laptops today already come with this but you want to make sure or you will have to pay additional, for example, a wireless card to install in your laptop to have this capability.

7 Tips For Buying Cheap Laptop

Laptops are gaining in popularity these days. Almost everyone is carrying one now either for work or entertainment. Laptops with the latest technology are introduced to the market everyday and these new laptops come with a huge price tag. However, that does not mean you cannot get a good and cheap laptop. I have put together a guide that may help you out in your hunt for a cheap and good laptop.

Buy cheap laptop with older technology

Rapid advance in technology makes it meaningless to buy the latest technology at a high price. When laptop with wireless capability first came to the market, a unit with this technology can cost up till US$2500. NOw after 2 years, you can get a relatively fast centrino laptop for less than US$1000

Buy used or refurbished laptop
The depreciation of a laptop value is so high, that after one year in the market, a laptop can easily lose half its value. So if you are looking for a cheap laptop, look for one which is close to one year old. Not all used laptop are in bad condition. You will be surprised to find that some used laptops are still in good condition because their owners are power users or gamers.

Buy laptop from power users or gamers
I like to buy electronic gadgets including laptops from hard core power users or gamers. Let me share with you why. Gamers or power users usually require the latest and most powerful technology to run their games or power hungry applications. They often will not settle for second best. They also have the tendency to chase after the latest technology. So after one year, they will be bored of what they have and will look to sell off their laptops so that they can buy a new one. Now if you are looking to buy cheap laptops with up to date technology and you happen to have friends who are gamers, do ask them if they are looking to sell off their laptops. Who knows, maybe you can buy a good and cheap laptop from them.

Scan through gaming forums and local gaming community
if you do not already have friends who like to play computer games, then scanning through gaming forums on the internet is another way to get good and cheap deals for used laptop. Internet makes it easy for you to do this. Go to google.com and start searching for gaming forums. Visit each and everyone and see if they have a Trading Section. You will definitely find many post from gamers looking to sell their gaming laptops.

Scan through local bulletin boards
Do scan through local bulletin boards near you for cheap deals on laptop.Especially if there are software companies around the area. Software companies do offer their used computers or laptops for sale when their software projects end. I personally had gotten a few good deals for my family and friends.

Look for cheap laptop with at least 512mb memory
This is especially important for used laptop. If the processor speed is slow, then having more memory can compensate for the lack in speed. In fact, The size of memory plays a big part in determining how fast a laptop runs an application. Just by increasing the memory size, you can see a huge difference in speed. A cheap laptop with at least 512mb memory can run most non graphic intensive application easily.

Get cheap laptop from reputable manufacturer
This is very important because if you are buying used laptop, then the chances of requiring servicing is higher than a new laptop. So if you buy from a reputable manufacturer, you will save alot of trouble and time if your laptop do require servicing.