Searching for an affordable laptop for research or dissertation writing is daunting in many ways. Almost everybody wishes to buy a laptop with high processing speed, good battery timings, large data storage capacity, and high screen resolution at an affordable price. Getting more features by paying less need several hours of online and offline research. Thus, this article will provide all the necessary information to help university students buy affordable laptops. It will discuss the features of affordable laptops that students are looking for and the basic functionalities that a system must-have. It will end with a brief description of pocket-friendly laptops and their features and examples.
1. What are students looking for while buying a laptop?
Buying a laptop without a clear picture of its specification in mind is undoubtedly very stressful, especially for students. Students often have very little information about the features and often buy a laptop that looks most beautiful in the shop. Moreover, what the student is looking for while buying a laptop depends on his/her class standard. Students of different ages have different needs that they consider while buying a laptop. Some students want high RAM storage for installing unlimited games, while others look for an affordable laptop that is fast and can quickly install all software they may need for the research. Thus, the priorities of students greatly reflect on their choice of laptops.
To understand the criteria for choosing the best laptop for students, we visited the office of The Academic Papers UK, known for the best PhD dissertation writing services. We checked their workstations and noted down some aspects. The following are some aspects that students consider while buying a laptop:
1.1. Affordability
When buying a laptop, a student first makes a budget and then searches for the laptop that best fits the budget. The budget reduces the number of options available. The amount of money in your pocket decides whether you want to buy a small handy gadget or a big machine. Thus, students first Google the price of laptops before making any buying decision.
1.2. Processing power
Processing power is another important feature of affordable laptops. University students who previously used laptops during their school know well about the processing power and prioritise it when buying a laptop. Furthermore, for research use or some programming tasks, students invest more in the powerful hardware.
1.3. Storage space
Students mostly purchase a laptop to conduct research and attend online lectures. The laptop with 256GB of storage is more than enough for these basic tasks. But, for programming, photography, and graphic designing, even 1TB storage space is not enough to store all files and software. Moreover, if a student’s budget is low, he/she can buy a low-storage laptop with a portable USB device that can solve most of the storage issues.
2. Basic Functionalities that the system must have?
What will be your next laptop is an important question for many of you. The name of the biggest laptop manufacturing companies includes Lenovo, HP, and Dell. Moreover, globally, laptop manufacturers produce 261 billion laptops. Searching for an ideal laptop from so many available options takes time. But you can reduce this time by considering basic functionalities that a system must-have.
-
Biometric security
Security is a prime feature that every system must-have. Fingerprints readers are great for securing all-important laptop files and documents. The Window Hello system works very well; like other forms, passwords can be guessed, but fingerprints cannot be copied. This feature is common in many new models of HP and Dell laptops.
-
Screen quality
The academic task often lasts longer and requires good quality time from students. The low resolution and flat-screen thus affect the performance and health of students. The good display qualities of laptops keep us comfortable and relaxed even after 12 hours of continuous work. Moreover, the touchscreen laptops are good options for students, but it adds glossiness to the screen-a drawback of the touchscreen. Good quality touchscreens do not add glossiness, but they are difficult for students to afford. Thus, the screen display functionalities also depend on a laptop’s market price.
-
Battery life
Battery life is one of the features of affordable laptops which students can never compromise on. Carrying chargers and data supply with laptops is difficult for a student while shifting classrooms for different lectures. Thus, powerful batteries (50 Wh to 60Wh) are among the basic functions a system must-have.
-
RAM
A few years later, a system with 4GB RAM was more than enough. But these days, we need at least 8 GB RAM if the sole purpose of buying the laptop is to complete academic tasks or attend lectures through zoom. Moreover, you must require 32GB RAM for the best experience to play HD quality games.
-
Nvidia Pascal Graphics
Suppose you want to play modern games like Oculus and HTC Vive on your next laptop, then its selection should be wise. The laptop must have a gaming rig with Nvidia Pascal chips. Thus, you can select a laptop ranging between GTX 1050 and GTX 1080 on the high end that will allow you to play AAA games.
3. Pocket-friendly laptops. Examples and Features”
In the past, students needed $1000 in their pockets for buying a laptop. But these days, many portable laptops are easy to carry, but you can also buy them for less than $500. Examples of these pocket-friendly laptops include full-featured Chromebooks and Windows 11 notebooks.
Chromebook
A Chromebook is a virtual desktop at which you can easily find and manage apps. It supports third-party android keyboard apps and has a customisable ‘super key’ on its keyboard. Apart from all, Chromebook also allows its users to make entire Goggle Drive folders available for offline use. It is pocket-friendly, and you can buy it for just $89 to $900.
Window 11 notebook
The list of Window 11 notebook exciting features includes:
- Mac-like interface
- Widgets (you can access widgets directly from the taskbar)
- Microsoft Teams integration (Mac, Android, and iOS)
- Good virtual laptop support
- It cost only $64.73
Bottom lines
For university students, the decision to buy affordable laptops is a bit difficult and needs a lot of things to be considered. First, students’ needs and requirements reflect whether they want a good affordable, handy laptop or a monster machine. Later, the basic functionalities like RAM, storage, battery timings, and other features should be kept in mind for making the right decision for purchasing a laptop. Apart from all, the notebooks like Chromebook and Windows 11 are better choices as they have almost all laptop and tablet functionality at an affordable price.
