Buying a laptop can either be very “personal” or “business” oriented ordeal. The personal side of things doesn’t just limit to the specs and built quality of the laptop … but the “look and feel” of it as well. Literally, until how the keyboard, lights and possibly even the colour at the underside of the laptop matches with one’s table and possibly shoe or maybe the floor 🙄 .Nevertheless, you cannot really fault someone one for taking it “personally” 🙂 It is called a “personal computer” anyway :roll:.
With all the mumbo-jumbo in specs, brands and warranty coverage … one can easily get overwhelmed by it. Plus with emotion rojak-in, one’s decision making tend to be skewed towards “personalisation” instead of what’s “right for me”. Keep purchasing of your laptop simple. 2 important criteria to decide. Built quality vs Specs. Which one is more important to you? It cannot be both. Budget comes secondary …
Built quality gives you the “look, feel and durability” when handling the laptop either in harsh conditions or “being man-handled” :). Eg: are you a rough user (like handling a tennis ball) or a very careful user (like handling a fragile glass). Generally, commercial laptops are built with better “materials” vs consumer grade laptops. Eg: Dell latitude vs inspiron series laptop, IBM / Lenovo Ideapad vs Thinkpad, and many more.
Specs gives you the performance in running applications, presentations and productivity. A person using it for designing 3D vs just typing word documents, would have different specs requirements. The processor, ram, hard drive (type and size), graphic card and other features plays a part in the pricing of a laptop.
With a budget, you may end up having to compromise between built quality vs specs. By prioritizing the more important criteria, you’ll be able to make better decision.