These days, back-to-school shopping is about more than just keeping your kids’ backpacks stocked with pencils and notebooks. For many it will include the decision to purchase some type of computer; either in the form of a desktop, laptop, or tablet. With such a wide selection to pick from it might seem like a daunting task for people to find what they need for the price they want.
First thing you might want to do is familiarize yourself with all the categories that now exist from which you can pick from. Some of the more common categories are laptops, desktops, Ultrabook’s, Chrombooks, hybrids, and tablets. Each of these categories represents different types of computers all ranging in size, battery life, and operating systems.
From there you will want to determine your needs and wants. Some questions you can ask yourself are:
- Do you want to be portable?
- Do you need long battery life?
- What size screen will you need?
- Will you need a physical keyboard?
- Will you need a DVD/CD?
- What kind of budget do you have?
- What kind of warranty does it offer?
Desktops seem to be around the longest coming in at various prices, sizes, and speeds. Most of the time they come bundled in with a monitor, mouse and keyboard.
Laptops would be considered your traditional portable computer coming with a built- in optical CD/DVD drive along with all of your other standard input/output connections. Certainly, one of the more popular and affordable computer categories to pick from.
Ultrabooks are usually very slim, more powerful notebooks that normally do not come with an optical drive and tend to have less port connections. They are normally considered part of the higher-end computers and because of that come at a much more expensive price. Usually for people who are on the go but need to have a light computer with lots of horsepower to get things done.
Hybrids are normally computers that bridge the gap between a traditional small laptop and a tablet. It will normally look like a tablet in form factor along with a touch screen but have all the options to use as a standard notebook as well. Perfect for someone who wants the portability of a tablet and the convenience of a notebook in one. Most of the time you will have to purchase a separate keyboard with them.
Finally Chromebooks run Google’s ChromeOS rather than Windows giving you only the option to use the notebook from within Google’s web browser. This means that a dedicated Internet connection is preferable when using this very light weight and very affordable notebook. Good for people who use all of Google services, always have a wifi connection and looking for a cheap price.
Software needs and the type of operating operating system installed on the device could affect your decision as well. Windows, Mac, and Chrome OS can be mainly found on the desktops, laptops, and ultrabooks while IOS, Android and windows can be found on many popular tablets.
Depending on your needs and wants, many times there is software bundled onto the computer so other than wanting customized software you can probably get what you need by finding it and downloading it online for free.
Usually this time of year many stores are offering reduced back-to-school pricing, gift cards, and special bundled software that would usually cost extra so don’t be afraid to ask the sales clerk if there are educational discounts or specials associated with the item you intend to purchase.
Future Shop has a buying guide for both laptops and tablets and does a good job breaking down all of the specifics.
The laptop guide can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/futureshop1-2
and the tablet guide can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/futureshop3-4
Leave a Reply