Buying Guide: Things to Look for When Buying a Laptop!

Laptop is becoming a thing of office commodity than rather a necessity and it is one of the most important things for professionals who need to be connected with people around them. The good news is that the computer industry of Pakistan has grown exponentially and we have more products and computers especially laptops than ever before.

With a large variety of laptops in the market buying the right one can be a tiring and daunting task. Before you start-off you should know what exactly you be looking for to keep yourself on the right track. Ok so to start with, keep these three simple rules in mind when you head to the market

Three Simple Rules of Buying a Laptop under a Budget:

1. Design is Not Always the King – Don’t let design and shinny surface distract you.
2. Never Ask Too Much – Buy what you need and not what you want.
3. Save Some Money to Buy Laptop Accessories – It is always wise to save some money on a laptop to buy accessories such as laptop bag, cooling pad and optical mouse.

Here is What Exactly You Should Be Looking for

Screen Size

It is crucial to have the right screen size of your laptop because you will of course look stupid closing-in to the screen of your laptop because you can’t read a thing. An 11.6-inch screen would be ideal for students because it is an average display size and you will get plenty of charge time for laptops with such screen sizes. You can also go for a 13-inch screen for better viewing, which is considered as a mid-size screen.

A 13-inch screen is not the best screen size for graphic designers, engineers or office professionals but it is a rather average size on which you can work all day comfortably. Go for a 15 or 17 inch screen if you have a good budget as these are mainstream sizes. A laptop with a 15-inch screen has an average weight and is ideal for people who usually carry it between office and home.

Processor

AMD and Intel are two major (or probably only options in Pakistan) processors manufacturing companies. Although AMD is popularly infamous for heating up PCs but it certainly has some advantages over Intel. You will find some laptops running on AMD processors but most new laptops in Pakistan come with Intel processors which leave us with it as the only option.

If you have a fair budget I recommend you buying a used laptop rather than a new one because most new laptops come with an Intel i3 or higher processor starts with a price tag of PKR.40,000 and above. You can still find some used laptops running on Intel core2duo processors but I suggest that you look for dual-core so that you can enjoy Microsoft Vista and new software updates.

Fortunately, there are still many people who aren’t ready to switch to i3 or higher processors and you can still find new notebooks and laptops running on Pentium and Celeron processors.

Samsung and Dell are two good brands to follow which manufacture new laptops running on Pentium or Pentium Atom probably 1.5-1.8GHz processors, and they usually have 320GB hard drives and 15-inch LED screen.

Features

Once you have narrowed down to a laptop that attracts you, look for its features such as add-ons like hard drive, battery time and keyboard. The storage space of 500GB is considered as standard hard drive storage size and it will keep you relieved for years before you run out of space.

A brand new laptop can easily give you battery time of up to 2-hours or more but a used laptop can give you up to 90-minutes of battery time or less. Replacing the battery of the laptop with a new one is also a good idea which will give a boost of backup to your laptop.

Next check the keyword and its simplicity. Some laptops have their English keywords aligned to left which is not a good thing especially for people who types a lot. Having a keyword not aligned in the center of the screen will cause you discomfort in typing as your right hand will bend to left – make sure it is aligned centered. Secondly, some small laptops don’t have a separate numeric keypad but rather top numeric keys alone.

Depending upon your typing habits, find a keyword that works best for you and size of your hand.

Add-ons

I love looking for add-ons because they really ease your work on laptop. A laptop should have a DVD-RW, at least three USB ports, HDMI outlet, 3.5mm audio outlet, a microphone, webcam and everything else you find in it.

But for older laptops and mini notebooks you won’t find a DVD-RW or a webcam because of their small size and low prize – depending upon your usage and preferences you can go for laptops with fewer features to fit your budget. Some free gifts also add some attraction to a product and things such as a free cooling pad and bag make a good deal.

Verdict

Keep aforementioned three simple rules in mind when you visit a laptop store and look for these features and specs. Buying a laptop is no rocket science but it does require some knowledge about computers and you should know what exactly you should be looking for.

Author is a freelancer, and the co-founder and managing editor ofwww.ZindagiMag.com – A complete online Pakistan lifestyle magazine where he discusses everything tech and what’s happening in Pakistan. Follow him athttp://www.facebook.com/zindagimag to get latest updates.

HTC Disappoints Again by Not Updating One S

One of Android’s biggest problems is the sheer number of devices running on versions below Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.

About 40% of Android devices still run on versions 2.3 and 2.2 and the manufacturers mainly are at blame here.

Yet, what’s most irritating is that even the largest of Android smartphone makers are neglectful of their customers by not updating Android Software on their phones after launch.  HTC, one of the larger companies of the market is no exception. They’ve already had a long history of broken promises and failure to update phones.

According to Google’s policies, an Android-running device receives updates for at-least 18 months after launch, which makes its HTC One S, one of the first phones and flagship of the One series eligible to receive updates. And after all, there’s no questioning, the hardware is more than capable. But still, HTC has no plans to update the OS for HTC S by despite only 15 months have passed since its release.

The One S however is not the first HTC phone to have been stripped of its bragging rights in such a way. Several of their phones; the Sensations, Thunderbolt, Desire HD, Desire S, Incredible S and the original Facebook phones; all have been denied updates on numerous occasions.

The importance of the OS updates is mainly due to the fact that they bring new features & interface, nitpicks out bugs & security flaws and add more value to the overall package. They also increase the resale value of a product.

And unfortunately, HTC isn’t the only company to do this to their customers, even though they are undoubtedly among the largest. A lot of companies, especially Chinese manufacturers are known to do the same too. And this is also the main reason why Gingerbread remains one of the biggest Android versions.

Android changed radically after Gingerbread. Ice Cream Sandwich made the OS look mature and took out several fundamental flaws from it. As long as Gingerbread’s there, Android won’t be changing and hence its flaws.

No matter how much you may loathe at Apple and Samsung for their deficiencies, you simply cannot deny the fact that they are at the top when it comes to updating phones and providing customers with optimum support. Apple has only now declared the original iPhone 2g obsolete and updated iPhone 3GS to iOS version 6. Samsung on the other hand improved their rate of rolling updates out quite radically starting from Galaxy S II after messing things up quite badly with the original Galaxy S.

HTC, by not updating a high-end phone has placed its own future in the uncertain. The question which looms now is that whether its current flagships will be updated or not, or will the customers who spend their hard-earned money be upset again.

Windows 8 is Now the 3rd Most-Used PC OS

Microsoft’s latest Windows 8 has finally overtaken Windows Vista to get a place on the podium of all PC operating systems. The new OS edged out Vista to get 5.10 percent of user share.

According to this new report by Net Applications, Windows 7 still stands tall at 44.37%, even though its user share has dropped a bit from 44.85%. XP remains there at the number 2 spot with a market share of 37.17%, down from 37.74% while Vista actually saw its share increase from 4.51% to 4.62%. Still, it just couldn’t cling to its third place.

On the upside, the growth of Windows 8 has caught traction, even if quite slightly. We’ve also seen several new Windows 8 running devices get launched, either it be traditional laptops or new convertibles, boasting the new Haswell processor. All this should be good for the operating system which has been yearning for the sight of good news since its launch.

Apple’s Macintosh-based systems, meanwhile, altogether stand at 7.2% which wasn’t unexpected given their price range and targeted audience. Windows-based systems, altogether, run on 91.51% PCs on the globe and are definitely not in a position to be dethroned of the place anytime soon.

96% People to Have Phones, 39% the Internet by the End of 2013: UN

United Nations has given us some really interesting figures in its new Millennium Development Goals Report regarding the mobile phone and internet population of the world. According to them, the amount of phones in the world will be almost as much as humans by the end of this year.

This won’t be meaning that every person of the world will be having a phone, of course, as dozens of countries have more than one mobile phone subscription per person. Still, 89 percent of people in developing countries will be holding a phone in their hands. The entire figure will be a staggering 6.8 billion subscriptions overall, constituting for 96 percent of the entire population.

The figures still aren’t as rosy for the internet users yet. According to United Nations, the no. of people connected via web will reach 2.7 billion by the end of 2013 which will be about 39 percent of our population. Still, it must not be forgotten that having an internet is a much, much more complex a process than having a Nokia feature phone.

In Pakistan, the no. of phone subscriptions per hundred people is 68, which though not mesmerizing, is nonetheless better than countries like, say, Myanmar where it tops at 3. The countries topping this list are Macau and Hong Kong, with 243 and 215 respectively.

A thing to note, however, in Pakistan’s case is that the rate of increase in mobile subscriptions has slowed over the past 3 or 4 years which is rather alarming. Also, a lot of Pakistanis too own two or three phones at a time.

For internet usage, Pakistan has around 30 million users or around 16 percent of total population is connected with internet.

Nokia announces 207 and 208 feature phones with 3.5G capabilities

Nokia has announced 3 new feature phones featuring the “candybar” by the names of Nokia 207, 208 and 208 dual SIM. These feature phones come with 3.5G capabilities and can be tethered to computer via USB to share internet connection. They will be available in red, cyan, yellow, white and black colours.

Nokia 207 and 208 are quite similar in terms of features with the main difference being camera. Nokia 208 and 208 Dual SIM have features like voice-guided self-portrait, sequential shot and panorama mode. The Nokia 208 Dual SIM uses the Nokia’s Easy Swap technology though which people can easily change their SIMs without turning the mobile phone off.

As is the specialty of Nokia, these phones offer faster and more affordable mobile Internet experiences. The combination of 3G support with the Nokia Xpress Browser will allow people to surf the net at a faster speed and lower cost.