• Buying a Laptop...
  
• The hunt for software
  
• Special laptoppy issues
  
• Laptop expansion options
  
• Hunting for Service and Support
  

Buying a Laptop Just for You (Chapter 2)

• Getting to know the five steps to buying a computer
• Understanding your software needs
• Getting the right laptop hardware
• Mulling over specific laptop options
• Expanding your laptop
• Networking and communications options
• Finding service and support
• Buying your laptop

Buying a laptop is like buying any big-ticket, pricey item: The more you know about what you’re buying, the better chance you have of finding exactly what you need. An educated consumer is a wise and thrifty consumer. Plus, you don’t want to feel like a clumsy doof when buying something technical like a computer.

Even if you’re an old hand at buying desktop PCs, before you go shopping for a new laptop, you need to do a little research and investigation of the issues unique to laptops, such as weight, battery life, and wireless networking options. Therefore, to help you make the best decision possible, I present this chapter. Here you can read about the easiest way to buy a laptop, plus which special laptop features to consider. The idea is to get a laptop that perfectly suits your needs.

For more information on buying computers, including definitions and descriptions of various computer pieces parts, refer to Buying a Computer For Dummies, 2005 Edition, published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., and written by yours truly.

The best computer you can buy is the one that does what you need it to do. To find that computer, you have to ignore all the sales pressure out there, which is more oriented toward brand-name computer buying. That’s really wrong, and someone should be severely slapped for pushing computers based on their brand names.

You don’t buy a computer for the hardware alone. Low price isn’t the reason, either. Instead, the reason you want a computer is to complete some task, to have the computer do work for you, or to help you get something done. When you approach the purchase with that in mind, you end up getting the best computer possible — not some brand name you have to upgrade in a few months.

The five steps to buying any computer

To get a computer that works perfectly for you, follow these five simple steps:

Two items here stand out more than the others. The first — often surprising to most folks — is to look for software before hardware (Step 2). That’s because it’s the software that gets the work done. Despite all the flash and glory that the hardware offers, software is more important. Nya!

The second item is found in Step 4: service and support. More important than finding a low price or deal is to find folks who will give you help when you need it and fix the silly thing in case it breaks. That makes sense, but it’s crazy how people forget it.