The number of people or businesses selling laptops in Zimbabwe has drastically shot up in the past few years. It is now the norm, at least for me, to come across social media posts on laptops being sold. That is a clear sign of how more and more people are purchasing laptops; there is demand. Despite the information age we live in, many people still make mistakes when buying laptops. There are so many of them that I thought it necessary to discuss some of them. Here are some of the laptop buying mistakes you must avoid:
Overlooking Ergonomic Dynamics
‘Ergonomics’ is a term I have used several times in my articles. Ergonomics is the science of the design of equipment, especially to reduce operator fatigue, discomfort, and injury. It has become an increasing concern in the office product design. No wonder why it matters in your choice of a laptop. You must consider where and why you intend to use the laptop you want to buy. It should not just be about its appearance; consider the operational dynamics. There must be a balance; look beyond just the specs. Touch and feel the laptop, carry it, try it out, and what nought. This will help you identify any ergonomic aspects of concern.
Overpaying For A Laptop
You need to do some thorough research before making a purchase. The price in itself is not always the best way to determine how good a laptop is. I know many people liken the high cost of a laptop to an indicator of how good it is. Sure enough, that can be the case but is it really necessary to get that one? Laptop needs do vary from person to person. A gaming laptop might not be necessary for someone who needs a laptop to mostly do typing. If you just buy without considering these dynamics you can spend unnecessary money on pricey laptops. In some cases, you might even be better off buying a refurbished laptop or just a second-hand one. Do not just go for the most pricey or the cheapest; consider your needs.
Overlooking Portability
A laptop for the most part must be portable. Surprisingly some people overlook making that consideration. For example, a 17-inch laptop looks cool and all but it is significantly heavy. Plus it tends to occupy more space. Moving around with such a laptop can be inconvenient. This usually forces you to leave it at home thus limiting the time you can use it if you are away from the house or workplace. I have even noticed that some of you do not even need to purchase laptops but rather tablets. Alternatively, you can purchase laptop models that have detachable displays to function as tablets. You must consider the extent of portability before buying a laptop.
Ports
It is crazy how many of us never stop to think about the ports on a laptop. Not all laptops have the same ports and that is a huge factor. I have seen people getting stuck when about to set up a projector for a presentation and they realise the laptop has no HDMI cable. Again we come back to the issue of needs, what do you need the laptop for? Those details should inform the kind of ports you need on your laptop. If say, you are someone who does presentations a lot or typically hooks up their laptop to peripheral devices such as audio-visual equipment, take this seriously. It is funny that when I bought my current laptop I did not even realize it did not have a deck for CDs or DVDs. When about to make a purchase ask to get a detailed breakdown of the ports a laptop has.
Storage
Then of course there is storage, one of my core considerations. You have to look at what you will mostly use the laptop for and the nature of the data you will be working with. Someone who solely uses their laptop just for word processing can manage with a 500 HDD. Yet someone who is into graphic design, photography, or videography might be limited to 500 HDD. I have also noticed that many people double up their laptops as entertainment centres. I am referring to storing up movies, games, and the like. You will need substantial space for uses like that. Unfortunately, there are still lots of people who are yet to grasp the dynamics of file sizes. I think for most laptop uses, having a laptop with at least 1 TB of storage would suffice. Another key consideration here is getting a laptop whose storage is upgradeable.
Solely Focusing On One Spec
This mistake has become quite common because it plays into who brands advertise nowadays. They prime you to purchase by incessantly talking about a feature. At the end of the day, you end up buying a feature and not necessarily a package. Of which you might even realize later that it is a feature you barely need or use. The habit of solely focusing on one spec or feature takes on many forms but it is never a smart thing to do.
Not Enough Power
I will use an example to explain this point. In Data Analytics there is a software program called Microsoft Power BI, which is a data visualization tool. If you use a 4 GB RAM laptop with a say, 1.1 GHz processor, it takes ages to load the software. I recall someone remarking that were shocked how instantly it loaded when they used a different laptop somewhere. All along they thought it was normal for it takes ages to load. This is to show that the mistake of buying a laptop that is not powerful enough can be costly. The time you will lose waiting on stuff to load and the process is money.
I did my best to not be too technical and I am sure this has been helpful. I am still going to do another article where I will discuss more laptop buying mistakes you must avoid.
