Buying a laptop is a major purchase which requires some research and consideration. However, with the proper knowledge you can buy a great laptop. The following article is here to do exactly that for you.

The first thing you need to do after you buy a laptop is to purchase a good case for it. Because laptops are portable, they are exposed to more mishaps than a desktop computer. There are thousand of styles and patterns to choose from so you can protect your laptop in style.

Carefully consider the battery life of the laptop before buying. Laptops that will be used primarily on the go need a batter with a long life. Likewise, if you will be using your laptop in your home or office, you can opt for one that is lighter with less batter time.

Do not think you need a gaming laptop for playing a few games. Many of the games operate just fine on a regular laptop. You only need a “gaming” laptop if you care about things like frames per second and ultra high resolution in first person shooters. Do yourself a favor and save your dollars.

Consider if your laptop will be your primary computer. If it will, you might want to spend more to get a bigger hard drive, more RAM and an increased number of features. If it will only be a secondary computer, used from time to time when you are on the road, you can get away with something less updated and less expensive.

If you plan on keeping this computer for quite some time, make sure it can be upgraded. You may need to swap out the hard drive or add more RAM. These changes are easier to make on some computers than others. Try to get the newest options but don’t overpay for these upgrades that may be obsolete next year.

To keep your laptop from getting damaged, set drinks on a coaster instead of just on your desk. Glasses and cans can condense, and the water that runs down the side of the container can get on your working surface and then run under the laptop, damaging components. Water and your laptop are not compatible.

Understand what the specs mean. Pentium and AMD CPUs are today’s lowest price processors, with faster dual, quad and multiple core processors more expensive. RAM affects the speed in which tasks are performed almost as much as the processor. SSD drives are the latest, faster versions of hard drives. For displays, generally speaking the higher the pixels the better the display.

To make the keys on your laptop keyboard easier to see, use one of those layover keyboards that come in bright colors with larger characters. The eye strain that comes with spending long hours at the computer can make smaller characters difficult to pick out, so make things easier on your eyes with one of these specialty keyboards.

Try out your keyboard before buying a laptop. You will be doing a lot of typing on your new computer, and if you are not comfortable using the keyboard it can cause quite a problem. Make sure it is comfortable, with keys spaced adequately and easy to use. Try a few different laptops out before making a final decision on which keyboard is best.

To avoid sales people who desperately want to make a commission, do your purchasing online. This not only opens you up to a much larger selection, but the prices will often be lower as well. On top of that, shipping is often free, meaning you’ll get your laptop quickly and easily.

If you don’t care much about battery life, consider buying a used laptop online. In fact, if you do care about battery life, you can even buy a whole new battery and you should be good to go. Used laptops work very well, plus the price is always right!

If you are looking to reduce the weight of your laptop, consider skipping the optical drive. You don’t need a DVD or Blu-Ray drive because most content can be downloaded from the Internet, including movies, games and software. You can save about a half pound of weight by losing the optical drive.

When you are in the market for a laptop, the wide array of available options can make you dizzy, while their numbers could intimidate you. This article will help you make sense of all the options available. You should feel better about shopping for a laptop.