How to Buy a Laptop for Less

Computer Configurators

When you are thinking about how to a buy laptop, remember HP and Dell are the best selling computer brands in the US.

While your selection of hardware is limited, the sites are very useful when you are shopping for a laptop, or any computer. You can go there and get a sort of middle price for the best laptop to buy.

You have to be a little careful about the price though. Shipping may be extra, and you will be charged sales tax if your state has one. An extended warranty may be included in the original price. These can all affect how to buy a laptop.

How To Customize Your Laptop

While these configurators are useful, they seem deliberately confusing about how to buy laptop to me.

I simplified by deciding to shop for an entry level laptop, which is generally the best laptop to buy, but the hardest to find. That takes AMD out of the processor possibilities; they haven't released anything in this class yet.

I like to check both these sites, but I'll just go through it once. They are similar enough so that once should be enough. This is a link to the HP Home and Home Office store, where we will look for the best laptop to buy.

On either site, the most difficult component to find is an appropriate graphics card. I would not put a top end graphics card in anything smaller than a 17 inch laptop.

I'd want something better than a Nvidia GeForce 9400M-G or a ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450/3470, unless I was buying a notebook under 14 inches where there is even less room in the case. In a 15 inch laptop I would limit myself to a Nvidia Geforce 9600 M GT or an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 graphics card or maybe, if I felt lucky, an ATI HD 3850.

Back to how to buy laptop. When you get to the HP site, click on "Laptop & tablet PCS." We know that what we are looking for is close to the best computers they will have for sale. Anything better will probably be labeled "Gaming," so I'm going directly to the "Performance and entertainment" group and clicking on "view series". Now you:

• Pick your screen size--The 16 inchers are my size. There are 2.
• Find the model with your key component-- Most laptops are sold with intetgrated graphics. Finding the models that allow you to get a good graphics card is the challenge. The more expensive of the two models already has the NVidia card I'd get at the top end. Upgrading to that from a GMA 4500MHD would eat most of the price difference. Click on it.
• Upgrade (almost certainly) your processor--The base processor is a T6600. This is a faster processor than I expected as the base. I'd go the $50 for the P7450, it Should be faster and give better battery life. The $150 for the P8700 seems a little excessive for what you get.
• Be sure you have 4GB of RAM--The upgrade from 3 to 4 GB is free today.
• Be sure you have 64 bit Vista--It is free today too. The 32 bit version will only see about 3.2 GB of memory.
• Verify that the display, hard drive, wireless card and optical drive are up to snuff--these should all be standard, but check anyway.

When do check, you see you get a free upgrade to a 320 GB hard drive and a free bluray player. A wireless n card from the wireless g is standard.

You now have configured a "entry level" laptop computer. The website has been keeping a running total of what HP will charge for that computer.

Its $1049.99. If you want to spend more, you can upgrade the processor, memory or video card. I don't think any of them are worth the additional money. The extra heat the video card upgrade would put into the case scares me a little.

There may be shipping charges added if you buy. There will be sales tax added if you are having the computer shipped to a state which has a sales tax.

If you are happy with the price, after these add ons, you can just purchase the best laptop to buy.

Otherwise, this is still early in how to buy a laptop. Now we shop MORE.

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