Refurbished Laptops: What Specs Do You Need to See?
Be it a PC enthusiast or someone who does not know a single thing about computers, and Laptop specs do not ring the bell of excitement in all of us. They are closed machines with limited specs with not much upgradability or customizability. So, what does one need to look for when buying a refurbished Laptop from the lot?
Well, it mainly depends on your use case. If you are a power user, you will need to buy the highest end of specs to satisfy you fully; however, if you fall on the other side of the spectrum and are not looking to do much with it except the occasional movie or word file, there are many cheaper options out there for you which will work very well for you.
So, in the four parts, we will discuss which processor, hard drive, graphics card you need to buy and connect with your use case.
How much processor do you need?
The age-old debate of which processor does one need for a laptop will be settled right here but only for a short time as Intel and AMD release processors every year, stretching the performance boundary.
Intel processors are of 4 types, usually available in the consumer market place and are a common site in laptops. These are the i3, i5, i7, and i9.
The i3 processor generally caters to those looking to get a moderate amount of use from a laptop with plans for an upgrade in a few years. They are usually some of the cheapest laptops around. Till the 8th generation of intel processors, i3’s were two core or dual-core chips meant to do easy daily computing like web browsing or Microsoft office to play some games on low to medium details if paired with the right graphics card. The i3s available in the laptops are comparatively very weak, and it is recommended that only people who have very light use cases like daily computing only buy these processors.
The i5 processor is one of the most popular processors in the world. Till the 8th generation, they had four cores raised to 6 as Intel had to make itself competitive for AMD again. The i5 is meant for using those people whose use cases fall in the spectrum of somewhere in the middle. Paired with the right graphics card, i5 from the last five years can play any game at ultra-detail with 60 fps on 1080p. They are excellent content consumption processors and will not let you down by any means. If you want the best processor in your laptop, you cannot go wrong with i5.
The i7 and the i9 are generally enthusiast-grade options. They are mostly targeted towards people who have some of the heaviest workloads and pay the extra cost for it. Their performance is very high, and they generally have eight cores. If you are making money from their computer, we will recommend an i7 or an i9 for you not to slow down what you produce.
The AMD processors generally fall in the same performance bracket as the intel ones; however, they cost less than them and are unlocked processors from the factory. If you can find a laptop with a Ryzen 3, 5, or 7, then apply the same formula we had for i3, i5 and i7 and buy the one you need.
Ram
A Laptop with an i3 or a Ryzen should have about 4 to 8GB of ram. An i5 or a Ryzen five can have somewhere around 8 to 16 GB, while an i7, i9, or Ryzen seven processors should have somewhere around 16-32 GB of ram. These values keep the use, as mentioned earlier cases in mind and do not need more than those for those tasks.
Storage
The very first thing that we would like to recommend is that whenever you are buying storage, buy an SSD. Generally, they are more expensive, but an SSD will keep your computer snappy and quick. You can gauge your needs and buy however much you need, and you can change our storage as much as you want.
Graphics Card
Laptop graphics cards generally perform worse than their desktop counterparts. However, one should not ignore them either. If you need a graphics card for your computer, once again gauge your use and buy the highest performing one that falls within your budget.
Conclusion
So here was what you needed to know in what sort of laptop specs you required according to your use case.