Ulster Gazette - Features - Buying a Laptop for Christmas

Features

Buying a Laptop for Christmas

Tuesday, 21 September 2010

When you're looking for a Christmas present for a loved one, a laptop might just do the trick. The technology in laptops has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, and you can now get a pretty nifty bit of kit for a great price. Thanks to the availability of cheap laptops, you can keep the cost of the present down and yet still purchase a computer that will have plenty of power for the tasks you want it to perform.

What sort of laptop you're after will obviously depend on the person you're buying it for and what they're likely to want to use the machine for most. This can vary between surfing the web, for which an entry-level laptop would be ideal, to wanting to watch videos and play games, which would require the machine to have a high-performance graphics card so that the stunning detail can be seen in all its glory.

The first choice you'll have to make is which brand of machine to go for, and it's worth bearing in mind that you can't go far wrong with a Dell laptop. They make a whole range of laptops, so you're sure to be able to find the exact type of machine you're after. Whoever receives your generous gift will be blown away by the style of the laptop, too!

If you're looking for a really stylish machine, then you should look no further than the Dell Inspiron 1545. Available in a wide range of colours to suit your personality including blue, pink and a very sleek black, this laptop wouldn't look out of place in your bedroom or office, and people are bound to take a second look at it.

Dell backs up style with substance too, with plenty of features included so that you can complete all the tasks you want. The 4GB of memory means that multi-tasking will be a breeze, and the 500GB hard drive gives the user plenty of space to store all of their favourite photos, videos and music. The 15.6in screen is perfect for viewing your media as well, and all in all you'll be hugely impressed by this laptop that costs less than £450.

If you're after something with a bit more power, then the Dell inspiron N5010 may be more to your liking. The 2.4 GHz Intel Core processor sets the standard, and the ATi Mobility Radeon HD graphics card raises the bar even further. Keen gamers will be suitably impressed, and when they take a break from gaming, they can fully utilise the Windows 7 operating system which is Microsoft's most user-friendly and intuitive system yet.

There are also some ultra-mobile laptops available for you to choose from, so that taking your machine on the train or the bus will be no trouble at all. The Advent Eclipse E300 is one of these laptops, which despite weighing less than 2kg still boasts 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive.

The Toshiba Satellite L630-12U packs even more power and still weighs just 2.1kg. A 13.3in widescreen display allows you to still stream and watch videos on the move, and the 1366 x 768 resolution ensures great clarity. With a DVD-RW included, you can even burn your own DVDs and watch your home videos while you're out and about.

Whatever laptop you plump for, make sure you get all the accessories you need so that you can use your machine to its full potential right away. One of the main advantages of a laptop over a PC is of course that they're really mobile. Whether you plan to take your laptop to and from lectures or to the library, make travelling much easier with a supportive laptop bag.

For writing documents, creating spreadsheets and designing presentations, Microsoft Office 2010 is a must. It's also likely that the person you buy the laptop for will be surfing the web regularly, so to ensure the security of your machine online, make sure you purchase the latest anti-virus software that will give you complete protection for a year.

You can browse a great selection of laptops online, and everything you need to know about them is included in the information that accompanies the products. This will enable you to make an informed decision so that the laptop you purchase will be a perfect Christmas present. When shopping online, you can rest assured that you're getting a great deal too, leaving you with enough cash to get the laptop fully-equipped with all the latest computing accessories.