Family Friendly Laptops

Dear Monica,

I plan to buy a laptop soon.  What should I look for? Signed, I want a Laptop

Dear I want a Laptop,

The answer depends on your budget and what you intend to use the laptop for.  As a student & busy entrepreneur, I prefer the MacBook Pro because the tech support is awesome for anyone that is super busy.  It’s actually a fun experience to go visit the Apple “Genius Bar” for technical support and I can continue focusing on my own work and studies.

One of my friends is a super busy single mother and a $200 eMachine with Windows 7 provides everything she needs to be happy and productive.  Another one of my friends is a young college student that enjoys graphic intensive gaming, so he must use a laptop that cost more than $3k, with the latest & greatest multi-media cards.

If you plan to use a laptop for browsing the internet, watching videos, and email; most any laptop you find in any retail store that is within your budget will work fine for you and they typically cost anywhere from $200 up to a few thousand dollars.  Always save your files on an external hard-drive or the cloud. Plan to include an insurance / tech support / service plan with your laptop purchase and purchase a protective case to protect your investment.

A laptop that costs about $500, typically includes about 6GB RAM, 700GB Storage, and about 2.5GHz Processor Speed.  Use the Internet to research prices and features before you go to your local stores, so that you can negotiate the best prices and features. 

TechRadar.com, LifeHacker.com, NewEgg.ca, and PCMag.com provide many articles that help you find the best laptop for your own budget and lifestyle.  The NewEgg website also sends you emails with weekly sales that are worth your time if you are shopping for computers.

Send your questions about computers and the Internet to [email protected] and I’ll do my best to answer them in future stories.