Laptop buying guide for freshmen of 2024

When picking a laptop, the key thing is it should last through four years of your engineering needs. A quality laptop typically begins at a price point of 30k. In this blog I won’t be talking about laptops which cost more than 1.2L as the price range 30k - 1.2L covers most population.

But, if your budget is lower than 30k for some reason, I would suggest you buying used thinkpad laptops for 16-20k, they are brilliant piece of hardware. Just upgrade the RAM and SSD, it will cost you additional 3k and boom you have a decent machine.

After starting college and observing my hostel mates, I noticed some people convince their parents to buy them laptops costing 1 lakh for gaming, but they hardly use 40% of its capabilities. Coming from middle-class families, they could save 30k by choosing a 70k laptop that still does everything they need.

People have different needs and interests, especially in college where you’ll explore hundreds of new things. It’s important to choose a laptop that can keep up with your evolving demands. Let’s dive into the various categories.

Gamers, for instance, look for laptops that can handle top-tier games with smooth game play and also support coding. A gaming laptop is versatile, allowing you to do much more than just play games. It’s great for video editing, 3D modeling, developing games, and running AI models locally, among other tasks. A tradeoff with gaming laptop is they are not power efficient. An efficient gaming laptop should last 2.5-3hrs without charging on normal usage.

For those into things like video editing, animation and 3D modeling, it’s advisable to go for a device with at least 16GB of RAM. Additionally, having a GPU can significantly enhance performance. If you have the budget get a gaming laptop, at least with an entry level gpu like RTX 2050. Also if you are into Game dev for a smoother experience go for RTX 4050 or higher.

For developers, an 8GB RAM laptop can handle basic tasks, but 16GB is recommended for more demanding projects, such as Android app development where it’s the minimum requirement for running Android Studio smoothly. For those diving into AI and machine learning, opting for a gaming laptop with a GPU is beneficial, as it allows for running models locally without relying on cloud services.

You need to have an idea on how hardware components affect performance, how to judge them and select the best one. Let’s get familiar with hardware components.

CPU

The CPU, often referred to as the computer’s brain, plays a crucial role in its performance. Presently, the market is dominated by two main brands: Intel and AMD, with Apple’s M series processors also gaining recognition for their comparable performance to Intel’s i9 CPUs.

When examining Intel’s offerings, you might come across processors like the i5 12500H and the i5 1240P. Despite both being from the 12th generation, their suffixes indicate different specializations: H and HX denote high performance, suitable for gaming and video editing, whereas P series processors focus on power efficiency. It’s advisable to opt for a 12th generation or newer model for optimal performance. If you’re faced with choosing between two laptops with the same GPU but different processors—an i7 12th/13th gen and a more affordable i5 12th/13th gen—for gaming purposes, it’s wise to opt for the i5 version. Gaming performance leans more heavily on the GPU, so you can save money without compromising much on gaming quality.

AMD’s Ryzen processors are equally competitive, especially from the 5th generation onwards. If you’re weighing an Intel against an AMD processor, a quick comparison search (e.g., i5 12500 HX vs Ryzen 5 7640Hx) can help clarify which might better suit your needs.

GPU

The GPU is responsible for handling graphics-related work like graphics, effects, video rendering etc. It can be integrated or external. integrated GPUs are built into the processor while cards like NVIDIA’s GTX RTX cards and AMD’s RX cards are external GPUs. If a laptop has both integrated and external GPU, they work together like when doing casual browsing and low performance tasks the integrated one works which helps saving power while when doing high performance works the external gpu comes to action.

Most gaming laptops have NVIDIA cards. How can you judge them? The most entry level GPU is GTX 1650. You can play casual games with it but recently all new entry level laptops have RTX 2050. If you are someone who just wants to do casual gaming and want a “sasta sundar tikau” all rounder gaming laptop then it rtx 2050 is for you. Moving up the scale, the RTX 3050 is a significant step up, offering great value for those on a budget. In the current market performance wise RTX 2050<3050<4050<4060. High-end models like the RTX 4070 and above are not discussed here, as they typically exceed a price point of 1.2L. It’s also worth noting that RTX 3060 laptops, despite being slightly more powerful than their 4050 counterparts (by about 5%), are less power-efficient and usually more expensive. Therefore, unless you find a particularly good deal, it might be wise to opt for a 4050 model for a balance of performance and value.

RAM

RAM serves as the main memory, providing temporary storage for actively running software. It’s advisable to choose a laptop with at least 16GB of RAM. For instance, a RAM specification like 16GB DDR4 3200MHz breaks down as follows: DDR4 indicates the generation of RAM, with newer generations offering improved performance and efficiency. The 3200MHz part refers to the clock speed, which determines the speed at which RAM can retrieve data from the CPU. A higher clock speed translates to better performance.

Display

Today, the majority of laptops feature HD screens with IPS LED displays, ensuring sharp visuals and wide viewing angles. OLED displays are also available, offering superior color contrast and black levels, but they come at a higher cost. These are best suited for users who only watch movies on their laptops. Gamers, on the other hand, should prioritize laptops with a refresh rate of over 90Hz for smoother gameplay.

After sales service generally depends on the area where you are living in but still Lenovo, HP and Asus are great. Don’t consider DELL and MSI as they have bad build and bad service too. HP = Lenovo = Asus > Acer. There are also Infinix laptops which are great deals, make sure checking reviews before buying them.

I’m recommending some laptops below. Do market research on you own again and watch youtube reviews on them too.

Non Gaming Laptops

• 30-35k - Go for an i5 10th gen+/Ryzen 5 + 16GB RAM and 512 GB SSD. This Infinix laptop with i5 11th gen is a nice one in my opinion.
• 35k-40k - Prolly you’ll get a i5 11th gen laptop + 8GB RAM at around 35k-40k, you can do coding and casual gaming too.
• 40k-50k- i5 12th gen/ Ryzen 5 7520U + 16GB at around 45k.
• 50k-70k - You should go with Ryzen 7 5800 or i5 12th/13th gen(with Intel Evo)+ 16 GB at around 55k-60k.
• For 70k-80k - You can get a Macbook Air M2(equivalent to i9 12th gen) with 8GB RAM + 256GB SSD in offline market also in flipkart check it’s price after card discount.
• 70k-80k- any laptop with i7 12th gen or further or ryzen 7 7th gen or further.

Gaming laptops

What specs you should look into in a laptop for different price ranges.

• 50-60k - i5 12th gen/Ryzen 5 5000 series + RTX 2050/3050 + 16 GB RAM + 512 GB SSD.
• 60k-70k - i5 13th gen/Ryzen 7 6000 series + RTX 3050/ 3050Ti + 16GB + 512GB SSD and a display with high refresh rate.
• 70k-80k - i5 12th gen+/Ryzen 7 + RTX 4050 + 16GB + 512GB SSD and a display with high refresh rate. These Asus and Lenovo ones are good in my opinion.
• 80k-1.2L - i5 13th gen/i7 12th gen+/Ryzen 7 + RTX 4060 + 16GB + 512GB SSD. Particularly this Lenovo laptop with RTX 4060 at a price of 82kis damn good.