How to choose a laptop?

With its powerful mobile performance and fashionable appearance, notebook computers have become the new favorites of many computer users. Recently, due to the progress of technology, the price of notebook computers is falling and the configuration is getting higher and higher. Nowadays, the performance of many notebook computers can even rival that of desktop computers. In this way, notebook computers, once regarded as aristocratic consumer electronic products, gradually "flew into the homes of ordinary people" and got rid of the passive situation of being too high and too low. Various manufacturers and distributors competed for beauty promotion activities, and advertisements for various notebook computers were overwhelming for a time. Because Intel focuses on promoting Centrino platform this year, as a new technology and new technology combination, it can win a place for Intel in wireless network chips and earn more profits at the same time. In view of this, low-end notebook computers have become the biggest victims, and prices have been kept down. Of course, as consumers, we may be the biggest beneficiaries. Due to the intensification of market competition, high-end notebooks have not been spared, which has greatly promoted the popularity of notebook computers. After all, good products and things that are useful to many people can only be bought.

Nowadays, more and more people buy notebooks, and the profit of single machine of dealers is much smaller than that of a few years ago. Although it is said to be small profits but quick turnover, many salesmen will not be satisfied. Maybe you accidentally got into his way and got a good laptop. Although not everyone can meet JS, you should keep an eye on it and don't get caught. Here, I would like to sum up the most taboo behaviors in the process of notebook purchase, which can not only prevent JS from violating the law, but also manage your money bag in front of a wide variety of notebook computers.

One of the taboos: don't pretend to understand, self-righteous.

Last year, a friend of mine bought a notebook by himself. When he saw a suitable CD-ROM drive, he wanted to buy it, but he thought that the 24-speed CD-ROM drive seemed a little outdated compared with the desktop, so he asked the salesman how much it would cost to change it to a 50-speed one (the notebook doesn't have a 50-speed CD-ROM drive at present). Q: Can people who buy like this not be slaughtered? Before buying a computer, you must make a little knowledge reserve. These days, because the profit of single products is getting lower and lower, people who sell things have been trained. Once you find a rookie, kill him. For example, the salesperson knows that this person who doesn't even know the basic knowledge of notebooks definitely doesn't know to consider those "portable microcomputers" that look like notebooks. They use desktop CPU and motherboard chipset, and the configuration seems a little higher and much cheaper. After listening to the recommendation of the salesperson, I bought it immediately and felt that I made a lot of money. It took me a while to find that my notebook was different from others'. There was no 1394 port or even PCMCIA expansion slot. This is a freak. But you can't buy regret medicine in the world, it's not easy to use, and it's worthless to sell it. What should I do?

What I want to say here is that if users who are not very good at this field need to buy their own notebooks, they can find a knowledgeable friend to accompany them for reference. Of course, it is best to make a little knowledge reserve yourself! Or someone will be grateful for killing you. Of course, we don't want you to become a notebook expert just to buy one! It's always good to know a little, unless you are rich, you can buy a very high-end laptop, regardless of the thousands of dollars or you can buy it in a big-name store.

Taboo 2: unrealistic, follow the trend.

For notebook computers, the trend has just been promoted and there are many advertisements, but this is not necessarily good. Now many friends buy the ultra-low-end Centrino, which may explain this problem to some extent. Some hot domestic brands copied some time ago have produced low-priced Centrino notebooks within 10,000 yuan. By comparison, we can also find that many configurations can only meet the basic operation of Centrino and WindowsXP. It can't be said that you can experience the advantages of Centrino, but the battery life is slightly stronger, but the performance may be much worse than the P4 model at the same price.

The key is to look at your needs. If you especially like new experience technology, you need your pocket support. Don't buy the cheapest new product. The ultra-low-priced Centrino may not be as expensive as the P3 notebook. In this era when there is only wrong buying and no wrong selling, we must grasp the principle of "enough is enough". There are many good things, and the trend will never catch up.

First of all, make clear what you are buying a laptop for, what are the requirements for machine performance, mobility and battery life, and then expand the basic requirements a little, which is basically the machine you are more suitable for.

Taboo 3: bargain at will.

Many people buy too much in the free market and get used to the shopping theory of "20% discount after cutting the waist". Buying a notebook is a desperate counter-offer, and it is certainly good and possible to pay a little price. After all, making money is not that easy. Give less, you can spend more. But, you know, buying a laptop is not buying food. Before 2000, selling a mid-to high-end laptop really earned thousands of dollars. Not now. Only high-end brands such as IBM and Sony have high profits. Generally speaking, the profits of foreign first-line brands such as Toshiba, NEC and Sharp are also considerable, and the profits of most domestic notebooks are not very high (of course, much higher than those of computer cities selling desktops).

Now that I mention it, you may not know exactly what kind of notebook can be repaid below the quoted price, because there is no uniform standard for this thing. It can only be said that "it is not a loss to shop around". Go more, ask more and see more. Of course, this should be compared with the same brand, model and configuration. If your time is precious, find a reputable dealer. Bargaining at will only let others know that you are not good at it, and it is a waste of time. In the end, the business stopped and nothing was bought.

Taboo 4: Superstitious evaluation

Now all media have their own evaluation departments, which specialize in third-party evaluation of some products, and then announce the evaluation results to the public through various channels. Now many friends are looking for relevant comments when they buy digital products. This is very good, so that you can fully understand the detailed information of the machine. In addition, you still need to consider it clearly when choosing, and you can't blindly trust the evaluation.

The evaluation results only suggest that the media provide users with a wide variety of products when purchasing. You can't let the evaluation completely dominate your thinking, so we consumers should never see an evaluation saying that this notebook is good and choose this one immediately. Everyone has different needs for machines. Only by integrating all aspects according to your own needs can you really choose the most satisfactory product.

Taboo 5: superstitious advertising

We won't elaborate on this point, and the ultimate goal is only one, so that you can pay for it and seize "our products are good" and "buying our products is affordable" to encourage consumers to buy. Borrowing an old saying, "Don't believe it all, don't believe it all", between believing and not believing, you need to verify it yourself, and also pay attention to whether the selling point of the advertisement is what you need.

Taboo 6: blindly follow big-name manufacturers

Even big manufacturers have low-end products, most of which are not the equipment and quality advertised by big manufacturers, but the prices of these low-end products are often equivalent to those of mainstream products in the market, so don't be obsessed with big brands and choose products that suit you from reality.

Taboo 7: Buy products from informal channels.

At present, parallel imports of notebook computers on the market are not smuggled products in the traditional sense, but also counterfeit and shoddy products and refurbished products. Some manufacturers don't enter the market through formal channels for China products, which may make some consumers think that there is not much difference between parallel imports and formal products. But in fact, the harm brought by parallel imports is very great.

First of all, the operating environment of parallel imports is not suitable for domestic users in many places. Some parallel laptops don't have Chinese operating systems or use pirated Chinese operating systems, and the compatibility and stability tests before leaving the factory are not aimed at the Chinese environment. In addition, the keyboard is not in line with the habits of China people. For example, the layout of Japanese keyboards is not quite the same as ours, so it is difficult to operate, and I am not used to using Chinese environment after I am familiar with it.

Secondly, parallel imports cannot enjoy genuine system recovery and specialized software use and upgrade services.

Thirdly, most parallel imports enjoy normal after-sales service, not to mention international joint guarantee. Most parallel dealers are not fixed and cannot provide spare parts for replacement. However, it may cost more to enjoy after-sales service through formal channels, and they will not be treated fairly.

Finally, we need to consider whether parallel imports are really cheap and can save costs for notebooks. You need to consider the extra cost of purchasing genuine software, after-sales service and so on. Therefore, in the process of purchasing a machine, don't see that it seems cheaper to buy parallel notebooks around you, just follow the crowd and buy notebooks through informal channels. Now there are many assembled and refurbished notebooks, and Japan has a professional IBM notebook renovation factory, which flows to various countries through informal channels after renovation.

Taboo # 8: Check the test specifications carefully without unpacking.

A friend felt very satisfied after seeing the sample machine and left without unpacking. Here, we introduce several basic configuration steps of checking and verifying specifications for your reference:

1. Check the serial number on the label.

Carefully check whether the serial number on the outer box of the notebook computer matches the serial number on the body. The serial number on the fuselage is generally on the base of the laptop fuselage. When checking the serial number, please check whether the serial number has been changed or pasted again. In addition, when starting up, you should first enter the motherboard BIOS of the notebook computer and check whether the serial number in the BIOS is consistent with the serial number of the body. The three numbers are the same, and the source of the laptop is basically no problem. If there is any inconsistency, it is all parallel imports or assembled goods. For notebook computers that enter the domestic market through formal channels, their official agents usually put a special label on the bottom to indicate the product model. For example, IBM's ThinkPad notebook computer has the product model and serial number at the bottom of the machine, and the last digit of the product model ends with C, which stands for China. You can enjoy a three-year global warranty, even if you take it out of the country, don't worry. If not, it is parallel imports. Therefore, after choosing a notebook, you must first find the label and check the number. Otherwise, you bought a parallel product with licensed money, not only losing a lot of money, but also not enjoying many services. Once there is something wrong with the love machine, it will be miserable. It's better to check online or by phone, which is safer.

2. Outer packaging

First, check whether the outer packing is complete and correct. After unpacking a notebook computer, there are also power adapters, related accessories, product manuals, warranty certificates (the number is the same as the notebook number), warranty record cards, etc. In addition, pay attention to whether the operating system recovery disk and installation disk are consistent with the operating system on the machine. Look, these checkpoints are hard to forge. Be sure to keep your eyes open when you buy them, and remember to look carefully!

Check the appearance

Check the appearance of the notebook computer, whether there are bumps, scratches, cracks, scratches, bad spots, ripples on the liquid crystal display (LCD) and whether there is paint peeling on the screws. Try to find a machine without bad spots when purchasing, because the bad spots on the LCD screen may spread gradually. Appearance is also important. If you buy a new thing with scratches, it will definitely look uncomfortable.

Check the battery

It should be noted here that the new notebook battery should not be charged more than 3 times, and the power should be less than 3%. Moreover, when testing the machine, the dealer will not plug in the battery, but connect it directly to the power socket. Too much electricity or too many times of charging and discharging proves that it is at least a machine that has been used by people. Sony and IBM's battery management software can also know how many times the battery is charged. In addition, there are some special test software, which we will talk about later. This must be tested on the spot to prevent future troubles.

Taboo nine, don't check accessories and gifts.

When purchasing, you must also carefully check whether the product accessories, operating system and drivers contained in the box are the same as those in the manual. Also check whether there should be gifts, such as backpacks, USB flash drives, mice, memory and so on.

If there is no problem with the product, try again whether the operating system is abnormal; Whether the sound effects and images of multimedia playback are normal; Whether the modem/LAN Internet access is normal; Whether the cooling fan works normally; Whether the positioning of notebook mouse is normal; Whether the adapter is charged normally; Whether the fan noise is acceptable and so on. In addition, if the laptop is equipped with a DVD drive, you need to check the reading of the DVD drive. If it is a CD-RW, test its ability to burn optical discs.

At present, there are many promotional activities of various manufacturers' agents, and they usually send some practical things, such as wireless network cards and bags. Don't forget to ask the dealer for it. It's nothing, but the cost is already on your head.

Taboo 10, there is no written commitment to after-sales service.

Notebooks are different from desktop computers. They are exquisite, so after-sales service is very heavy. No matter what brand, we should consider how the maintenance of notebooks is promised. Don't be confused by PL's MM statement when you buy it. Pay attention to these things, how long is the after-sales service period, what is the specific content of after-sales service, and how long is the maintenance and replacement cycle.

Generally speaking, most notebook products are replaced free of charge 1 year, with limited after-sales service for 3 years. The maintenance and replacement cycle of most products is about 15 days. When purchasing notebooks, it is recommended to choose some imported brands and domestic products with better after-sales service, such as IBM, Lenovo, Founder, Acer, Asus, Toshiba, etc., whose products have better after-sales service. Moreover, IBM has launched the blue express service in this respect, with a national warranty of three years. On the other hand, in China, manufacturers still have a lot to go in terms of maintenance quality and the establishment of maintenance stations. In particular, friends who want to buy brands that have just entered this field must consult after-sales service before paying the bill. There is no regret in paying the bill.

After all, the consumption expenditure of 10 thousand yuan is not a small amount, and no matter how good the quality is, there is no guarantee that there will be no problems for several years. Therefore, don't forget to ask the merchant for a written warranty commitment before paying the money, that is, to get the formal warranty certificate presented by the merchant. Check whether the conditions of warranty are reasonable, and confirm whether the merchant can return or repair it. When there is a problem with the goods, confirm the warranty period, repair location, time required for repair, etc. Finally, check whether the guarantee is stamped by the merchant. Don't be bored, many things are unexpected.

In addition, some friends don't care about anything when they buy notebooks. They just run a few vendors, and it's not good to compare prices and ignore others. It is also important to make a budget before buying a notebook, so that you can manage your money bag. Well, this article ends here. Friends who want to buy a laptop should do it when it's time to do it!