5 Must Have Features For Any Laptop In 2016

Not long ago, it was rare for laptops to have 8GB. Now even the lowest price laptops have at least that and features that five years ago, we could not have dreamed would be on budget laptops today. Yes, technology does increase at a rate of knots every year. Therefore, if you are looking to buy a laptop and are not sure what features you should expect your laptop to have, feel free to use the list below to give you a benchmark to find the best laptop for yourself in 2016.

Although this is not directly aimed at budget laptops, these are features that you should have on your next laptop to future proof it for years to come (which, in the long run, will save you money since you will not have to upgrade your laptop as often).

1. SSD Storage – This is a must. Hard drives are extremely slow against SSD because of it’s mechanical properties. SSD storage can make laptops up to 10x quicker. The problem with SSD was its price. But, every year the price has tumbled and SSD storage is now hitting the main market for laptops at an affordable price bracket.
2. 8GB ram – Depending on what type of programs you use will depend on how much ‘random access memory’ you may require – if your laptop is just for browsing the web and Word processing, you could probably get away with 4GB. However, 8GB is a nice amount of RAM to go for so try and aim for that.
3. Full HD Display – For quite a long while, the majority of laptops that were sold (except for the flagship laptops) had 720p displays which were good but you could see the pixels quite easily while typing. Full HD or 1080p displays are hitting the laptop market just like SSD and the different in the quality of screen is huge. You will not regret upgrading your screen from 720p to 1080p.
4. 7 hour battery – It is becoming the norm to have a laptop with at least a 7 hour battery so that it is possible to go a full day without having to charge your laptop’s battery.
5. Intel i5 or i7 – I know this is pushing the price of the laptop up. However, at the end of the day, the biggest factor which will determine the speed of the laptop is its processor. Therefore, try and stick to buying a laptop with an i5 processor or even an i7. This way, in two or three years time, it will still have the speed of an equivalent i3/i5 new generation processor.
6. Backlit keyboard – If you like to use your laptop at night a lot, then this is going to be a must. There is nothing worse than trying to type on a dark keyboard at night!

Although some of these features will push the price of your laptop up quite considerably, in the long run, you will be thankful of paying for the extra premium since it will mean you will not have to upgrade your laptop as often and will have a better time using it too in the short term!