Looking for a laptop? For personal or business use? Do you have specific requirements as to hard drive size (will you be storing a lot of pictures, videos, music), RAM and CPU (is processing speed important), operating system (do you want Windows7 or are you used to XP). You definitely want WiFi. Do you want a webcam? How large does the screen need to be. Do you prefer a glossy screen or a matte finish.
And what about programs?
At the big box stores you will find the prettiest, shiniest laptops with all the bells and whistles--the largest hard drive, the fastest CPU, the most RAM, and features and programs you might never want to use.
At CrexTechs, our first question is, why do you want a laptop? If it isn't for mobility--to take traveling for business or pleasure--we will probably try to talk you out of it. Here's why:
- Laptops are notorious for component failure--the average life of a laptop is 2 to 3 years mainly because they are very expensive to fix so people generally buy a new one when they need work rather than pay to have them fixed.
- They are easily dropped. Cracked screens are a big reason laptops need to be replaced.
- They are sensitive to extremes of heat and cold. Bringing a laptop in from the cold can cause condensation. This moisture causes corrosion to parts. Extreme heat, from say a locked car sitting in the sun, can cause heat expansion which can damage solder points on boards and damage the screen.
- We get laptops in that have been taken to the beach or other locations were they can get lightly sprinkled with sand, dirt or water. These things will do in a laptop very quickly especially sea sand and salt water.
- Laptops are easily lost and stolen as well.
- Kids especially can be hard on laptops!
Laptops are definitely convenient so if you are traveling for work or pleasure or if you like to sit in a coffee shop and and write or work on spreadsheets, they are nice to have but you may not need all the bells and whistles that come with the high-end machines.
If you want a machine to hook up to wifi to check emails, play games, watch videos or to compose documents, picking up a cheap refurbished laptop for half what a new machine will cost could be just what you need. We won't try to talk you out of a refurbished machine or even a new one if a laptop is really what you need.
At CrexTechs, our laptops do not come with all the software built in that you might find on a big box store machine. We usually load a free suite of programs called Open Office which is the equivalent of Microsoft Office Suite but it is FREE! Libre Office is a newer office suite that Dennis likes--it is also free. These programs can create the .doc .xls etc files that anyone can open. These suites also have the equivalent of PowerPoint and Publisher as well. For photo editing we load GIMP.
We include our maintenance utility that tells you what maintenance to perform and a remote service icon so that we can service your computer remotely when applicable. We also load a free trial version of Vipre anti-virus. We can load any programs that you own and have the license key for.
Let us know what your requirements are for a laptop and we will see if we have a machine that fits the bill!