Although tablets and smartphones are more powerful than ever, you cannot replicate some tasks on a mobile device. When you want true computing power on the go that will help you to stay productive at all times, you need a laptop. Unfortunately, the continual falling prices of smartphones and tablets have made many think twice about purchasing a laptop.

But there is no need to fear! By following the tips below, you will have the luxury of not only purchasing a brand-new budget laptop for a nice price, but a laptop that performs reasonably well! The old saying of, “you get what you pay for,” does not apply here: here’s how to choose a laptop with stellar performance for a price that will not break the bank!

Before you begin, ask yourself (and answer) the following questions:

• “What do I feel comfortable spending?”
• “How important is battery life?”
• Will you always have access to an outlet?
  • If so, a battery life of only a couple hours will suffice.
  • “Do I need any ‘bells and whistles?”
• Is it mandatory that your laptop has:
  • An SD card slot?
  • VGA/DVI/HDMI ports?
  • Numerous USB ports?
  • Touch-screen capability?
• Be aware: these extra ‘bells and whistles’ can add up.
• Most importantly: “Am I willing to make sacrifices for a cheaper price?”
• Don’t expect to buy a laptop that looks as sexy as a MacBook. You are paying for functionality, not pizazz.

Design

We’ll just be blunt about it: your budget laptop isn’t going to look sexy. Using cheap, lumpy plastic components for the lowest price possible, a budget laptop isn’t going to have your peers gawking at the beauty of the design. Budget laptops are thick, heavy, and coated in high-gloss black plastic in order to emulate the sophistication of a black, grand piano.

Quick tip: Because manufacturers typically use the cheapest parts possible for laptops, you need to spend a few minutes actually using the laptop in question before making the purchase. Open and fold the laptop, type on the keyboard, use the trackpad, touch every button, pick it up, turn it upside down –get acquainted with the laptop and discover how durable it feels. It’s a step most people forget when purchasing a laptop, but essential. If you are buying your laptop online and can’t do this, make sure to really pay close attention the reviews about the look and feel.

Performance

When choosing a budget laptop, pay attention to the processing speed of the CPU. Inexpensive laptops have AMD E Series or Intel Pentium/Celeron CPUs. These processors struggle with gaming, media tasks, and serious multitasking, but if you want a laptop for casual Web browsing/simple work-related tasks, it should be fine.

Your laptop should have at least a 2GHZ processing speed.

You also need to pay attention to the RAM. The least expensive laptops have at least 4GB of RAM nowadays, so there is no excuse for buying a laptop that doesn’t at least sport between 4-6GB of RAM. Moreover, find a laptop that allows you to upgrade to your RAM. A laptop that features 6GB of RAM may be impressive for a budget laptop in 2014, but in a few years? It’s going to be painfully slow.

You should be able to upgrade your laptop to at least 8GB of RAM.

Finally, opt for USB 2.0 instead of USB 3.0. Yes, the temptation of lightning-fast transfers is there, but if you want to stay under-budget? Stay away from USB 3.0 – USB 2.0 is the logical choice.

Hard Drive

Usually, you will have the choice between purchasing a laptop with a larger hard drive but less impressive processing speed and RAM and vice-versa. Always choose the laptop with the smallest hard drive and most impressive RAM/processing speed. Not only can you upgrade a laptop’s hard drive inexpensively, but also nowadays, most of your data can be stored on the cloud easier than ever.

There is no need to have a large hard drive in your budget laptop. Choose a laptop that has around 320GB-500GB to save some money.

Display

Do not expect an amazing display on a budget laptop. While the content on your screen isn’t going to look spectacular, you will be able to clearly see everything on-screen all the same – and that’s what counts. For maximum savings, choose a laptop with at least1366x768-pixel resolution as it’s the standard of most budget laptops.

Optical Drives

Chances are you probably do not need a DVD/Blu-ray drive. Since software can be downloaded and installed from the Web and movies can be streamed via on-demand services like Netflix, there really isn’t a reason to have an optical drive to begin with. If you have the choice of purchasing a laptop without one, do it. Not only will this save you on the overall price, but will also save as much as a half-pound of weight. Who knew optical drives could be so heavy!

Battery Life

Your budget laptop should at least have 4-hours of battery life. If you are going to be away from a socket when using the laptop, ensure that it has at least 6-hour of battery life (ideally 7+).

Software

If you want a Windows-fueled budget laptop, chances are you are going to be using Windows 8. If you like Windows 8, then this will not be a problem, but for those that cannot stand Windows 8? You have two choices:

1. Install a free Linux-based operating system (such as Ubuntu).
2. Google Chrome OS (only on Chromebooks, have limited offline functionality).
3. Purchase a Windows 7 license.

The third option could cost a little over $100 – though Microsoft typically provides a heavy discount to students and enterprises, so do some homework beforehand.

If you are going to be using unique software on your new budget laptop, you probably already have licenses to the software you will be using on your budget laptop anyway. If you do not? You need to add the cost of software into the equation of your budget laptop purchase.

Network Interface

To keep your laptop as inexpensive as possible, your laptop needs to have basic 802.11n capabilities. You will get halfway decent indoor reception, though your budget laptop could also have only one aerial (or ‘half-n’), which could limit the wireless performance of your budget laptop further.

Finally – Read Reviews!

We cannot stress this enough: you need to read customer and expert reviews from all over the Web. If there is a problem with the budget laptop in question, you will see it brought up in the multiple customer/expert reviews you read will tell you exactly what you need to know.

• Is there a problem with the laptop’s hinges?
• Does the touchpad feel too greasy over time?
• Does it feel too hot too quickly?

The reviews you read will tell you the answers to these questions and so much more.

In concordance with reading reviews, you need to actively find and test the laptop models in question (as mentioned earlier in the article). The best, most in-depth reviews are no substitute for actually typing and feeling the laptop in question, because let’s face it: you need to understand exactly what you are buying before buying the laptop.

Now go out there and find the best laptop at the best price possible. If you follow our guide, we know that you can do it!

Guest Post: Charlie M is a technology geek. Having graduated from an IT university, he is currently a freelance tech writer. He is also the co-editor of Tech For Pennies, a website about budget computers.