You must first decide what uses the laptop will provide. Will it be used for occasional web surfing or emails, gaming, storing music or data, watching movies, or all of the above? Once you decide its use, then you can begin to choose which laptop you wish to purchase.

If you wish to just web surf occasionally and have email access then purchase the bottom of the line cheap laptops. Laptops become more expensive if you wish to put them to more use. If you want to take and store pictures, you need a laptop with an SD slot and USB ports. Something to find out is the number of USB ports, especially using various devices like a web cam or digital camera. If you wish to watch movies on your laptop, then you will need one that has a DVD player. If you want to store a large volume of music or other data, then you will need a larger hard drive. And if you are into gaming, then you need to purchase a laptop with higher end specs such as more processor, more powerful video card, and a bigger hard drive with more ram and drive space. You may choose the screen size depending on how you wish to use the laptop. The larger the screen, the heavier the laptop will be, but easier on your eyes after an extended period of time looking at the screen.

Be sure your laptop has built-in wireless networking in order to use your laptop anywhere. If the laptop will be used as a desktop computer at home as well as taking it on the road, you need to purchase a docking station, also known as a port replicator, which allows your laptop to be used as a desktop computer.

One final word of caution on making the final decision, if you compromise buying a smaller laptop, you will end up with fewer features then the bigger, heavier laptops. Please be careful in choosing which laptops for sale best suits you.