Canadian consumers are known the world over for being researchers. We are the last to buy on impulse, the first to look something up on the internet, and the most willing to invest a little bit of extra time to learn something new just to get the best deal. We are, without a doubt, the best equipped consumers to make the act of buying a laptop a very easy experience. Instead it’s a nightmare. Why is that?

Same Laptop, Different Versions – To avoid comparison, each retail chain asks to have subtle changes made to their laptop supply. If you choose a brand, a model name, and in some cases even a model number, you’ll find it has a very different price from one store to another. Look very closely though and you’ll see that the features are slightly different. A different hard drive, a different processor, it’s not actually the same laptop, making it very hard to do comparisons and work out the best deal.

Best Features Only – Manufacturers do their best to avoid comparisons too, often leaving out essential details on their websites like weight (typically the most negative feature) or measuring screen sizes differently or even fudging battery life.

What’s Online Isn’t On The Shelf – You’ve done your research, found the laptop you want online, and head to the store to pick it up only to find the selection on the shelf is different. The model you want isn’t there or it’s a slightly different version. This will force you to ask for a sale rep where you can then be guided to the deal they are pushing.

The Specials – Stores often end up with a surplus of laptops from the previous season. These will end up being promoted as specials at a discount, but since they are now older models, it’s not quite the deal it seems. Staff will push you towards these because the lower price means they can convince you to spend the rest of your budget, the money you’ve just “saved”, on accessories like a laptop bag, printer, mouse, etc. where the profit margins are good.

Quick Buying Tips

Pick A Budget And Stick To It – How much can you set aside for a laptop? $700, $1,000, $1,200? Look for a laptop to match. This is something you’ll use every day for several years, so make the investment. In all the confusion, what may seem like a great deal probably won’t be. Buying a $400 laptop and a bunch of accessories is actually not better than a good, $700 laptop.

Explore The Selection – It may be hard to do a proper comparison, but make sure to look at what’s available in different stores. When you’ve found a model you like on the shelf, write down all of its details, go home, and look them up. Then go back and buy it. Make the purchase with a clear head.

Leave The Accessories For Another Time – It’s tempting to load up and grab a mouse, USB drive, laptop bag, and other accessories with your new laptop, but you’re better off waiting until you know you’re happy with your purchase first before you invest more money at the store. Wait until you get home, try out the laptop, and make sure everything’s okay first. Besides, you’re likely to find funkier and more stylish choices from boutiques and other stores if you look around.

Buying A Laptop

Personal Comfort – The first thing to look for in a laptop is comfort. Try out the laptop before you buy it. Is it too heavy? Can you type reliably with the keyboard? Does it have a numerical keypad? How is the glare on the screen? Can you use the trackpad?

Screen Size – Screen size is a personal choice. Some people love a 17” or 19” screen because it gives them room to better organize documents and programs or watch movies. Others are fine with a 15” screen because they only perform basic tasks. The bigger the screen, the heavier and more expensive the laptop.

Processors And Ram – These are the two features that greatly determine speed and performance. You want high values in both. A 2.4 GHz processor is better than a 1 GHz processor. 4 GB of RAM is better than 2GB. The name of a processor will tell you what generation it’s from. Intel’s iCore processors are the latest and preferred. With AMD look for “duo-core”, “triple-core” or even “quad-core” in the name.

Hard Drive – As you fill your laptop with programs and content, it will start to slow down. To avoid this issue, it helps to start out with a large hard drive in the first place. A 400 GB hard drive is better than a 200 GB hard drive.

Windows 7 – The different in performance speed and ease-of-use of Microsoft’s current version of Windows is so great, that I highly recommend that you only consider laptops running Windows 7 and avoid even the best deals that include Windows Vista.

Other Considerations – Make sure there’s at least two USB ports to allow for connections with a mouse and other accessories. If you’re planning to play video games look for an NVIDIA or Radeon graphics card and check to see what connections it might have for using your laptop with a projector (S-Video), external monitor (VGA), or even a television (HDMI).

Mac Vs. PC

Apple laptops are just as capable of using Microsoft Office as their PC counterparts along with many common applications. The main difference between these two brands is price. The world of PCs includes a larger selection of computer types, from dirt cheap to lavishly expensive, while Apple’s laptops stay within a narrow, premium range. You’ll need a larger budget for an Apple laptop, but you will get what you pay for.

Buying A Netbook

Lightweight, portable, and often less expensive than their larger brethren, netbooks are a popular alternative for those who need to perform the most basic tasks. Buying one includes the same considerations in comfort, performance, and connections as detailed in my laptop list above, but with these extra considerations:

No Disc Drive – To keep their small size most netbooks lack a disc drive. If you want to install programs like Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop, you’ll need to locate an external disc drive. You can either purchase this as an accessory or if you’re luck, find one you can borrow.

Smaller Keyboard – Although most use the largest keyboard they can, it’s still below average and that, along with smaller trackpads and other considerations, can mean a difference in comfort.

Battery Life – Most netbooks come with an average six-cell battery, often good for half a day. In many cases you can upgrade this to a larger (and heavier) battery to extend that.

Windows 7 – The first version of Windows designed specifically with netbooks in mind, you’ll get the best performance if you choose a netbook running Windows 7.

Companion Devices

Let’s be clear. There is no substitute to a laptop when it comes to writing essays, book reports, and creating presentations, but once you step away from your desk a companion device like an iPad, iPod Touch, or an E-book reader can be invaluable for allowing you to keep your rhythm as you move from place-to-place.

Apple iPod Touch – Pocket-sized and always handy the iPod Touch is ideal for organizing course schedules, surfing the web, listening to podcasts and watching tutorials. The box includes earbuds with a built-in mic for recording notes, but you’ll need to invest in a better microphone accessory to record lectures.

E-Book Readers – Schools and textbook publishers are only just starting to experiment with the idea of digital textbooks and course materials, so it’s still going to be awhile before these readers can find their full value in the classroom, but all brands, from Kindle to the Sony Reader support PDF documents and allow for a very comfortable reading experience.

Apple iPad – The best of both worlds, the iPad is an excellent E-Book reader and portable organizer. It’s larger screen makes it ideal for doing research on the web and Apple’s large category of apps mean an endless supply of handy tools and educational content. Although Apple does sell a set of office apps, for additional cost, the iPad doesn’t offer an ideal typing experience and without USB drives, can be a difficult device to trade content with.

Flip Pocket Camcorders – Video presentations and multimedia projects are now more popular in schools than ever, making pocket camcorders one of the handiest devices you can pick up for the school year. Reasonably priced, easy-to-use, and great on quality, a Flip Camcorder is easy to recommend for just that kind of use.