Choosing a laptop for college or work: what to ask about

Laptop names are confusing, so it helps to say what you'll actually do on it: office work and browsing, coding, photo or video editing, or games.

The specs that make the biggest difference, in rough order:

• Processor family and tier, not the GHz number.
• RAM: 16 GB is the comfortable minimum now.
• An SSD, ideally NVMe.
• A screen bright enough for where you work.

The laptop buying checklist explains each one and points out common traps on budget models: techpp.app/tool/laptop-buying-checklist

Share your budget and use, and the community can suggest what to look for.