Prioritising a budget – the Golden Rule
There is one golden rule for prioritising your budget for buying a computer, which is to know what you’re going to need it for. You can then choose specifications that match up to your needs.
Don’t you choose computers for me already, James?
Yes, that is the whole point of this site. Tell me what you want to use your computer for, ask me to choose for you and I’ll get back to you with three suggestions. However, I think it’s good for me to explain why I would recommend certain features over others. After all, even if you’ve asked me for advice, you might want to look somewhere else to see what they offer and it would probably be useful for you to know why I have suggested what I have.
But then you will have taken the time to help me but another shop will have got the sale. Are you sure you’re OK with that?
Yes. No problem. Next question.
Ummm.. OK. How am I going to know what I’m going to need it for?
Excellent question. I’ve made a cheat sheet (below). If you have the need on the left, you’ll need a computer that meets at least the level specified on the right. I’ve explained what the levels mean immediately below the table.
This advice was made on 12th March 2022.
| Your specified need | CPU level | RAM level | Storage level | Other things to look for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Email, simple web browsing, online shopping etc. | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Portability | – Screen size below 15″ – Battery life over 8 hours – Light weight: under 1.8kg, lighter if possible | |||
| Watching iPlayer, Netflix etc. | 1 | 1 | ||
| Watching online video at the highest resolution | 2 | 2 | ||
| Online learning / education | 1 | 1 | 1 | Level 2 in CPU and RAM would be of benefit here but is not vital. |
| I want this computer to be relatively snappy in 3 years’ time | 1 | 2 | ||
| I want this computer to be relatively snappy in 5 years’ time | 2 | 2 | ||
| Web browsing with lots (10+) of tabs open at once | 2 | |||
| Your specified need | CPU level | RAM level | Storage level | Other things to look for |
| Gaming | 2 | 2 | You should also look for a computer with a GPU (aka graphics card, video card). | |
| Office work including lots of spreadsheets | 2 | 2 | ||
| Installing a small number of apps and programs | 1 | |||
| Installing a considerable number of apps and programs | 2 | |||
| Installing a lot of apps and programs and/or games | 3 | |||
| Saving photos in the cloud (Google drive, iCloud, OneDrive etc) and just accessing them via my computer | 1 | |||
| Keeping a few photos and videos saved actually on my computer | 2x | |||
| Keeping all my photos and videos saved on my computer | x | Buying an external drive to keep your photos and videos on is much more cost effective than buying a laptop with lots of internal storage | ||
| Your specified need | CPU level | RAM level | Storage level | Other things to look for |
| Substantial business/office use | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| Trading or other business where response time of the computer is vital | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| Light CAD work or video editing | 2 | 2 | 3x | Consider a GPU (video card) for these uses too. |
| Substantial CAD work or video editing | 3 | 3 | 3x | You are very likely to need a GPU for these use cases. If you use a desktop, you may require even more RAM (64GB+). |
| Photo or image editing on an enthusiast or professional level | 3 | 2/3 | 3x | You should also look at the quality of the screen. Look at screen size (at least 17″ on laptop, 27″ on desktop), screen type (IPS) and colour accuracy. High resolution (2k or above) screen and GPU recommended. |
What do those numbers mean?
Here’s the explanation:
CPU levels
Your CPU is the computer’s brain. To understand the different models:
- First look for the company that makes the processor (typically Intel, AMD or Apple).
- Next, look at the processor family: with Intel, that would be the i number (e.g. i3, i5), with AMD it’s the Ryzen number and with Apple it’s the M.
- Finally, look at the model within that family. Although the processor family is usually enough to understand the performance level, the first one or two digits of the model number will tell you what generation (i.e. how old) that processor is. Warning: Older processors are usually significantly slower.
Examples:
- Intel i5-10400 = Intel [company] i5-[family] 10[th generation] 400
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600x = AMD [company] Ryzen 5[family] 5[generation] 600x
- Apple M1 Pro = Apple [company] M[family] 1[generation] Pro
Level 1: Intel i3, i5, i7 or i9, with a model number starting with 10, 11 or 12.
AMD Ryzen 3, 5, 7 or 9 with a model number starting with 3, 4 or 5.
Any Apple M1 CPU.
Level 2: Intel i5, i7 or i9, with a model number starting with 10, 11 or 12.
AMD Ryzen 5, 7 or 9 with a model number starting with 3, 4 or 5.
Any Apple M1 CPU.
Level 3: Intel i5 with a model number starting 12
Intel i7 or i9, with a model number starting with 11 or 12.
AMD Ryzen 5, 7 or 9 with a model number starting with 5.
Any Apple M1 CPU (but Pro, Max or Ultra would be recommended).
RAM levels
Key point: RAM (memory) is not storage. It is not how much stuff you can store on your computer. You shouldn’t say RAM or memory for that – you’re thinking of storage. It’s a bit confusing because they are often both measured in GB.
RAM is the special super-quick space your computer has which is set aside for the things it’s working on right now. More RAM means your computer can do more things at once, or copes better with more complicated tasks that require the computer to be doing lots of things at once behind the scenes.
Level 1: 8GB or more RAM
Level 2: 16GB or more RAM
Level 3: 32GB or more RAM
Storage levels
Storage is space where you can store all your files (including apps, programs, documents, photos or videos) on your device. It should be SSD (fast) storage. You should not get HDD (slow) storage unless you already have an SSD in your computer as your main storage device. You can always add external storage if it is needed.
Level 1: 250GB or more SSD storage (look for SATA SSD or NVMe).
Level 2: 500GB or more SSD storage (look for SATA SSD or NVMe).
Level 3: 1TB (1000GB) or more SSD storage (look for NVMe).
Level x: Special case – get a computer with one of the above levels of internal storage and then buy an external drive for this storage need. HDD will often be OK for this purpose; it offers much more space than external SSD and is much cheaper.
I hope this reference guide is useful to you. If you’re viewing this page a long time (1 year+) after the publication date, some of the information might be a little out of date but remember, you can always ask me for my advice directly!
James
Comments are closed