Recently, my son came to me and asked if I would get him a laptop.  I think, for the most part, he really wanted it for Minecraft and other games, but he could also use it for school.  He started to do some research on his own and found a couple of different options.  We looked at Chromebooks, Windows devices, and more.  I didn’t want to spend a whole lot, but also wanted to make sure I got something that was going to work.  I had an idea in my head of what specs he needed, but the options we were looking at were less than those.  We did our research together to find what operating system worked with his games, what the minimum specs were compared to the recommended specs, and what the prices were on each of them.  After much debate, we finally made a decision and purchased a laptop with the minimum specs knowing that it may not work the way he was hoping.

We brought the laptop home, went through setting it up, and installed his games.  He was so excited and eager for me to finish the setup process so he could start playing.  Once finished, he hopped on and started to play his game.  After thirty seconds, his excitement shifted to disappointment as he said, “Dad, I don’t think this is going to work.”  We started to talk about the specs and how we went with the minimum.  The laptop could install and run the game, but the processor and graphics could not keep up.  My wife thought she could use it to check email and surf the web, but after five minutes she gave up and agreed with us that it wasn’t going to work.

What we learned through this process is to take the time to research what you are trying to accomplish.  Look at the software applications you are using, learn what the minimum and recommended specifications are, and compare those options when making a purchasing decision.  Often times, the prices are a lot closer than you might think.  It is much easier and less painful to pay a little more at the beginning then to add on to what you already have.